A day monsoon trip to Dhom - Balkawadi dam, Wai

It was a lazy day as it was Sunday, I got up late at 8 am (yes, yes…8am is late for me as I usually get up at 6.30 am) and I was having breakfast while reading a newspaper and I saw some beautiful pictures of nature in the newspaper which triggered a thought to visit our farm at Jor, a small village in Wai tehsil of Satara district. The Krishna River’s source is near to the village and from there one can see Elephant's Head Point & Kate's Point which is among the best tourists places in Mahabaleshwar.  I just put thought into visiting the land and everybody in the home including my in-laws agreed and we left around 10.30 am from Pune.  

As it was already late we decided to reach the place without any stop as it takes almost 3 hours to reach there with nominal traffic. But usually, there is traffic at Khed-Shivapur toll junction, we almost got stuck every time. However, this time did not meet the traffic and could manage to reach Wai until 1 pm. 

More you travel towards the village nature becomes more and more picturesque, one cannot move ahead without clicking pictures so we. There were mountains on both sides, undisturbed meadow, lush and exotic greenery, veneer clean natural waterfalls tumbled down the mountain and drizzled onto the rocks. The flowers next to it were nodding gently...Ah-ah-ah, heavenly natural beauty… that’s it I can say.

Elephant nose point from Jor

Sahyadri Mountains

We threw ourselves under the waterfall, stood under the waterfall to cool down. After playing a lot in the water, it was so cold that we started shivering still continued to play some time more and enjoyed it to the fullest. Finally, we pushed ourselves out of the water and headed towards our farm, where spent time just sitting and watching surrounding grandeur. We threw little stones into the dam (Balkawadi) and tried our hands in stone skipping as it was my favourite childhood game. Aaravya (my son) was very happy to see such a large open space and he was just running here and there.

We :) 

It was 5 pm when everybody noticed that we all are hungry and especially my father in law who is very particular about his evening tea time demanded to have it in some time, so we had to leave. There are no hotels and restaurants on the way, it is possible to get tea and snacks only after reaching Wai. We were on the way to Wai and imagine who was there?? A Peacock...oh one more..oh my god!! Few more... spot the number of peacocks(they were 10+) on a farm around the dam, unfortunately, I could not capture all of them together. Later, after interacting with locals came to know that in the morning and evening many peacocks can be seen around the dam every day.

We were passing by the side of Dhom Dam and saw a Chowpatty so went there for water sport activities had boating, Aaravya enjoyed camel and horse ride and we resumed our back journey.

Dhom dam Chowpatty

After reaching Wai we went to Maha Ganpati (also called Dholya Ganpati because of its large size) temple which is a temple on the bank of Krishna River and it was actually on the way. The Lord Ganesh idol is very large and brightly painted and looks very cheerful and happy. Next to the Ganpati temple is the Kashi Vishweshwar temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has a beautifully carved Nandi bull and a nicely decorated Shivling. I would recommend visiting these temples if you are travelling to nearby areas there, believe me, you will not be disappointed.

Maha Ganpati, Wai

We stopped at Rohit Wadewale and ordered Wada Sambar, Kanda bhaji and tea and everyone literally attacked on the food and quickly grabbed it as all were too hungry. Kanda bhaji was very crispy, we all loved it. After finishing much-needed tea, resumed travelling towards Pune and reached home around 9PM.

It was a truly amazing, short but pleasant trip where we all enjoyed ourselves and our minds refreshed completely.

Thanks for reading my blog. Hope you liked it and wish to visit the places I mentioned.

A perfect weekend gateway for nature lovers - Baneshwar, Pune

Baneshwar is a temple of Shiva located in the village of Nasarapur about 35 km southwest of Pune. It is a pleasant and calm place amidst a jungle. The temple was constructed in 1749 by Balaji Baji Rao, son of Peshwa Bajirao I. Baneshwar was recently declared as a small bird sanctuary hosting a decent amount of rare birds with many Malabar grey hornbills seen. The place is a conserved forest area and wildlife sanctuary where a variety of birds, flowers, plants can be seen. Baneshwar is worth visiting for forest lovers and trekkers as well as for pilgrims.

I wanted to visit Baneshwar after seeing the photos of the waterfall, stream and greenery there and had been thinking of taking a short trip for the coming weekend. I decided to go on Saturday because Sunday is a bit crowded. 

We left from Pune at 7am in the morning as planned and reached Baneshwar around 8.30 am straight away. Due to the rain, the place was very green and the weather was very pleasant. Ample of parking space available in the dense shadow of tall trees. We entered the temple after washing our feet. There were a couple of shops for selling puja items and few eateries items too. But better to carry your food as there were very limited options available for snacks and no good hotel around. 

The idol of Baneshwar is very beautiful and the temple architecture is old –fashioned with lots of place available at surrounding for a pradakshina/walk.  The temple has Shivling, Hanuman temple, Ganapati Temple, Nandi the bull and the Laxmi temple. There is a huge bell hanging at the entrance, which has some history to it, that it was captured by Chimaji Appa after defeating Portuguese in the battle. In the temple, there was a holy pond in which few fishes and softshell turtles can be seen.  You can spend some quiet, silent relaxed time there.

Baneshwar Temple

After taking blessings from Lord Shiva we went to botanical garden there. The botanical garden in the temple premises that has bamboo groves, exotic trees and river beds. After wandering around the garden for a while, went to play slides near the parking where kids can play. Just behind the temple, dense trees make a pleasant forest to roam around and spend relaxed time there.  There was a scenic waterfall amidst a forest, there was not much water in the waterfall as we visited a little early.  You can enjoy that waterfall but be careful of the potholes which are naturally created there. Just be careful while playing in the water when it is fully flooded as it could be risky.

We walked around the whole area and enjoyed watching flora and fauna there and sat on the bench and chatted. Didn't want to come back from there but then remembered the lunch as we all were hungry. So left at 1 pm and had revel in South Indian cuisine at Vitthal Kamat and reached home at 4.30 pm.