Quick ride to Pabe Ghat, near Pune

It was Sunday morning when I came to the balcony, and the weather was overcast which was so perfect for travel. I quickly came inside and asked Kiran, shall we go somewhere? He gave me a look like what's this now! But I managed to convince him, and we decided to leave in an hour. I quickly searched for location and thought to drive through Pabe Ghat as its near to Pune, we left home around 9am. 

Pabe Ghat point is 35 km from Pune, it is situated near Panshet. We get beautiful view from the top which is surrounded by mountains and greenery. 

Panshet Dam seen from Ghat road

At Donaje Phata, once you take right to follow road to Velhe village and drive few kms further you can see amazing scenery & natural beauty. It’s perfectly green now. The cloudy weather gives the perfect landscape and photography feel. 

The road unwinds through beautiful countryside with lush green scenery, paddy fields and amazing landscapes.

ही वाट दूर जाते...सह्याद्रीच्या कुशीत ⛰️ ⛰️

Ghat road is very narrow, the climb is very steep, so you need to ride a very carefully, but the route is scenic, a lovely ride up the ghat and the climate is awesome in monsoon. Once you reach at the top you can see the breathtaking view of mountains and near by villages. It is surrounded by three forts - Sinhagad fort, Torna fort and Rajgad fort. There is one point from where you can see these three forts at single place. 

After spending 30-40 minutes at the top, we descended and headed towards our return journey. 

Pabe and all the surrounding locations are excellent getaway spots for a weekend. A great treat for photography.

Sinhagad Fort

The best place for picnic, very calm and quiet. One can feel the melodious chirping of birds. 

Take a moment to stop and listen to the birds singing today!!

Awesome location with zero crowd to spend some quality time. Must visit during monsoon season. It’s a good short drive option especially during monsoons. 

My Travel Buddies

After eating Misal at Shivar Garden near Donaje Phata, we were back home around 2 pm. 

Highlights - 

Trip duration - 1 day (19 January 2024)

Distance travelled - 85Km

Budget - 1K

A day trip to Dhom-Balkawadi dam, Wai during Diwali holidays

My sister in law was asking to have a quick morning trek to Sinhgad on Sunday, 15^th November, as there was no ritual for Diwali that day. But we were not sure whether Sinhgad is open for tourists or not, so decided to visit Dhom-Balkavadi dam in the early morning.  

We were planning to leave Pune at 5am but were 30 minutes late. After picking up my sister-in-law, her husband and my nephew from Sinhgad road started our journey towards Wai. We wanted to reach there around 7am to watch a beautiful sunrise, to watch sunlight reflections in dam water and the mountain ranges is a visual treat and never miss from there. Reached the farm without any pit stop though missed sunrise and reached there around 8am. A selfie was the first thing we did as soon as we got down of the car.

Immediately after reaching there, 4-5 peahens come on our way that came in the search of food and then returning home.  We roamed here and there which increased Vitamin D and eating a few amla fruits had increased vitamin C intake in our body. Indeed a healthy trip after COVID-19 lockdowns!!  

Climate was very pleasant, we could see gems of the morning i.e. dew drops on the grass. There is a banyan tree, so hanging to the strong roots of the tree is a must and enjoyable too. 

We went to the farm and spent some quality time there, a view of mountains and the dam is completely mesmerizing, one can just sit and watch it for a whole day. You can see various birds, flowers, fishes there. The place is not at all polluted; it is free from air-sound-water pollution, completely natural. Dam water is also crystal clear and very clean, could see the bottom and spot fishes. 

We sat down at the katta which is made around a tree. Once the dam is full; you can easily put your feet in the water by just sitting on the katta, small fish will give a good pedicure to your feet. We had brought Diwali faral, fruits and salad made by Parth(my nephew), which all finished while discussing our previous visits to the place.  Every time I could discover a new thing there; this time spotting rabbits and monkeys was a surprise, but could not capture them in the photograph. 

Dam and mountains view from the katta is a delight that anyone can see for a long time. 

Picturesque view of the Balkawadi Dam

After spending almost 3 hours we decided to leave because we had to go to a relative on the way. Our plan was to reach home by 5pm to make some arrangements for the next day Padva and Bhaubeej celebration.

A selfie is mandatory before leaving the place J J

While returning we enjoyed misal at Bhairavnath Hotel, Khambataki ghat; misal and buttermilk were awesome. They served plenty of onion and lemon along with misal, usually, it is served in less quantity in most of the hotels.

After Ambegaon we went to Dhankavadi to visit the in-laws of my sister-in-law and reached home around 7 pm.  It was much much-needed trip as for the last few months no travel due to COVID-19. It was really an amazing break from the daily routine.  

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Hope you liked reading it.

Happy travelling!!

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.