SaputaraAndNorthMHTrip2009

The classic runaway for urban animals in Mumbai-Pune has traditionally been the hill stations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani and Lonavala-Khandala. However, there is a one other less exploited location which is known as the Mahabaleshwar of Gujarat, called Saputara.

After quite a few changes in our vacation plan to Dahanu (i shall cover this in a separate trip blog some day later), we finally ended up making this week long trip with my in-laws right at the time of Diwali to escape from the urban hum-drum and enjoy nature at a tranquil place. And Saputara impressed the hell out of us ! No kidding !! So here is the travelogue -
13-Oct-2009 - Day 1
As responsible citizens of a democratic state, we cast our votes for the ongoing Maharashtra State Assembly elections early in the morning while the kids were asleep at 7 AM. Aai-Baba arrived after casting their votes and we were on our way by about 8:30 AM. The old Mumbai-Pune Highway has now been widened significantly and brings back old memories of the industrialization/manufacturing era as one zooms past till the Nashik Phata. We hit the Pune - Nashik State Highway and drove on this stretch for about 2 hrs before halting at a decent breakfast joint called "Khavaiyagiri". I had made up my mind on the breakfast menu already - Misal Pav, however I was dissapointed since they had no pav (double roll). After some south indian breakfast and a mandatory cup of hot tea we surged northwards passing through Khed, Manchar, Sangamner and finally reached Nashik by around 2 PM. From there we took the road leading North towards Surat. On the way we purchased some varieties of dried grapes aka raisins. Nashik is best known for its produce of grapes and wineries. Our road was lined with many vineyards with large tracts of grapes grown on both sides. The other interesting thing on this route was the hordes of tomatoes that were simply thrown on the entire road side. This was due to the late and heavy rains that lashed this area a couple of weeks back. Due to this a large part of the crop was damaged and farmers had no other resort but to dump this produce. Whatever crop was salvaged was also being stored in large warehouses and we saw big wholesale tomato farmers marketplace in the villages on the way. It was saddenning to see such a large crop of tomatoes being dumped but there is only so much one can do to protect from the vagaries of nature.

We finally neared the Maharashtra-Gujarat border and the rising altitude brought with it a nice cool breeze and a lush green carpet opened out in the valleys reaching upto Saputara. When we reached the hotel - Hotel Toran Hill Resort run by the Gujarat Tourism Development Corp (GTDC), it was evening and there were hardly any guests. The season started from the 15th when the room rates would get doubled (still cheap at Rs.1100 per room with double occupancy including breakfast and lunch or dinner).
We checked in to possibly the best room which had a grand outer view of the valley on the Gujarat side of Saputara. We immediately fell in love with the tranquil and virgin beauty of the overlooking valley from this location. After refreshing we decided to do boating at the Saputara Lake which is the heart of Saputara. Atharva and Tanvi were very happy to get a lot of time paddling the duck shaped boat and take a dig at learning some steering skills round the lake. The ropeway chair cars in the frontdrop of the elegant sunset made for a memorable evening. Just outside the lake was a small funfair where the kids made merry on the funjump and other tiny rides. What a nice way to end the first day with a piping hot supper in authentic Gujarati style. The khichadi-kadhi combination was very tasty and we all went to bed soon after.

14-Oct-2009 - Day 2

The day started at 5:45 AM, with a short trek to the top of the Jain Mandir hillock which arguably gave us the best view of entire Saputara from the sunrise point. The silver lining on the cloud cover made for a beautiful snapshot as the sun came shining out over the single peak. The tranquility of the surroundings and fresh clean pollution free atmoshpere is something amiss in our urban lives and we were so glad to have made this choice for our vacation.



After having a hot breakfast, we headed out northwards of Saputara through the dense forest areas of Ahwa, lined with fern, sal and other thick trees. This was a state highway road which had quite a few rough patches due to just finished monsoon. The resultant slower speed of our car was a blessing in disguise as we were able to appreciate the wild flora and fauna all along the way and stop at a few places to gulp in the jungle beauty. The Ahwa forest area also had a river running all along the meandering road and it had cut its way through many boulders and rounding them off. We finally reached our target destination - The Gir Water Falls near a place called Waghai. What a splendid sight this is, tucked away deep in the interiors of the rural hinterland. We went near the water front but were immediately called back by some locals sighting reasons of crocodiles in that area. The Gir Water Falls reminded us of our trip down south to Kerala which is home to the Niagara Water Falls of India aka Athirapalli. Sweet tender coconut water is a refreshing drink that one must have at a spot like this. We then drove 2 km further to arrive at the Waghai Botanical Gardens. This is a government run entry free garden that boasts of a wide variety of plants and shrubs. There is a specially cultivated medicinal plot which has different plants used in ayurvedic and household medicines. This is a good educational experience where the uses of each plant are explained. Atharva and Tanvi played a lot in the children's play area and then we traced our way back to Saputara. By the time we reached, it was late afternoon and we sped all the way to reach the Vaity Valley Ropeway Resort.

They have constructed a horizontal hanging ropeway between two mountain peaks pulled by powerful motors. We all enjoyed the ride in the colourful chair cars of the ropeway. The other side of the ropeway end houses a nice little garden with a wide variety of roses. The evening sunset from the ropeway was a treat to watch. After having another delicious Gujarati supper, we took a small walk around the resort.

15-Oct-2009 - Day 3
After checking out early morning from Saputara resort, we reached back south at a fork in the road called Vani, about 30 km north of Nashik. From here we took an east ward route to pass through a road lined with numerous marigold fields and then took a toll road through a very scenic mountain to reach a famous pilgrimage site called "Saptashrungi". This is a temple of an avatar of goddess Durga which is worshipped a lot in this part of Maharashtra. Atharva counted the number of steps leading upto the temple dome and that magical number was 552. The view from the top was breathtaking. After offering our prayers and taking "prasad", we took the route back to Vani and then reached Nashik. We checked into a decent hotel - Panchavati, in the heart of the city. In fact this entire area is also called by the same name and has lots of shops selling various wholesale items for grocery, dry fruits, spices and household items. After having a delicious rajasthani meal in the hotel's restaurant, we spent the evening visiting various temples along the banks of the holy river . Many pilgrims visit this place to have a holy dip in the waters and conduct death anniversary rituals. We also visited a big marble temple - Muktidham Mandir , which was the most impressive of them all. It has many idols of deities coming from various parts of the country and it is pretty clean and well maintained. Photography was not allowed in any of the temples.

16-Oct-2009 - Day 4
We started from the hotel at around 9 Am and the better half of the day was spent on the road travelling eastwards and we travelled almost 300 km to reach the world heritage site - the famous Ajanta Caves which are 110 km North east of Aurangabad city. Though I have been born and brought up in this state, I never once had visited this place and I was longing to see this for quite some time. There are 36 caves built in the 2nd century B.C. as part of the Buddhist dynasty. One has to park their vehicles in designated area about 3 km away from the caves site and take the state operated buses to reach the place. This was done to achieve a zero pollution environment for preserving the restricted area around the caves. There are hordes of monkeys all around this area and one has to be careful not to annoy these beasts. The main buddha fresco painting in one of the caves is a permanent reminder for all who studied in Maharashtra State Board pattern in the nineties since this was the cover page of our English reader text books for many years. Ajantha has a good mix of wall paintings aka frescoes and carved buddhist statues and stupas. We enjoyed the beautiful exteriors as well and there were a lot of monks visiting from Vietnam and Thailand at this place.

We then drove back to Aurangabad city and camped at a reasonably good hotel - Nandanvan close to the railway station for just 700 bucks for room with 2 double beds. There is also a decent restaurant just next door.

17-Oct-2009 - Day 5

Today was the last day of our trip and the most important day of the Diwali festival - Lakshmi Pooja. After checking out of the hotel we had our first stop at the "Taj Mahal of the poor" - aka - Bibi ka Maqbara. This is a Taj Mahal look alike built by Emperor Akbar's son in memory of his mother. The bottom part of the monument is made using marble whereas the entire top dome and walls are made using limestone. This is also now a national heritage site and there is a lot of restoration work done by the Archaeological Society of India. We then drove about 60 km to the North west of the city passing aside the Daulatabad Fort. We probably missed seeing this hostorical fort since we did not hear much about this one from some of my friends, but may be that is for another trip some another day.

Our destination was the Ellora Caves which is also a collection of caves, however this one is a bit different than Ajantha. Here you find 3 sets of caves belonging to Buddha, Hindu and Jain styles.

It was almost noon when we had finished our sightseeing and we straightaway headed southwards taking the Aurangabad-Pune National Highway.
The stretch of this highway upto Ahmednagar is such a marvellous track to drive on (reminds me of the US I-5 and 280 highways in California). We crossed many large daffodil fields.
There was one hotel that we stopped at on the highway (all hotels were closed due to the Diwali festival) and we were treated to some authentic rural Maharashtrian cuisine (Pithla/Bhakri/Vanga/Kanda/Thecha). Mmmm !!

As we started nearing Pune, it was already late evening and as our car navigated the final stretch, we were treated to bursting visual delights (fire crackers of various sorts that are lit on the occassion of the Diwali festival).
A pretty good and satisfying trip I must say. I think the timing of the trip was probably the most important thing that brought out the vibrant colors of nature at this place.