On 25th evening at 4:30 PM we (#Deepak Chandure, #Hemant Patil, #Vilas Algude, #Thomas & me) reached at Kamalgad Base Village Vasole. In the village we visited temple having lot of stone statues, also from the village we can see the Matariche Daat portion of fort. This name is because this range of hill formed like old women teeth. Kamalgad (lotus fort), also called Bhelanja or Kattalgad (literally death fort) is a square hill fort in Wai Taluka in Maharashtra, India. It has an elevation of 4,511 feet (1,375 m) above sea level. After packing all our bags with cooking vegetables, rice, gas stove, drinking water & sleeping stuff, we started our actual trek with one other group called “Nature Lovers Malad” which is having most of 50+ years aged trekking members & that group is organizing treks since last 29 years. One thing I liked about that group is that they are doing these activities to create awareness about nature with no gain no loss strategy & also enjoying their hobbies by getting out from busy life schedule.
As we already done two treks before this one we were little bit tired & started our trek to kamalgad at 5:00 PM. When we heard that all member of that other group have done three treks before this & they are all the way walking form last two days & still have full energy to reach the top of kamalgad. Their presence gave all of us courage & energy.
The fort area is 3-4 acres in size. It is surrounded by steep rock and can only be reached by perilously scaling this rock. Earlier, the approach was by an artificial tunnel, which started at the base of the rock and emerged on the top. Now this tunnel is blocked by a big rock which fell into it and was never removed. There are no buildings on the top or walls of any kind or even a gateway, which is unusual for a fort in this area. Likely, its height and steep rock around it provided it with enough protection.
The steep way to reach night stay point was checking our will power & endurance. Fort is totally covered with dense forest having wild animals in it. By taking in between rest & water we reached the first plateau of the fort at 6:30 PM. There we took long halt & had snacks. Finally at 7:00 PM we reached the Gorakshnath Temple. While reaching that place we used almost all the water we had with us at start & finally left with four liters of water, which we need to use for dinner cooking & then drinking.
There after getting rest & settled properly Deepak cooked the delicious Pulav for all of us, simultaneously we eat Cucumber & Tomato. During that time one leader from group “Nature Lovers Malad” gave us the information of astrology like Jupiter, Dhruva, Sapta Rushi, Kruttika nakshtra, Mruga Nakshtra, Sinha Nakshtra & etc. sky is full of starts from top of fort. After having introduction & little bit discussion with them, we had our dinner & got ready for sleep. We all slept at 10:00 PM & as we were too much tired got early sleep that night.
On 26th when I woke up in the morning it was 7:00 AM and I had holi color on my forehead, then in surprise when I saw around there all members of other group were playing holi & enjoying a lot. That time we didn’t have single drop of water with us, so that we headed upward in the forest in search of water as we already read & know about the water source is there. After few minutes we reached the Dhangar Wasti on the fort, single family is living there from last four generations they had their own farm & tabela of animals like cow, buffalo, bulls & etc. We asked them for water source in forest & reached the place, water available there was so clean & chilled. There we all got fresh, till that time other group people also reached there & one trekker taught me how to fill bottles in pond so that trash should not come in bottle. From that place we can clearly see the Kenjalgad Fort. We filled all our bottles & went again up side to go on Bale Killa of Fort. While going up we ordered food at dhangar wasti. In 15 minutes after crossing very dense forest we reached the Bale Killa.
Entrance of bale killa is five feet high with the support of side walls there we got up from there. From there we had splendid views of complete Kamalgad Fort covered up with dense forest & rivers Krishna & Valki. From there Mhatariche Daat part of fort was looking awesome. After having all the side views we came to the main attraction there Geruchi Vihir & one by one we entered into that well. The only structure on the top is a hole which is the remains of a well sunk right through the rock. The hole is twenty to twenty five feet deep. The sides of the well which were formed by the natural rock were reported to have contained recesses in which criminals were placed during British government in India, but not sure because during rainy season that well is filled up with water & when we get down at the end in well there was a lot of moisture is present in well. However, none of the recesses can be discerned today. Some reports indicate that this 'hole' might have been a quarry for red stone (geru) which is plentiful in this region. That well is the beautiful example of that time construction; we had some awesome clicks there also & started descending bale killa.
At dhangar wasti we had lovely food of ROTI, CABBAGE sabji, TOMATO sabji, Rice & Curd, at that place having such food was unbelievable for us. After having all that food we paid them & gave them all the vegetables, masale & rice with us. After having small discussion with them we got to know that they don’t have electricity there, for school every day they used to get down from the fort & the girl serving us studied till her 10th. Life looking very tough there but the smile on their faces taught me new lesson that in all conditions just see the positivity, enjoy it with full happiness.
Finally at 10:30 AM we started descending fort from Gorakshnath temple. At one point of time we lost the way & I was alone at one place while calling the others I saw wolf like animal of brown color with black spots on body in the forest. After few minutes by following the route direction arrows present in forest I caught my team & continued the back trek. In the forest we had some fruits clicks, which can be used as medicine or eatable food. Because of denseness of forest some tree branches are looking like Python. At 11:30 AM I reached the place where we parked our car & took rest there for half hour till that time others in the group also reached there & we started back to Pune at 12:30 PM via Vasole à Wai à Pune. During the journey we took three halts at Mapro, Snacks, Sugar Cane and reached the Pune at 3:00 PM.
Note :
- Photo Credit goes to Rahul Chandure & Hemant Patil.
- Seriously worth visiting the fort, very dense forest follow the direction arrows to be on right track.
- This trek we can consider as moderate one for regular trekker.
- We can plan more treks along with it as per the time we have like Rohida Fort, Kenjalgad fort & Raireshwar Fort.
- Before going on trek do some research what to explore there.
Please leave comments below
for others if you have been to Kamalgad Fort or you have any questions related
to trek.
Enjoy!!!!
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Chandure
