On 25th morning at 9:30 AM we (#Deepak Chandure, #Hemant Patil, #Vilas Algude, #Thomas & me) reaches at Kenjalgad Base Village Oholi. After brushing the tooth’s, there we had our amazing breakfast of Anda Bhurji cooked by Hemant Patil.
Kenjalgad or Ghera Khelanja Fort, 4,269 feet above sea level, is situated on the Mahadev range eleven miles north-west of Wai. The fort is situated on the ridge which separates Pune and Satara districts. Both the Krishna and Nira rivers are visible from the fort. Bhor with its surrounding villages and Wai with its surrounding villages are also visible clearly. Therefore during the time of Maratha Empire the fort successfully performed the role of Watch Guard.
This was last fort taken by Shivaji Maharaj before coronation ceremony! Just in front of the fort is Raireshwar where Shivaji Maharaj took his oath for swaraj and this is the fort he conquered before sitting on throne, 24.04.1674 from Gangaji Naik Kirdat (Adilshahi Sardar). While standing on this fort one can see Rohida, Kamalgad, Pandavgad, Mandhardevi temple around you.
Then we packed all our bags with cooking vegetables, rice, gas stove & sufficient amount of drinking water as I already read about the fort that on top of it there is no water source in these days of year.
Villagers there guided us for starting point of trek & we headed in the left direction. Few minutes later after crossing the jungle we reached the first plateau of fort & from there we got an awesome side view of fort. As we can able to see the wall like structure on the right side of that view, we headed in right side direction.
There we saw fort walls constructed in the rocky hill, little bit ahead there is a cave, looking like natural structure but had some finishing at the end of it. As too many bats were there, we didn’t go more inside of cave. After proceeding in zig-zac way we reached the unbelievable structure of staircase completely built in single rock, seriously it was awesome spot on the fort. As it was too hot out there, shadow of rock on that stair & chilled wind flowing there made us cool & crazy. We have taken rest there & had photo shoot. We can see the full base village from this place.
Immediately after that beautiful staircase we entered into the fort through main entrance which is completely vanished now. On the right side of entrance there is Kenjlai Devi Temple & besides it base of SADAR is there. Little bit ahead of entrance water cistern is there totally dried up. The view of first plateau from the east top of fort is awesome.
Heheadings owards the west side ofoften ort we saw the strong fort walls having outlets little bit down to the ground level, I am not sure it is water outlet or that time toilets. Few water cisterns are there but those are also dried, stairs have been created to get down in that cistern. Little ahead from there we saw Chunyacha Ghana which was used to mix up the CHUNA & GUL to fix the rocks of fort wall. On the extreme west side of the fort one natural Bastion is there, we had some clicks there; from this place we can see the whole Raireshwar Plateau. On fort we saw remnants of too many old buildings, one from all of them is in well condition, but roof is not available on that. One more chunyacha ghana is there on the fort. From the top we had splendid view of Dhoom Dam.
Few stones are there with god & goddess idols on it. On top of the complete fort we didn’t see a single tree to take rest, so we decided to rest at entrance stairs & cook a lunch there itself. We took rest there for almost two hours & at 1:00 PM Hemant dada started cooking & we had snacks. He cooked mix veg gravy subji & plain rice for all of us. After having our lunch we again took rest for 1 hour & started descending the fort & reached the base village at 4:00 PM. There without wasting time we left the place as we had too much sweaty & reached nearby dam for swimming. After getting bath in dam we all were full relaxed & again ready for next journey of plan.
- Photo Credit goes to Rahul Chandure, Deepak Chandure & Hemant Patil.
- One should visit at least once.
- We can plan more treks along with it as per the time we have like Rohida Fort, Kamalgad 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 Kenjalgad Fort or you have any questions related to trek.
Enjoy!!!!
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Chandure
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