Naneghat - Jivdhan Fort Combined Hill trek

Nature at its best!

Based in the Junnar region of Maharashtra, is the Naneghat which provides one of the amazing and soothing trekking experiences with picturesque scenes all over. Naneghat (Nane: Coin, Ghat: Pass) was an ancient trade route, connecting Kalyan region to Junnar. It was so-called because the route was used to collect tolls from traders needing to cross the hill. The Naneghat now in ruins was in its full glory in the Satwahan era.

Close to Naneghat is the Jivdhan fort, during Shivaji Maharajas's rule. it was used to keep an eye on enemy movements from Naneghat.

How to reach?

Nearest railway station for this trek is Kalyan on the central line; just besides the railway station is the Kalyan ST Bust stand, from here one needs to catch an ST going towards Malshej Ghat. Frequency of the buses is quite good, at 30-40 mins interval.

While taking the ticket ask the conductor to give ticket to Naneghat Trek point. Some conductors who ply regularly on this route easily drop you to the trek start point; but if they don't have an idea, tell them that the Naneghat trek point is just 5-7 mins after Vaishakhare village, keep looking on the left side of your window for Naneghat board. It takes around 1.5 hr to reach there and ticket is Rs 120 per head.

Difficulty Level

The trek to Naneghat plateau is easy with medium endurance level, the route is full of heavy vegetation and has lots of waterfalls and small streams making it more scenic.

Trek to Jivdhan is difficult, enduring and tiring and route is quite confusing, hiring a guide would be a good idiea if you are a novice trekker. Trek to Jivdhan has 2-3 risky rock patches that are difficult to attempt in monsoons; hence prior trekking experience is must to trek Jivdhan fort. Ropes are provided at the final rock patch; though use of extra ropes for safety would help.

Water is readily available in this trek in monsoons and winter (from June to December), hence one can take less water if trekking in monsoon.

Time to reach

Time to reach Naneghat top is 2.5 hrs, from Naneghat to Jivhan it takes 2 hrs, one can get lost in trek route, increasing the time of trek. From Jivdhan back to Naneghat it takes 1 hrs and from Naneghat to base it will take around 2 hrs.

If planning for a combined one trek one has to start the trek as early as 6.30 am so that both can be completed on time.

What to see?

Beauty of Naneghat can't be shown; it has to be experienced! Naneghat is more picturesque in monsoons with water covering the entire trek path, which provides a majestic experience.

Naneghat - One can see the Naneghat Caves and ancient inscriptions, Toll collection vessel, and reverse water fall.

Jivdhan - Entrance gate (Maha darwaja), ancient shilpa, and some remains of old rooms used as shelter.

My Experience

This trek was a breather from my daily life. One is very busy with their daily job life that we do not give time to our self and keep on living in the mundane world, struggling, competing with others, working nine to five round the clock. Same thing happened to me; I decided to call up my friends Sanket and Narendra (Naru) and the plan for Naneghat-Jivdhan was fixed.

Sanket being an experience trekker, advised to start the trek as early as possible. Hence me and Sanket left overnight and waited at the Kalyan railway station, chatting about our daily lives and eating chips... 😋 Morning when clock struck 5 am, I met my old times trek buddy Naru; delighted, we hugged each other and inquired each other what we have been doing all these days, and were very happy to trek together again.

We boarded the ST towards Malshej Ghat from Kalyan ST depot; in the chilly monsoon morning we started our journey. Luckily the conductor new where Naneghat trek point is, hence after 1.5  hours of bus ride we finally reached our destination. Here we met a villager who guided us to initial trek route and also was telling story of one tiger that is there in the forests of Naneghat. Please do not trek Naneghat in night, wild animals are frequent here.

Admiring the beauty of nature we started our trek; hadn't been able to trek for last few months it was quite a challenge for us but after 2 hrs we managed to reach the Naneghat caves; now photo session is our passion 😉 hence we clicked lots of photos and had some refreshments. After 10 mins of walk we reached the top of Naneghat plateau. Feeling energized we sipped in Nimbu sharbat from a shop of a local villager. Food and refreshments are readily available on the top of Naneghat. After resting, we began our journey to Jivdhan fort. We lost our way while trekking to Jivdhan, as initial route is not well marked, after struggle of around 1 hr we managed to get correct route. The route to Jivdhan goes from right side, do not enter heavy forest if you are confused, there is high chance of one getting lost.

And then we were on the correct path; finally the moment of truth - we reached the difficult patch near the Mahadarwaja; initially we decided to go back seeing the difficulty of it, but to our rescue were some frequent trekers from the 'Shiva Pratishthan' group, and avid group of trekkers, they were 20-25 in number with age group ranging fro 12 years to 55 years. With their help we managed to conquer the difficult rock patch.

After exploring the Jivdhan we started our descent at around 4 pm, bidding adieu to those trekkers and hoping to meet them back. Our legs tired, body aching, we reached base at 6 pm and finally ended our trek with ample of memories....😊

Summary of this trek

• Nearest Railway Station: Kalyan.
• Base Village: No exact base village, nearest village is Vaishakhare.
• Average Expenditure: Rs 250.
• Bus Ticket from Kalyan to Naneghat - Rs 90 to 120. The buses ply every 40 mins and the frequency is quite good. Catch the bus going towards Malshej Ghat. First bus is at 5.15 am.
• Ascend time: 2.5-3 hrs to Naneghat, 2 hrs to Jivdhan.
• Descend time: 1 - 1.5 hrs from Jivdhan to Naneghat and 2 hrs to base of Naneghat.
• Difficulty Level: Medium to Difficult.
• Endurance and Stamina Level: High.
• Best time to visit is from rainy season to winters.

Tips

1. Carry about 2 litres of water.
2. Use good grip trekking shoes/ketoes, wear track pants and full sleeve shirts.
3. Do not trek Jivdhan in heavy monsoon unless you are very experienced; bring ropes with you for extra safety.
4. Total time for combined Naneghat - Jivdhan trek (one day) is 10-11 hours hence start the trek early morning if you want to complete it in one day.

KEEP NATURE AND SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE CLEAN

Harihar Fort - Nashik

Standing tall - The unique rock-cut steps of fort Harihar

Harihar is a picturesque fort in the Triambak range of mountains of Nashik district in Maharashtra. The 80-degree climb through the rock-cut steps of Harihar is a sheer thrilling experience.

Harihar is an elegant fort and climbing it is a privilege.  

Harihar fort as seen from base village of Harshewadi

How to reach?

Fort of Harihar is near the Triambakeshwar temple of Nashik; reaching here using private vehicle is through the Mumbai-Nashik highway via Igatpuri-Ghoti road. Base village for Harihar is Harshewadi or Nirgudpada. 4-5 hours are required to reach here. 

If one wants to use the public transport, you need to take ST bus from Igatpuri bus depot to Nirgudpada, the frequency of buses are low, the first bus is at 8.30 am. Or another option would be to start night journey and alight Nashik railway station; plenty of jeeps and tourist vehicles ply towards the Triambakeshwar which also leave you to the base of Harihar fort. But once again, frequency of these is not upto the mark hence a wise option would be to book a cab/bus/private vehicle to reach Harihar.

Difficulty Level

Overall trek level for Harihar is easy to medium grade, but in monsoons the rock-cut steps become slippery and one has to climb patiently with proper hand grip.

To reach the topmost point of the fort, an 8 feet high rock patch needs to be traversed and this point is open from all sides with cliffs directly looking down, hence this section must be properly done.

The trail is rocky and muddy

Small to medium sized boulder rocks on the trail

Time required for the trek

From the base village, a hike of 1.5 to 2 hrs takes you to the peculiar rock-cut steps, from here one needs to climb patiently; after 25 to 30 mins, we reach the Harihar plateau. Harihar is huge, exploring the fort fully may take up to 2 hrs.

Base village of Harshewadi

A unique type of stairs

The hike to the top-most point of the fort is 15 mins, with a final rock-patch slightly difficult to climb, but manageable.

Mahadarwaja

Main Entrance of the fort (Mahadarwaja)

Approaching the inside part of the fort - A small steep climb

Small path leading towards the fort plateau - One has to duck and
walk because of low height 

Final set of steps

Dilapidated entrance, the second one, which leads you to the fort plateau

What to see?

Apart from the trademark rock-cut steps of the Harihar fort, the top Harihar plateau is large in area and has 3 small water storage tanks, a medium sized lake, small temples, and offers some pretty mesmerizing views of the surrounding hills and mountains.

Bramhagiri hill

Nagphani hill - A beautiful and unique formation, pinnacle looks like the head of a cobra (nag)

One of the three water tanks on the top. Water is not potable, but in case of emergency use water cleansing agent to purify the water

Top view of the lake and the small water tanks on the left

A small Hanuman temple

Shivling besides the lake

A storage room - might have been used to keep grains or arms

Mesmerizing view of Vaitarna lake

Top Bastian of the fort

Selfie at the topmost point of Harihar fort

My Experience

The fort of Harihar had always been on my bucket list since the time I started trekking only because of its famous and unique rock-cut steps. The plan of Harihar was built out of the blue when we were trekking for Tahuli gad. Owing to connectivity issues we decided to take our own private vehicle because it was more efficient than any public transport. Hence our journey started from Airoli in Navi Mumbai, at the wee hours of a wintery saturday morning, in one of our friend's car, who was a newbie trekker, but very excited to trek for the first time.

We started at about 4.30 am in the morning, took a halt at 6 am to freshen up and keep travelling untill we planted our foot at the foothills of the Harihar fort, in the base village of Harshewadi. The winter morning was just scenic with loads of energy in the air, motivating us to trek upto the top.

The gang at the base village of Harshewadi - tired after a long journey but super excited to reach the top of Harihar.

The trek started at 9 am, After taking loads of pictures enroute we reached the main Hariar plateau at around 11.30 am, which was a fairly easy grade hike. Obviously exhausted, all took out their snacks boxes and we refilled ourselves with bread jam, fruits, parathas, pancakes, glucose, etc.

After exploring this unique fort, we started descending at 1.30 pm, finally reaching the base village at 3 pm, from where our journey back to home began, with huge chunks of photos and memory, of this elegant and uniquely built fort..... HARIHAR!

Thereee is our destination

All smiles after succefully completing the trek

A village kid happily smiling after receiving a pack of biscuits
(Which I always do after completing the trek)

Me, doing markings which might help anyone of you going to Harihar fort.... 😊

When you visit a fort or any historical monument respect it - Such disgraceful acts are a shame to our profound history

Summary of this trek

• Nearest Railway Station: Igatpuri/Nashik.
• Base Village: Nirgudpada/Harshewadi.
• Route: via., road - Igatpuri-Ghoti-Traimbak-Harshewadi; via. public transport - ST from Igatpuri to Nirgudpada; or Jeep from Nashik station.
• Average Expenditure: Rs. 400 - 500, in private vehicle.
• Ascend time: 2.5 hrs, 30 mins more in monsoons.
• Descend time: 2 hrs
• Fort height: 1,120 m above sea level
• Endurance and Stamina Level: Medium
• Best time to visit: All round the year

Tips

1. Carry at least 3 litres of water; more in summer, also carry water cleansing solution if drinking water from the water tanks on the fort.
2.  Use Good grip trekking shoes (especially for monsoons) since the 80-degree stairs climb becomes slippery in rainy season.
3. Private transport is best to opt for if going to Harihar.
4. Trek can be completed easily in one-day if one leaves early in morning by 4 am.

Trek to unexplored Tavli / Tahuli (Panch Peer and Dadima)

The three prominent peaks of Dadima Tahuli as seen from Panch Pir

Searching new and less-explored, places is every traveler's best wish; perhaps the most difficult part is finding one such place. But when you find one and travel there, you are bound to explore new things which others have still not.

Tahuli or Dadima Tahuli or Panch Pir are some range of mountains near the Badlapur-Ambernath region, close to the city, but yet not known to many trekkers. The beauty of these hills lie in their unique peaks that are just mesmerizing to site, from top of the mountains.

All the prominent peaks of Tahuli seen from base

How to reach?

The base village for Tahuli is of Kushivali; to reach the base village, Kalyan is the nearest railway station on the central line. One needs to board the local buses going towards Haji Malang from the Kalyan ST depot, in the west. Time to reach base village is 40 mins and bus charges Rs 20 per head.

Place where the bus drops you - Bus stop of Kushivali village

Difficulty Level

This trek is a combination of two treks - Panch Peer and Dadima Tahuli, which are two different hills. Trek to Panch peer is easy but the trail is confusing and has lots of multiple routes; hire a guide if you are a new trekker, one may easily get lost.

From the top of the Panch Peer, there is a shortcut route to Dadima hill, trek to Dadima is medium grade; one encounters a ridge while going towards the Dadima hill, strong winds blow here as the path is open from both sides. After this ridge, there is a steep medium to difficult grade climb towards the top of the Dadima hill.

Water is available here from small streams from the month of July to January, stream dry up as the summer approaches.

Trail route is mostly rocky with lots of small to medium boulder rocks

Time required for the trek

It takes around 3 hrs to reach the Panch Peer, more if one is unable to find the path (though arrow markings are provided for reference) and about an hour to reach Dadima, from Panch Peer, descend time is 2.5 hrs to 3 hrs.

What to see?

Trek to Tavli offer some majestic views of some of the peculiar and unique peaks in the Sahyadri mountain range, though close to cities of Badlapur and Ambernath, not many know about this place hence it is sparsely visited by people, and less known to other trekkers.

Tavli peak seen from base village

Thumb-shaped peak (Ganesh Karthik Pinnacle) - A unique rock formation!

Shri Malanggad seen from Tavli

Thumb-shaped peak (Ganesh Karthik) with Malang in the Background

Beautiful peaks all around!

Panch Peer - Sacred tombs of five Muslim Priests

Aerial view of the Panch Peer

Badlapur as seen from Panch Peer mountain

From Panch Peer a walk of 25 mins takes you to the Ek-Peer, the topmost part of this hill.

Some photos from the Dadima hill:

White colored walls which can be seen from the Panch Peer hills

Few more tombs at Dadima

 Small Shiv Ling at Dadima

A big hutment at Dadima - Stay can be done here

Sant Gadge Baba Maharaj Ashram

Stay at Dadima can be done at both these houses; around 50 people can be accommodated easily, utensils, place for cooking is also provided, hence ideal for a one night stay in the hills, amongst nature.

My Experience

Last day of the year 2017, doing parties, boozing, night-outs was just too mainstream for me. And I wanted to do something else. I decided to go a trek. Called up my friend Sainath, and the plan for Tavli was fixed. We were a group of three - me, Sai and a new trekker Nitin. Nitin was new to trekking hence we had to take lots of halts in order to ensure this new fellow gets properly acclimatized to the terrain. Always take care of new people who are trekking for the first time, they might slow you down but eventually, safety is the first priority.


The plan was to meet near the Kalyan ST depot at 7.30 am. After meeting we had the usual breakfast of Idli-Medu vada and chai, outside the Kalyan ST depot. Finished breakfast and enquired about the bus to Malang gad which would drop us to base village of Kushivali. We hopped on to the bus at 7.45 am and after 35 to 40 mins of bus ride, we reached our destination - Kushivali. Our time was largely wasted as we took a wrong route and a villager guided us to the route that was from tall trees at the base, about 40 mins of ours was wasted. Hence do ask for proper directions at first before starting this trek.

A beautiful winter morning

Now finally we were on the correct path, and after 3 hrs of trek, we reached the Panch Peer hill. The route to Panch Peer is confusing and less explored hence it took lots of time in finding correct routes and reaching the top. At about 12 pm we reached the Panch Peer hill, had light lunch of - fruits, bread-jam, biscuits, plumcakes, and farsan. Tired after 3 hrs of the trek, we had to rejuvenate ourselves hence we made a drink of Glucon-D to energize.

After resting for half an hour we started our journey to next part of this trek- the Dadima, shortcut
was there to Dadima but we missed it hence it took 80 mins to reach there, at around 3 pm we reached Dadima plateau. We were already late hence quickly explored Dadima and rested for 5-10 mins and started the descent. Back to the base village at 5.30 pm, we were. And our year-end trek ended here.

This dog became the new member of our group and travelled with us on our way down.
We provided biscuits and water to him 😊

Bus ride back to Kalyan was much tiring than the trek as it was packed to full capacity; from Malanggad lots of people returning board the bus hence even getting a place to stand is a tough ask. Lots of traffic greeted us when we neared the Kalyan station hence it took about 1.5 hrs to reach the station."Jitna trek karke halat kharab nahi hua utna bus ride me ho gaya" - Sai said to me. But overall the trek was memorable, we explored a new and less known place - the satisfaction of which, will remain in our hearts forever...

Our squad - Me, Nitin and Sai

Ended the trek with this beautiful sunset!

Summary of this trek

• Nearest Railway Station: Kalyan/Badlapur.
• Base Village: Kushivali.
• Routes: From Kalyan side and Badlapur side. The route from Badlapur side is difficult to traverse.
• Average Expenditure: Rs 100.
• Bus Ticket from Kalyan to Kushivali - Rs 20. The buses ply every 15-20 mins and the frequency is quite good. Catch the bus going towards Malanggad.
• Ascend time: 3 to 3.5 hrs from Kushivali and 4-5 hrs from Badlapur side.
• Descend time: 2.5 to 3 hrs.
• Difficulty Level: Easy to Medium.
• Endurance and Stamina Level: High.
• Best time to visit from rainy season to winters.

Tips

1. Carry about 3 litres of water.
2. Use good grip trekking shoes/ketoes, wear track pants and full sleeve shirts as the hills are full of wild shrubs.
3. The Tavli hill can be trekked from Badlapur side as well; but the route is treacherous and very difficult, no villager is there on this route, hence one can easily lose track of the location and eventually get lost. Hence use this route only if you are a professional trekker with ample trekking experience.

KEEP NATURE AND SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE CLEAN