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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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| Tavli peak seen from base village |
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| Thumb-shaped peak (Ganesh Karthik Pinnacle) - A unique rock formation! |
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| Shri Malanggad seen from Tavli |
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| Thumb-shaped peak (Ganesh Karthik) with Malang in the Background |
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| Beautiful peaks all around! |
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| Panch Peer - Sacred tombs of five Muslim Priests |
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| Aerial view of the Panch Peer |
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| 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:
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| White colored walls which can be seen from the Panch Peer hills |
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| Few more tombs at Dadima |
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Small Shiv Ling at Dadima
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| A big hutment at Dadima - Stay can be done here |
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Sant Gadge Baba Maharaj Ashram
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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
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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.
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| 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.
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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...
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| Our squad - Me, Nitin and Sai |
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| 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
- Carry about 3 litres of water.
- Use good grip trekking shoes/ketoes, wear track pants and full sleeve shirts as the hills are full of wild shrubs.
- 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.
