This post is a little old, it was probably in 2018 when I went to visit Akolemaz District located in Maharashtra state of India. This was the time when I was so lost in travelling alone that I forgot everything and reached among the tribals. Due to the love I received from the tribal community, I stayed at a place called Bhandarra for 3 months. It was during that time that I did this trek in which I reached the top of a 400-year-old fort.
I was in Solang Valley at that time when I got a job, the job was that I would have to go to Bhandarra and do a recce of a 65 km long route there. This route will also include the highest peak of Maharashtra named 'Kalsubai', its height from sea level is 1646 meters, the route will go from Kalsubai to the famous forts of this area named Alang, Madan and Kulang and reach Uddavane village.
From here onwards, the route will go from Ghatan Devi Temple, touch Sandan Valley, climb to Ratangarh Fort and then descend from Pobargarh to Bhandarra Dam, end at Sandi Village, which will end at the dam built on the Krishnavanti River. This was my first time in this area and I was feeling a little strange. I was completely unaware of the people and geographical conditions here. While staying in Sandi, I came to know that these tribals are more kind and honest people than the city people.
One morning, I wake up early with Raghu, whose house I was staying, have breakfast and after packing one of our bags, we leave on Raghu's motorbike, which we park after about 30 km in Samard village. From here our walking path will start which will take us through the hilly paths to the top of Ratangarh Fort. Today I am very excited because of the new place and meeting new people.
It is the month of January and I was surprised that it can be so cold even in the West of India, the temperature used to go down to a minimum of 8 degrees at night and there used to be a lot of dew. The effect of this cold is clearly visible on the vegetation here. While walking, I am looking at the grass turning yellow in the daylight which is waiting for the winter to go away and the rains to arrive.
While walking above Samard village, Raghu says that this is the last tree on our trek, there will be no trees above this. Hearing this information, I click a photo of this tree. Although the height of this place is only 1300 meters, but still the tree line ends at a very low level here, whereas I tell Raghu that in the Himalayas, the tree line ends at about 3500 meters. Hearing my information, he says that it is my dream to do trekking in the Himalayas.
After saying this to Raghu, I take a sip of water, “Welcome to the Himalayas anytime”. There are high rocky mountains here, these mountains stand straight and it seems that how people must have come here 400 years ago and how they must have thought of building forts on top of them. After reaching some height, we see the village of Samarda visible below. The trail is going right along the mountain. Raghu asks me if I am not scared on such a trail because when tourists come here from Mumbai and Pune, they get very scared seeing the ravine present below.
Walking at a fast pace, I just say that "When you do trekking in the Himalayas, I will show you a 2500 meter deep ravine and there is a path where two people cannot walk together". We sit down after about 4 km and dry the sweat on our forehead. Sitting, we look at the water collected in the Bhandaradara dam visible in the distance, we can see this water even from such a distance. While sitting, we can see all the mountains located nearby but we cannot see the forts on top of them.
To see the Kila built on the top of the mountains, one has to go to the top otherwise it is impossible to see the Kila. On the way we meet a tribal uncle who is returning to the village before dark after grazing his goats. He has about 80 goats with him and some dogs who bark at me. Raghu handles the situation and after talking to the uncle we move ahead. Ratangarh Top, Alang Mountain and Kalsubai Mountain are visible at a reasonable distance.
Our water gets finished by noon, when I feel thirsty Raghu goes and brings water from the mountain which I drink and quench my thirst. I did not know that water also flows in the mountains here. Raghu says that we drink this water whenever we climb the mountain. About 15 minutes after drinking water, my stomach starts aching, I do not know when the pain which started slowly turned into a very severe pain. I tell Raghu that I am not feeling well and my stomach has started aching.
Raghu had no option so he advised us to go back. I had to accept his advice with a heavy heart. On the way back I insisted on seeing the water spot which was 50 meters away from the main path while groaning in pain. Raghu showed me the water and after seeing it I understood that my stomach pain had started after drinking this water. There were insects in the water and dung of unknown animals was also mixed in it.
I told Raghu that we have to increase the speed otherwise we will get late in descending and my health will deteriorate further. We cover the distance of about 6-7 km in one and a half hours. By the time we reach Sandy, I get high fever. Raghu brings fever medicine from the village doctor and gives me food after which I try to sleep while groaning in pain.
So this was a very painful journey half way to Ratangarh fort where we could not reach even though we were going. In the next post I will complete this journey and bring the Ratangarh Fort in front of you A. See you in the next post, till then stay healthy and do not drink open water from unknown places.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Canon 77d camera and edited in lightroom.