Shivneri - Malshej Ghat - Ozar
July 2016
Best Time to Visit: Monsoon
May 2016, my family members decided to book MTDC Malshej Resort for a single night stay. Our motive was to relax for a day. Everything was unplanned except staying at the resort. Weekends are fully packed at this resort during monsoon season, hence we decided to book it on a Friday. Due to heavy rains, frequent landslides occurred a week before and this was enough to sow a seed of doubt in our mind. However, as we had already made reservations, we were in “Let's Go” situation. The route from Mumbai to Malshej Ghat was closed due to heavy landslide and the only operational route was Pune to Malshej Ghat. It was a blessing in disguise as it was indeed a scenic journey with less crowd on road due to Ashadi Ekadashi (Holy day with special significance for the Hindu's)
Our mode of transport was our very own Honda City :)
Road trip route:
I would like to give some statistics about our journey.
Total distance covered by our car: ~223 KM
Petrol expenses: Rs.1000
Toll charges: Rs.62Hotel /Home-stay bookings: Rs.4225
Itinerary:
15/07:Shivneri and Malshej Ghat
16/07: Lenyadri and Ozar
Entire route map
15/07: Shivneri and Malshej Ghat
Shivneri:
We started at 8:40 AM and reached Shivneri fort by 11:30 AM. It took us approximately an hour to reach the top. Shivneri Fort is the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,the founder of Maratha Empire.This was the cleanest and easiest fort to climb as it is very well maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). Weather was pleasant our happiness to visit such a historic place was unimaginable.
Few snaps we had on Shivneri fort:
Malshej Ghat
By 2:30 PM we began our journey towards Malshej Ghat, MTDC Resort. It was one of the most scenic destination we have visited in Maharashtra. It was an 8 KM picturesque drive from Shivneri Fort. God willing the weather turned whiz-bang only after we reached the MTDC resort. This has definitely been a heavenly and satisfying experience. The rooms at the MTDC were ok. We booked A-deluxe room for 4.
The view from this resort is stunning and one wonders at the beauty and uncertainty of changing weather conditions. Weather changes every 5 minutes with some drizzles and fog. A feeling of peace with nature - indeed a mesmerizing experience.
 |
| Main Malshej ghat view point. |
 |
| Chess Board at the MTDC Resort |
 |
| View from the MTDC Resort |
My Kiddo in the last photo. He is also fond of traveling.
15/07: Lenyadri and Ozar
Early morning we left for Lenyadri. Lenyadri is one of famous Ashtavinayak shrines and also known for series of about 30 rock-cut caves. Located in Junnar, about 110 kms from Pune the caves are located in a middle of a cliff. You will see lot of monkeys and some of them even causing nuisance sometimes.We started climbing at 11:30 am and reached base again by 1 PM. It was drizzling and weather was pleasant for climbing. We had simple meal and left for another Ashtavinayak temple, Ozar. It was 2 PM by the time we reached the Ozar temple. There is small beautiful lake nearby. Temple was not much crowded and we could easily take the darshan. The journey from Lenyadri to Ozar is amidst the onion farms and with very few vehicle plying on the road.
Will like to thank Neelam Sharma for reviewing my blog content :)
For more photo's, you can follow @sagarbidkar/@saylibidkar on instagram.
