Monsoon mania - drive to Malshej Ghat

My family was planning to visit my wife's cousin at Kharghar and then the famous Pandav kada waterfall on 8th Aug 2010. But the idea was dropped as he's on a trip. :sadblue On Friday (6th Aug 2010) evening I was standing near by the window in my office sipping hot coffee and watching the rain over the mangroves behind Mindspace (Malad), and then this thought came to my mind. Why to cancel the trip? Let’s go... but to where? :confused1 I was looking for weekend getaway places around Mumbai within 200KM and almost decided for Karnala bird sanctuary.

But again on my return journey home, I called my wife and the conversation follows.
(R–me, S-Wifey and Vedant- our 1yr old son)
R: Can you pack up for tomorrow morning? I am planning for a long drive.
S: OK, but where are we going?
R: Karnala bird sanctuary, it is ahead of Panvel on Goa highway.
S: No we are not going there. You will be busy taking photos without even considering that we exist...We'll go somewhere else.
R: Ok.... then what about a drive to Malshej.
S: that's ok, but what about Vedant? We'll keep him with my mother.
R: No...He’s also joining us.... we'll be starting at 6.30am tomorrow
S: Ok, then you also need to getup along with me at 5.00 to help me in packing. :up
R: hmmm...OK... :P

A flashback: I already visited this place in 2007 with my friends on bike. Since then my wife wanted to go there.

So on Saturday morning 7.15am, we started from Dombivili. Slight traffic was there as I stay near to the Railway station. But we were not in a hurry so let the autos and bikers pass. Filled petrol from the pump near MIDC sports complex and took the Kalyan-Shilphata road towards Kalyan. I avoided the Kalyan station road anticipating the rush of office going people and drove straight on the Agra road. Took right turn from Durgadi Fort (before the bridge on the Agra road.) and went straight on NH 222. That part of the road was bad till Shahad, full of potholes, but less traffic. Condition of the roads improved as we got out of the town area. It started drizzling by then and the road was looking fresh and smooth. I told myself that I am not going to rush; I have more than enough time in hand, so I'm going to enjoy the drive…Limited max speed to 80KMPH and started cruising towards Murbad. Punto was giving responding excellently equally on good and bad roads. Vedant also looked fresh and was playing with his mother and saying something on his own language.

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Took first break at Saralgaon for tea and saw hot vada and aloo bhajiya. Couldn't resist from buying it!!! It was awesome. ::V Halted somewhere in between for photos after a fifteen minutes drive from there, The whole place was looking beautiful with different shades of green and black tarmac to give contrasting look. Handed over the camera to my wife when we started, she managed it very well holding the kid and camera (which weighs around a kg) ::T . Reached the Ghat roads at around 10.30 and started climbing gently as I am not aware of the road condition there.

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My plan was to go straight to the MTDC resort, fill our stomach and walk around. So I did not stop on any of the waterfalls on the way. We saw around 20 small falls and many people were enjoying under it. After some more turns the visibility reduced to few meters due to mist and all the vehicles were moving with their headlights and fogs turned on and many of them turned on their hazard lights also. (This is a practice here to use the hazard lights on when there is a reduction in visibility due to rain or fog. though it may be confusing)

I saw an empty truck and decided to follow it keeping safe distance, so not much visibility issues. There were may State Transport buses (laal dabbas), and those drivers were driving like crazy. Gave way to all who were in a hurry. But in between this I missed the MTDC resort. I told my wife to keep looking for the resort's board on the left, but nothing was visible there. ::O So we went straight to the Lake. Heavy rains started when we stopped near the lake, so kept the camera in the car and went out. I had a bad experience with water entering the camera and damaging my Fuji S5700 beyond repairs. So don’t want to take chance with D60.

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After 15mts took a U turn and drove back to the Ghats (missed the resort this time also), stopped at one big fall and took some snaps. There were some group of drunken men in a Tempo Trax shouting and dancing there. We felt quite uncomfortable and drove towards the tunnel and the Mandir. Parked the vehicle in a "safe" place (near to the falling rocks caution board) and went to the Mandir for a darshan and had a hot tea from the tea stall near by. We also experienced “Water rise”, that is water droplets are swept back by the cold wind. Vedant was very happy and wanted to get down and walk. Allowed him to walk on a platform and then took him to the small fall near by (where the water falls over the road). But he got frightened and started crying so took him back to the safety of Grande Punto. Punto also enjoyed being under a waterfall (near the Mandir). I think there are not many places where we can take drive into a waterfall and came out without any damages. Wifey was shouting “ohhh…my…God, it’s a natural car wash!!!!”

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Started back home at around 12.30 and stopped at a petrol pump to refill (just for the sake of using their wash room to change the wet clothes and take a break). : On the way back stopped at a place for snaps. There were small children selling some kind of wild flowers. Wifey had a chat with them and bought some bunches. She told this would be a help for them as all of them are school going and they sell these flowers on a weekend to earn some money to support their parents.

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Then it was a non stop drive it was raining heavily and we reached Kalyan at 3.00pm. There was a small traffic jam due to a S.T bus brake down. While moving slowly, one biker came from left and scratched the bumper on the left and was giving me the looks like I banged him. :shocked Neglecting his looks, asked him to move on in sign language and checked the damage after parking at a safe place. It was just a small scratch; thanked God and started form there. By that time we were feeling hungry, so decided to stop for filling our stomach. Had lunch from “Nandi Palace” on Kalyan-Shilphata road and reached home around 5.00pm.

The best part of the trip was the shades of green, misty memories, the falls and rise of water and zero fatigue. On reaching home, wifey asked "Where we are going next weekend?” A full-grown smile was my reply :cool

Nice Travelogue Rajiv. With all those beautiful pictures and your narration took me through the road again. The raw beauty of Malshej is majestic. Every time I go there, I find something new. Last time I went at the peak of summer with my Punto, but weather was so chilled in the Ghat, I put off the AC and rolled down the windows.

Thanks nmp...

Moderators, I am facing a problem with image placing, I placed the images in a specific order, but got shuffled up... ::O

--Rajeev

Rajeev ... awesome place man .. should have called us all along

Awesome pics! Seen and heard a lot about Malshej ghats in the monsoons. Sadly, haven't got a chance to get there yet.

I hope the order is now ok..? ::T

Looks like you had a great weekend!! Beautiful place... roads also look good..

Could we see some bigger pics.... it would do justice to your camera as well!! :mrgreen:

It is still raining and this place is not too far...just decide and vroooom.. :redcar

Thaks Ravi...I just hate the scrollbars..but I'll upload some more snaps with a greater resolution.

Thanks Chaos...Now it is in proper order. :

No comments !!!! :lol: