Trip Planning -
It all started with "A Plan" which was random and organised by one of the most humble persons i have come across in my life.... Firstly thanks to Osmund D'Cunha who organised this so called "Trek" to a very remote place and made sure everyone of the invited people shows up. Also a big thanks to everyone who was part of this trip who journeyed along making it one of the most memorable and eye opener trips of each and everyone's life.
The planning started with 8 people initially and went upto 14 which eventually ended up with 18 people coming together to explore the unknown.
Organizer -
Osmund D'Cunha grappling down
Team -
The fun began with everyone finishing there days work on Friday and gathering from different locations and converging. Our mode of transport was the reliable "Mumbai ki Jaan" the local train.. Everyone co-ordinated to the tee and met on the last local towards Kasara. We reached Kasara station at 3:15 in the morning.
Travelling in the train was real fun as few regulars showed us way to enjoy peaceful sleep on the train "couch"
don't know what these guys were upto
Pic-1
Pic-2
However we had loads of fun chit chatting with old and new friends...
On the station we had quick cup of tea and then loaded ourselves with more water bottles (which eventually helped us survive) and started to move on. We had hired a local cab guys to drop us to the base village of the trek to our contacts. From kasara after few minutes of inhaling fresh morning air we started our journey towards the village called "Samradh" which is approximately 90kms from Kasara station. The road was nice for a short while till we were on the national highway 3 but as we moved away from the highway it was a typical country side road you will find in India.... The road towards the village was not well laid. Since it was early morning we didn't get any traffic, but the air was really breezy and cool. One could feel the change in air intake.
Around 6:00 we reached the Samradh village and were dropped off to our contact.
We took rest for some time, had our breakfast here at the village i.e. normal "Poha" and "Chai".. the best part was both were unlimited :)
Once all the morning stuff was done with, everyone begun to get charged up and ready for the adventure that was to be bestowed upon us in few moments.
Finally the trek started at 8:15AM in morning with everyone geared up and ready to go. No one at time realised what was in stored for us and how the trek would shape up.
Our trek guide :)
Route
Initial route is very nice surrounded by trees and loads of greenery and you will be mesmerized by that. As we followed the route we also saw some pug marks (according to the guide were of tigers ;) which we doubted)
Now the trek starts.......
It seemed to be a normal trek from this point and everyone thought it will be easily covered... but as soon as we started to descend (yes it was a trek downwards a water bed which actually is a big waterfall in rainy season and which converges into a river at bottom)
As we kept going down we soon realized that the trek was not an easy one and we are in for a long day ahead. We had read about the trek briefly and knew its not an easy one also budget was very tight so couldn't arrange for a proper trek group.
Moving ahead we encountered our first hurdle a small pool which was crossed with some effort :)
Once this massive hurdle was crossed we got split into two teams as the larger team of 10 was planning on site seeing and trolling. We the group of 8 started our descend
Soon we reached the horizon from where we could actually get the right feel of the trek.
And we started our descend. Mind you for those who are reading this and viewing the pictures our group of 8 inexperienced trekkers descended the trail by ourselves without any help from our guide who was left far behind.
Once the food was done and dusted and everybody re-energized we had two options
a- Go back up from another shortcut and easy route with the guide and take a bus / jeep from village above
b- to keep walking alongside the river bank and reach 24kms off to a next village and take a tuk tuk or jeep to asangaon.
We selected the second option and started our long never ending walk.
It all started with "A Plan" which was random and organised by one of the most humble persons i have come across in my life.... Firstly thanks to Osmund D'Cunha who organised this so called "Trek" to a very remote place and made sure everyone of the invited people shows up. Also a big thanks to everyone who was part of this trip who journeyed along making it one of the most memorable and eye opener trips of each and everyone's life.
The planning started with 8 people initially and went upto 14 which eventually ended up with 18 people coming together to explore the unknown.
Organizer -
Team -
The fun began with everyone finishing there days work on Friday and gathering from different locations and converging. Our mode of transport was the reliable "Mumbai ki Jaan" the local train.. Everyone co-ordinated to the tee and met on the last local towards Kasara. We reached Kasara station at 3:15 in the morning.
Travelling in the train was real fun as few regulars showed us way to enjoy peaceful sleep on the train "couch"
don't know what these guys were upto
Pic-1
Pic-2
However we had loads of fun chit chatting with old and new friends...
On the station we had quick cup of tea and then loaded ourselves with more water bottles (which eventually helped us survive) and started to move on. We had hired a local cab guys to drop us to the base village of the trek to our contacts. From kasara after few minutes of inhaling fresh morning air we started our journey towards the village called "Samradh" which is approximately 90kms from Kasara station. The road was nice for a short while till we were on the national highway 3 but as we moved away from the highway it was a typical country side road you will find in India.... The road towards the village was not well laid. Since it was early morning we didn't get any traffic, but the air was really breezy and cool. One could feel the change in air intake.
Around 6:00 we reached the Samradh village and were dropped off to our contact.
We took rest for some time, had our breakfast here at the village i.e. normal "Poha" and "Chai".. the best part was both were unlimited :)
Once all the morning stuff was done with, everyone begun to get charged up and ready for the adventure that was to be bestowed upon us in few moments.
Finally the trek started at 8:15AM in morning with everyone geared up and ready to go. No one at time realised what was in stored for us and how the trek would shape up.
Our trek guide :)
Route
Initial route is very nice surrounded by trees and loads of greenery and you will be mesmerized by that. As we followed the route we also saw some pug marks (according to the guide were of tigers ;) which we doubted)
Now the trek starts.......
It seemed to be a normal trek from this point and everyone thought it will be easily covered... but as soon as we started to descend (yes it was a trek downwards a water bed which actually is a big waterfall in rainy season and which converges into a river at bottom)
As we kept going down we soon realized that the trek was not an easy one and we are in for a long day ahead. We had read about the trek briefly and knew its not an easy one also budget was very tight so couldn't arrange for a proper trek group.
Moving ahead we encountered our first hurdle a small pool which was crossed with some effort :)
Once this massive hurdle was crossed we got split into two teams as the larger team of 10 was planning on site seeing and trolling. We the group of 8 started our descend
Soon we reached the horizon from where we could actually get the right feel of the trek.
And we started our descend. Mind you for those who are reading this and viewing the pictures our group of 8 inexperienced trekkers descended the trail by ourselves without any help from our guide who was left far behind.
the trek downwards is of approximately 4kms and is actually not a trek but rock climbing as most of the times one would be navigating through big boulders and there lil cousins. The trek is very demanding and requires good skill to complete it properly. We were very lucky that all of us survived and completed the trek safely. Once at the foothill we had food and loads of water. The food was very basic - Dal, rice, rotis, bhaji (mostly water).
Once the food was done and dusted and everybody re-energized we had two options
a- Go back up from another shortcut and easy route with the guide and take a bus / jeep from village above
b- to keep walking alongside the river bank and reach 24kms off to a next village and take a tuk tuk or jeep to asangaon.
We selected the second option and started our long never ending walk.
Once the "walk" was complete and after 9 long hours and 30kms we reached the base village from where we took a shared jeep to drop us off to asangaon (nearest station).
Forgot to add there are two point during the downhill traverse where one has to rappel down. One is a 50ft rappelling and another one is a 20ft rappelling.
ReplyDeleteFor the 50ft rappelling point we used the help of guide as it was bit steep. For the second 20ft rappelling point we the group of 8 did it just using our bare hands and legs and somehow luckily moved ahead. It was once heck of an experience. We waited and waited and finally made our move once everyone was` ok.