The Koraigad Trek

As its been with we CGI guys, we love small treks and treks in rains is far more fun. But this time around we planned a trek in hot October. Thanks to Indian government and Father of Nation “Gandhiji”, 2^nd October we planned a trek to Koraigad. Learning from my previous experiences, I sent mails well in advance to all, and many decided to come. But as it turned out, we were only six of us on the day. Prasad Sawant(sniper - with his NIKON camera gun), Prasad (the dude) Shirsat , Jayakumar, Ankit(last trek before marriage), Amit and myself started our travel early in the morning.

Ankit coordinated with the vehicle and picked up all of us from respective spots. Me from Andheri, Prasad from Bandra, Prasad and Amit from Sion and Jaya from Vashi. This trek was going to be a bit different.

We finally manage to reach Lonavala at about 09:30 am. A quick breakfast on our way to Lonavla at the Food Court was the only halt. We took some time off at Tiger Point to take some snaps. This is nothing more than another scenic spot blissfully spoilt by the public. Makes me wonder what’s the point in even visiting the spot to enjoy the scenery ahead when you’re dirtying the ground on which you stand? We came across few nice birds here.

To the Basepoint – Peth Shahapur

Ideally, had you been in a small group you’d prefer to take a Bus to the Peth-Shahapur village which is about 25kms from Lonavala town and start the trek from there. But then again you’d have to check for the bus timings and probably start a bit early from the town. The road connecting Lonavala town and Peth-Shahapur village and further down the Sahara city has been maintained exceptionally well. Enroute you get to see quite a few cascades. We managed to pataofy a local boy to accompany us uphill.

The walk uphill - Kille Koraigad

The Koraigad peak looks highly challenging when seen from the base. But believe me, even my four year niece would easily take on it! A path to the left from the base point takes you up to a small tableland and from there you just need to follow the path. If you’re fortunate enough, you could get to walk through streams that flow from the peak. About 20 minutes into the walk you’d be seeing steps up to the fort and from then on it’s just about running uphill. Even before you realize the distance you’ve covered, you’d be 3,000 Ft above MSL. There is one quite big cave and Ganapati temple midway. If well maintained it could easily accommodate fifty guys.

Once you reach the peak you realize how deceiving the fort looks from the base. I was expecting to see a small strip of land and nothing more than that. But there was a lot more in store - A vastly spread out table land with a couple of decently big fresh water ponds and thankfully, they were not even remotely spoilt! It is a big fort indeed. In its old golden years must have been pretty huge. Some remains of its past glory are still visible. The hilltop looked sunny yellow as the grass flowers covered the whole place.

Now a days major attraction of this place is nothing but the helicopter view of the Sahara City from top. It looked really cool… so many bungalows and such a well designed city, with all facilities, adventure sports, health club, dedicated water reservoir. An air-strip running east-west. Cool place.

All the water that we had in our bags was over by this time and everyone was so thirsty…we had our small lunch, apple each, and approached one of the ponds on the top. A small halt there and we soon started our way down the hill and reached the base point in about thirty minutes.

Bhushi Dam

As it has been a kind of tradition, we had a halt at Bunshi dam also. The crowd is usually thick here, but as it was off season, we could hardly spot a big gang. Some few were still interested to go into the waters and directly jumped into the dam. Brave but too dangerous. Ohh did I make a mansion of Nimbu-pani? Noooo? We had two brief rounds of Nimbu-pani on at the foot of the dam and on at the hill top near the dam. It took something like 10minutes for the vendor to prepare six glass of it… I everyone hoped it would be something special. But, it was a major disappointment for us.

Moments after the disappointing nimbu-pani shot, we decided to leave the place and get back to Lonavala We had our tummies full @Radha Krishna. Bought some chikki, fudge and sharbat from the famous Purohit’s and jumped into the car again. A beautiful location was spotted on our way back from where you get a panorama view of Kune fall and the konkan kada . taking some snaps was so irresistible. By 8.30 pm reached home pretty comfortably!

A sweet simple trek to enjoys nature’s bounty. Indeed a beautiful place to be!

Trek Info:

Route: Lonavala > Peth-Shapur Village >> Koraigad

Distance: Approx 30kms from lonavala town

Time : Uphill: 45mins| Downhill: 30minutes.

Transport: Preferably hire a cab

Best time to visit: Monsoon!

Endurance: low | Difficulty : low