When Menon proposed that we go to this beautiful place called Varandha Ghat, we were more than willing. The plan was to go to Varandha Ghat and see the scenery which we had often seen on internet, find a waterfall deserving of our fun, and then go to a Shiv temple about which only Menon had some vague idea. So one fine Saturday morning, we started.

Varandha Ghat is a mountain passage in the Western Ghats. It cuts the Western ghats to join the town of Bhor to Konkan and thus connects Pune and the Konkan region. The place has an abundance of natural beauty and lush green forests, tall mountains, wildlife and waterfalls in monsoons are common place. Not as famous as the Tamhini ghat, Varandha ghat is still a great weekend getaway from Pune.

It was raining when we started, but it has rained so much this year that we have become nearly immune to it. The car was Menon’s and the driver (himself) was free. One good thing about this trip was, that unlike the Lonavala route, we did not have to negotiate through the roads of Pune. Instead, all we required was to take a left turn from Fatima Nagar towards IBM and then go to Katraj. Very soon the Katraj ghat started, and though it’s a small one, we started getting the feeling of outdoors.

The big dam we saw on the way

The road from Katraj was National Highway 4 and we continued on it for sometime till after Kapurhol from where we had to take a right turn for Bhor. The road from here was narrower but traffic was very less so we maintained our speed. We were still on plains and mountains look quite distant. We came across a dam called Bhatghar dam which has a hydel power station with it. It was small government township with inhabitants mostly from the hydel project.

And the nature started seducing us ..

From Bhor, we turned right towards the Varandha Ghat road, slowly gaining altitude. The condition of the road deteriorated a little but was still good. The scenery now started turning beautiful, the greenery increased and the wet mountain breeze lifted our moods. There were one or two beautiful spots with lush green grass, trees and houses mixed in the perfect shades.

On our way, we saw a shepherd boy standing atop a mound and looking at the horizon at a distance. This photographs shows a special symmetry between him and the elements.

We even found one waterfall, big and seemingly safe enough to go and take a bath. It had started raining by then and the flow of water increased substantially. As Menon went under the fall wearing his spec, it broke into two by the sheer force of the water. Since he was our prime driver, he had to complete the rest of the drive on glasses borrowed from Mitesh. Lesson learnt: Do not mix specs and glasses.

Excited people at the waterfalls

More fun 🙂

Varandha Ghat is a beautiful place. There is a point at which the mountain takes a U-bend. On one side the roads goes, cut into a hill bend and on other side, beyond the valley are steep hills, so green that they almost look photo-shopped. Combined with clouds, some mist and waterfalls, it makes for a perfect landscape portrait.

Varandha Ghat

Green ravines and more waterfalls

From Varandha Ghat, we started towards Mahad and at a point, we had to take a right towards a very narrow road. This road was unlaid with only loose gravel, has sharp hair-pin bends and seems to descend almost to the sea level. Most of the time, it seemed we were the only people on the road. It was raining, visibility was poor and the drive, quite treacherous. Finally after a 45 minutes ascent and crossing of a mountain stream, we reached the small village of Shivthar.

Shivthar Ghal, lying at the base of the Sahyadri, is an important place for the Hindus in Maharashtra. It was at a cave in this place, that Samarth Ramdas, a famous guru of the region, stayed for 22 years and wrote his book ‘Dasbodh‘. It was also at this place that Chatrapati Shivaji’s first meeting with Samarth Ramdas took place. A monastery Samartha Seva Mandal, dedicated to the guru is built around the cave. This place is an abode of silent beauty, thick vegetation, mountains flanking it from all sides, waterfalls and streams. In fact, a big waterfall lies just next to the cave, ending in a stream which flows below the monastery. Looking at the serenity of this place, it is not hard to imagine why the guru chose to live here.

The water fall and stream near the Samarth Seva Mandal

We stayed for around one hour at Shivthar and left after having a nondescript but pricey lunch at one of the eateries there. The tourists had started arriving by this time and the place started getting crowded. The drive back was mundane, with most of us quite tired and sleepy. We managed to reach Pune by around 6:30 PM; a good one day’s drive far from the noise of the city.

Although we travelled to Varandha Ghat and Shivthar Ghal from Pune, the area is easily accessible from many other parts of the country. If you are staying in Mumbai, it is about a four hour drive to reach Varandha Ghat, so you can make the drive all in one day. You might want to spend the night in a neighbouring city like Satara, however, as trying to get back to Mumbai in one day would be exhausting.

From Hyderabad, you are looking at a 524 km drive, which could take you the better part of a day. You will find plenty of places along the way to stop for the night if you do not want to make the entire drive at once, including the city of Solapur. Keep in mind that there is a great deal of traffic on this road, since it is the main highway between Hyderabad and Mumbai, so it will be slow going at many times.

Those staying in Bangalore will have an even longer drive, as it is located about 750 km from Shivthar Ghal. The highway is in much better shape than the one between Hyderabad and Shivthar Ghal, however, so the total transit time is similar. There is also less traffic in this corridor, despite it being the main road between Bangalore and Mumbai.

Visitors with a hotel reservation for Shirdi who want to head to the Varandha Ghat can do so within one day, as it is about 270 km away. Keep it mind that this will take roughly five hours because of the state of the highway and the amount of traffic that is usually present, so you should plan to stay near Varandha Ghat on this excursion. Shirdi is a great place to commute from because it is full of culture and history itself, making it a great destination.

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Varandha Ghat, a set on Flickr.