Visit to Elephanta Caves

Today on 13^th day of June 2015, I was excited to visit the Elephanta caves  with my colleague.

We decided to meet at Andheri station at 7:00 am in the morning and board a train towards churchgate from Andheri,I was eager for the excitement more than usual as it was a journey with my colleague whom i was going to meet after a year.

All the excitement and the plan delayed!(was in so deep sleep that the alarm just didn’t ranged for a dead person like me!  Got an where about call from friends at 6:50am)

So the day begins with a wake-up call and with no preparations, due to procrastination of packing the required material for trip and the haste of trip in mind moved the things faster than usual, Just got ready within 20 minutes and left to Goregaon station to board a train for Andheri.

Reached Andheri and a small talk with friends happened on the way while boarding the next fast local towards Churchgate from Andheri.

Boarded the train from andheri at 7:50 am don’t remember the exact time of train, reached Churchgate at 8:30 am and loaded some snacks at the Churchgate station to for our journey.

We then went to board a taxi for gateway of India at the taxi stand, decided to take a shared taxi with charges of Rs.10 per head, which took 10 minutes to reach the destination.

After reaching gateway of India at 8:55 am, we purchased a ferry ticket to Elephanta island which was Rs. 160 for round trip, the tickets were sold by the agents standing to the left side of gateway of India there were 2 agents in the morning but while returning time there were around 4-5 agent selling tickets. No need to find them they keep shouting like "boat ka ticket boat ka ticket" or "Elephanta ka tickets".

The first ferry to Elephanta island is at 9:00 am and the ferry from the island to gateway of India is at 12:00 noon and the last ferry is at 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm respectively. These ferries are at interval of 1 hour as per officials timings, but we observed that there were ferries at interval of 10 minutes maybe the frequency got peaked due to increased number of tourists.

After purchasing tickets it was sharp 9:00 am and the boats were ready for their first trip to Elephanta caves, the crews were anchoring the boats so as to make it convenient for everyone to board on the boat. The distance from gateway of India to Elephanta island is 14km(8.5 miles).

We all in haste were the first to board it to manage a seat on upper deck by paying Rs.10 extra to the boat operator but it’s worth the view. There were around total 50-60 persons in the boat with most of the people as tourist and some were local vendors transporting cold drinks and other stuffs to island.

A passenger boat

The enthralling ride through the Arabian Sea started leaving the hustle and bustle of Mumbai to a journey back in time, the ferry gives view to gigantic Naval Ships anchored to the base at various docks such as Mazagaon, Victoria, Pirpau Jetty and Butcher Island.

View of Mumbai

Mazgaon Dock

There is no roof for the upper deck of the boat so as the rain started heavily it was difficult to prevent from getting wet even with an umbrella as the sea winds were too harsh in the middle of the sea added the bobbing of boat makes it difficult to balance yourself, so we just got on the lower deck and the view from there was not bad as we thought and it was a pleasant experience to enjoy the view from the lower deck too.

The color of water resembles the color of mud and the water is completely polluted with the waste in it which you will see throughout the route.

View from Upper deck

View from lower deck

Genmar Phoenix- Crude Oil Tanker

AHTS Excelsior

After travelling for 50 minutes we reached The Elephanta island at 10:00 am, The coolness of the breeze, dense fog and harsh winds of the monsoon season made the footfall on island an pleasant experience.

Elephanta Island

There is a ticket counter that charges you the entry fee for the island (entry fee for the caves is excluded) it is Rs.5 for adult, Rs. 3 for children, Rs.1 per head for children’s who come for picnic arranged by schools. The charges are same for NRI.

The island has 3 temples Shivji, Gaondevi and Someshwar, a Dam and is home for 2000 people inhabiting across 3 villages on the island. The people here depend on the business from tourism, agriculture and most of them come far from the island to Mumbai for education, work etc. The local people have no facility on the island except the electricity which is provided hardly for 4-5 hours, generated using a diesel generator. The island has an Elephanta dam which supplies drinking water to the locals here.

These local people use the boat for travelling to and fro from the island. So these boats are running throughout the year and stops only when the water route for the island experiences harsh winds of the monsoon seasons, But when the last of the wooden ferry boats leaves at nightfall for the mainland 14 kilometres (8.5 miles) away, the villagers who live permanently on the island are plunged into darkness.

After passing the ticket counter there is a toy train available which is hardly 400 metres train journey. Its ticket cost is Rs. 10 and till the time it starts you would reach the train destination point. When we reached at 10:00 am the servicing of train was been performed to make it operational for the day. So we decided to walk along the way so that we could enjoy the scenic view.

At the entry there are many small shops which sell eatable items such as star fruits, java plum, roasted sweet corn, mangoes(seasonal based fruit), raw mangoes and berries sprinkled with chillies and salt and rates are normal and are sold at the same price as what you would get it at gateway of india.

The price is Rs.10-15 on average for chopped pieces of these fruits. The packaged foods such as chips and cold drinks prices are 50% more than the MRP. The charges above MRP are due to the transportation cost to the island.

There is a garden and 3 restaurants adjacent to the stairs which leads to the Elephanta caves. The average meal cost will be between Rs.300 - Rs.400 and the quality is normal and not that cheap.

These stairs are neatly carved and provide a stronger grip so you can walk or run on them easily, there is also a chair service available for persons who have difficulty climbing the stairs. There are troops of monkeys on the first few stairs maybe due to the availability of food items in nearby shops. If you purchase an eatable item here from these shops keep it in your bag before leaving the shop else the monkeys will follow you if they find something interesting in your hand.

Monkeys sitting on a tree

There are around 200 stairs just a guess didn’t made an attempt to count those, finished climbing in 12-15 minutes. There are around 100-150 stalls lined along the sides of these steps selling beautiful artifacts, paintings, jewellery, Indian traditional souvenirs, bags and much more and if you climb on by looking the interesting items that are been displayed by these stalls it would take much more time.Just remember to bargain before purchasing anything.

As you finish climbing the steps you can see the board of Elephanta caves been displayed on your right side this is starting point of caves and you would not see a single vendor or any kind of shop ahead this point.

You need to buy the entry ticket to cave from the ticket counter over here. It’s Rs. 10 for adult and Rs.5 for children it’s free for children below 15 years of age and for NRI it is Rs. 250.

Board put up by ASI near the main cave

I don’t remember the minute details about the carved Hindu and Buddhist sculptures explained by the guide wish I could note down all of them.

The first cave is the main cave with nine carved structures and a “Shiv Pind”, it will take probably 60% of your cave's viewing time. The structure of the carvings is severely destroyed and one could barely understand what they depict by observing it.

The Main cave

Shiva as Mahayogi

Nataraja

Ardhanarishwara

Maheshmurti

It’s better if you avail the guide service for understanding them. The guide service is generally free but we didn’t found a free guide and we paid Rs. 150. The guide explained it well for about 30 minutes in detail and was a bit boring in between to remember the list of names of the people associated with the history of these caves.

One point which stunned me was the excellent craftsmanship of the people who carved these rocks beautifully even before the discovery of metals, they were carved completely using a small hand-made piece out of hard stone and took 120 years to complete it, the geometric aspect of the caves and the angles of the pillars in which they are carved out is amazing.

The main cave is carved with a precise geometrical calculations in such a way that the first ray of sunlight that enters the cave touches the "Shiv Pind" inside this cave, the pillars are constructed in an angle that if you view from any corners of the main cave you will see the face of at least one carved idol.

There is a booklet of ASI(Archaeological survey of India) available at the ticket counter which you can purchase, it contains much detailed description of the caves.

There are security guards protecting these structures from people who write their names on these beautiful historical monuments while some people even climb on these carved structure just to take the close view of the carved scenes around them, No these climbing people are not monkeys these events happen and were described by the security guards when we interacted with them.

Left subcave

The left sub-cave of the main cave was under the probability that the rocky entrance of this cave may collapse and thus you can see the six pillars on which the rocky entrance is reinforced for supportability.

These are the pillars that were built by the Govt. of India later with the permission of UNESCO. As it is a World heritage site the changes here can’t be done directly by the government of India and if there are any changes to be made then the change request is sent to the UNESCO(agency of United Nations). The request is then inspected by the UNESCO officers and if the change is utmost necessary then the request for change is approved.

UNESCO needs that these monuments be maintained as they were left by the Portuguese after destroying and not alter anything as it represents the precious historical details.

The way to Canon hill was closed during our visit for unknown reasons, so we couldn’t see the Canon at the Canon point which is the highest point of island. The trip to Elephanta cave was an beautiful experience and it’s the must visit place for historians.

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Trek to Kalavantin Durg

Got up today at 5:30 am for a trek to kalavantin durg. It was Monday, 22^nd June 2015 heavy monsoon days followed from Friday and Kalavantin durg been a trek with medium difficulty level was a bit tough for beginners like me.The day dawned with a mild monsoon climate arousing the possibility that it is going to hit Mumbai today too.

The rolling stones and the wet mud at Kalavantin are very risky during monsoon season can’t say when they might get you down in a second. So think twice before visiting it in heavy monsoon season and so did I, the excitement was the only factor which got me to do this as my second trek after karnala.

Plan was to be resheduled if the harbour trains were have been affected by the heavy rains. After waking up in the morning I realized a minor pain in my back and thought of skipping this trek but to give a knack to my trekking skills was my second thought and just followed it. So we all met at Panvel station at 8:20 am, had our breakfast and headed towards panvel bus stand.

The base village for kalavantin durg is thakurwadi so we were planning to reach thakurwadi by bus from Panvel bus depot. We reached the panvel bus depot at 9:00 am and found out that the next bus was at 9:50 am, the crowd of people at the bus stop made the probability of a seat in a bus to zero even after waiting for fifty minutes.

So we decided to ride by auto, the auto-driver was demanding Rs.400 but we negotiated and managed to ride in Rs.300. You can negotiate till Rs.250 as we later came to know from a villager at thakurwadi that they generally charge Rs.250.

So we plied by an auto and reached thakurwadi at 10:00 am, It took 40 minutes via auto, the roads were beautiful after diverting to local roads from NH-4 added the nature scenery was so tempting that I couldn’t resist to take the photo even at the cost of wetting my mobile phone in the mild rain. You will enjoy the view of Kirki river that passes across the road and is overflowed during monsoon season.

Vishal, ketan, Mehatab and me(Left to right)

The main route that leads to the kalavantin durg has a NOTI office on its right side.

NOTI Office

My colleagues Ketan, Mehatab, Vishal showed their trekking skills and moved ahead without taking any photos, so I was alone left clicking those beautiful shots, after this I ran about 300 metres to cover the colleagues trekking skill gap.

Photo clicked after getting down from Auto

River passing by the trek route

The uphill climb at the beginning of the route will make a beginner whacked. One of our group member Ketan made his was out of one of the most difficult and unwanted route that later joins the main route, which according to him was shortcut for reaching the peak point. We warned him of not doing it but he went ahead and later realized that there was no chance of descending back as it was a parlous route with rolling stones and loose muddy soil.

The one-way route

During this time rain started heavily and there was no visibility beyond 10 meters so we were squealing ketan by his name from the main route to track him and he was squealing from up and none of us could spot each other on either side.

There was no visibility at all. So we decided to keep all the baggages with Vishal and he would wait on the main route in case if ketan descends via main route to find us then vishal would convey us the message via phone call.

Then I and mehatab made an attempt to find him out by going through the route which Ketan took and after walking for some time we realized that it was just one way, the route was completely filled by rolling stones and loose mud with no option to back down not at least for beginners and medium level trekkers.

We tried descending back to reach the main route but this route was precarious and so we ascended ahead. Finally after a thirty minutes search operation we found him out and yelled at him for not following the group.

Trek route

I rested for sometime at the point where we found ketan, got exhausted by the one way trek route. Mehatab and ketan went down the way to collect the baggage’s left with Vishal soon they arrived at the point to join me. This was the time I respected Mehatab for his trekking stamina.

Trek route

We then had a mini breakfast at this point and then started trekking. The slope of route was bad for beginners and felt like I was doing a seventy degree vertical climb over the mountain but we didn’t stopped. In fact I required a small break but other members didn’t want to break their metabolism of reaching the peak point.

So we continued and reached at the point where the toughest point of climbing the dangerous steps of Kalavantin starts, We were splashed by the rain droplets along with violent winds which didn’t allowed us to sit there comfortably so we just hided ourselves behind a small rock over there.

Had a long break of 30 minutes behind this small rock despite the gales just to rejuvenate and feel better because the route ahead is very risky and need endurance to continue. I threw some paper pieces from my bag which were wet due to rain but the force of whirlwind moved the paper-pieces like a mixer.

A hotel on the trek route

Over here we had lots of fun with some of them frightening  by seeing the route, while some with thinking that it’s easy to climb but what if we couldn’t make the descend over from there and all blah blah.

Trek route to reach the peak point

Small rocky patch

At this height the wind speed was so violent that it could blew you up. A no-no for beginners to choose this point as trekking spot as their first one especially during heavy monsoons.

As the squall went away we started to climb the small rocky patch that leads to the steps of kalavantin. The route ahead was risky and two of our members choose to quit here.

A view from rocky patch

Mehatab shoes were lacking the grip required ahead this point as it was complete rocky patch with no soil to provide a grip and this rock wouldn’t  give you a dime of grip under such environmental circumstances.

Ketan was ready to ascend but he was thinking much about the descending part. Vishal came for this trek the second time and this time he was ready.

At this rocky patch we halted so that everyone gets comfortable with the stormy winds. We were at a height of 2000 ft at this moment.

Soon another wave of stormy winds started, we thought the winds we first experienced were the worst but these were horrible.

We hastily moved down from this rocky patch, the cool breezes with these violent winds droppped the surrounding temperature below 16 degree I guess.

We were completely shivering with cold even with windcheaters and complete head covered to prevent from the splashy rains droplets that hit you like someone attacking by throwing desert sand on you.

The worst thing was Vishal halted on that rocky patch for some more action and was welcomed by the violent winds and he was like where on this rock shall I hide from this storm.

The winds were so strong that he didn’t have the option to descend as you cannot balance yourself against such violent winds at this height provided Vishal was a trekker with medium experience.

After seeing the wilderness of the nature above Vishal also planned to quit, If he quitted it would have been the second time for him to descend from this point, the previous time he didn’t had grippy shoes was the reason for quitting.

So I took the risk of going ahead to test the route and descended back so that it would be easy for me to provide a review of the route. I ascended without seeing the depths of mountain else it would have been more difficult and descended it by sitting on the supportable rocky patch alongside the route and felt completely safe as there was nothing much to worry. After listening this review Ketan agreed and Vishal was boosted as it was difficult for backing down the second time from this point.

We insisted Mehatab but due to uncomfortability in his shoes he choosed to wait for us.

A view while climbing the steps

We then started from the rocky patch to reach the steps ahead, they were easy if you are an enthusiastic trekker but challenging if you take this as first trek during the heavy monsoon season. Mumbai was heavily hit by heavy monsoons that started from Friday so we were experiencing it on the fourth day that was Monday.

Vishal was willing to stop due to violent winds at some point but we made him reach the peak and as we reached we shouted like a fervid. We were happy as we overcomed many obstacles where we thought about quitting up and this was the second trek accomplished successfully.

We didn’t halted at the peak point for a long time as Mehatab was waiting for us. It was raining heavily still managed a small video recording via phone, the recorded video has an awesome wind sound captured with it and is similar to the sound of an Auto-rickshaw engine.

I was excited about the view from the height of 2300 ft but due to heavy rain nothing was clearly visible we halted for 10 minutes over there and then started descending down as Mehatab was waiting for us. You will enjoy small waterspouts during heavy rain at the peakpoint.

A view from the top point

Next thing was to visit the waterfall which we kept in our list while ascending, and have a spun-out break by enjoying the natural flora and fauna of the place.

Had some clicks after a long time as monsoon clouds disappeared in bright sunlight. We then made our sandwiches over here with the materials that we brought.

We then descended down and complete trek was done with 3 breaks a great accomplishment after karnala where we had a total of 5 breaks. At some point I was exhausted while ascending but the team-spirit made me continued.

We enjoyed this trek a much more than anyone could but we were challenged by the heavy monsoons, violent winds and the "one way route" of Ketan. Many trekkers avoid this trek during monsoon season but if you want to enjoy to the fullest I would recommend trekking it during monsoon season if you love trekking challenges with their risks. It is risky but its pays you out with double the enjoyment.

We reached the base village and then made a phone call to auto-driver for pickung us as we managed to take the contact number of the auto-driver who rided us from panvel station with the condition that he will charged Rs.50 extra for picking us up.

The adjoining trek destination prabalgad is yet to be done and I am sure about doing it till the end of this year.

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One day trek to karnala fort

This was my first trek and for most of my colleagues so we decided to select a trek point which would be easy for beginners so that everyone completes it, turning it as a catalyst for the trekking journeys to come ahead in this summer vacation. After a discussion to choose trekking point for beginners, we selected karnala near panvel and decided to trek it on 16 June 2015 with my colleagues.

We group of 8 people decided to meet on the eastern side of Juinagar railway station at 7:30 am as one of our colleague resides there so it was our meeting point, we all gathered as decided had our breakfast then boarded an auto-rickshaw to reach the nearest bus stop named Fisher Rose Mount Co. on Sion-Panvel expressway as the frequency of buses from expressway towards karnala is better than Panvel bus depot.

The auto drivers here allow four passengers to ride, generally it should be three but we were happy as allowing four made our job in two auto's as our group was of eight members, I was seating beside auto-driver and three of my colleagues seating on the back seat  which reminded me of the auto-ride in my native place where at least 4-5 people overload the auto-rickshaw.

We travelled through Hanuman mandir marg and reached near Sion-Panvel expressway in 10 minutes. It was an share rickshaw with charge of Rs.10 per head it, dropped us opposite to D.Y Patil university 100 metres away from our destination, we took a left turn and reached to other side of the road by crossing it to reach the bus stop.

We boarded a bus going to bhor which was not the correct bus it happened due to miscommunication with bus-conductor, he heard khandala instead of karnala and allowed us to board the bus on realizing it we got down at an unknown area probably it was Bherle village adjacent to Sion-Panvel expressway. Thanks to “ketan” who realized that the bus was not on the right way else we would have reached Khandala.

We then walked alongside Sion-Panvel expressway searching for bus stop, luckily we found it within five minutes, and from here we boarded a bus towards Panvel bus depot which is adjacent to Panvel station as we were sure that there will be buses from Panvel depot to Karnala fort.

Panvel ST depot

The bus ticket from Panvel to karnala is Rs.13, Bus will drop you at entrance of Karnala bird sanctuary. If you are in a group of eight or more you can  hire a “tum-tum” till karnala bird sanctuary, it will cost around Rs.200 from panvel if possible try to book the “tum-tum” service for return journey as the frequency of ST buses halting near Karnala exit point is not good. 

  

After getting down from bus, you will have to take the entry tickets for Karnala bird sanctuary, Karnala fort is located inside Karnala bird sanctuary. The ticket was Rs. 30 per head for adults and Rs. 15 for children’s (5 yrs.-12 yrs.) For foreigners its double the amount. You need to pay separate charges if you carry a camera.

A board on the left side of bus dropping point

Karnala bird sanctuary parking and entry charges.

Karnala Bird Sanctuary vehicle parking charges

Bags are checked here for non-biodegradable items such as plastic bottles, plastic bags etc. and some refundable deposit is collected from you if you carry such items, which specifies the condition that if the number of counted non-biodegradable items are same as what you got in while entering the sanctuary then complete deposit is refunded. We had some plastic bottles but don’t know why the personnel checking our bags left us without collecting any refundable deposits. I guess there was shortage of receipts that are issued against your refundable deposits which left us with a warning that maintain cleanliness and preserve the beauty of forest.

Entrance of Karnala bird sanctuary

After walking for 5-10 minutes there is a canteen and on the left side of it there are many boards that provide detailed information about the birds visiting here and the observatory points from which these birds can be spotted and much more. There are also rabbits and some caged birds such as peacock, black kite etc.

Enchanting Black Kite

The day was Tuesday on 16^th June and we saw about 40 trekkers throughout the journey, we started the trek at 9:30 am in the morning, there are various routes to reach the fort we took the route that passes from the backside of canteen.

Route at the backside of Canteen

There are many small crabs which you will encounter till 700-800 ft.

Two small crabs hiding below the stone

There were stones painted with distance left to reach the fort, the first stone which we encountered indicated that the distance was 2.15 km so we geared up for the experiences to come ahead. We took our first break after 600 meter which was followed by three more breaks at an average distance of 600 meters.

Waiting spots

You will see three such waiting spots if you take the route passing from backside of the canteen.

At least 2 litre’^s of water is needed for each person, there were many groups which we met who were facing shortage of water, so please carry sufficient amount of water and first aid kit specially medicines for headache, painkiller, dettol and bandages.

The trekking point is for beginners but try to wear stretchable trousers as there are some points on the route where you would feel uncomfortable wearing jeans especially on those wide distant stairs.

We ascended slowly and did not made an haste to reach the top of the fort, we had four breaks, first break for rest which was of 10 minutes, second break for eating which was of 15 minutes, third and fourth break for rest which were of 10 minutes each and the photo shoots time which was collectively around 15 minutes.

It was a sunny day with no signs of rain when we started and after covering half the distance suddenly there were clouds of rain, the breezy and roaring winds made us exhilarated and finally the rain droplets busted out the summer heat. The wonderful path, relaxing breaks, mind boggling scenes and the feeling of rain droplets made the first trek a remarkable one.

We then reached the peak point at 1:00 pm. The scenic view from this point is worth the pain you took to reach here. You can have an amazing 360 degree view from this place with naked eye at least till a distance of 20-22 kilometers on an average sunny day.The centre peak is the most difficult to trek and only recommended for experts, beginners cannot make it without safety gears.We didn't tried to climb over there but it will be in my TO-DO list for the next visit.

View from the top point

There are many points which can be seen from here such as Matheran, Prablamachi, Mumbai- Pune expressway and around seven rivers but it’s difficult to locate the points from here, remember to check out the Google maps before visiting this top point and try to get an compass with you so that you can easily locate the spots which you are viewing, a binoculars can give you a more better view.

                               

                        From top to bottom: Mehatab, Bithi, Vishal, Neha, Me, Aakash, Mukesh, Ketan.

After seeing the vast depth of the mountain it was feeling like jumping down with a parachute.We were completely covered by the monsoon clouds, thick fog and the swirling sound of breeze made the complete scenario a bliss.

We enjoyed our trekking experience by seeing the views from a height of 1440 feet and then finally decided to start descending at 2:50. While descending down we took only one break after 300 meters at a small tent and no other break at all after that don’t know what pushed us to that limit may be the achievement of completing the first trek successfully, and reached base at 4:10 pm.

Trek route

We had a long break of 1 hour at the canteen by having tea, coffee, Onion pakoda, another item available in canteen was “poha” which we didn’t tried as we were left with many snacks brought with us for trekking.

The canteen menu is not costly Onion Pakoda plate was Rs.25 with 6-7 pakodas, Lemon juice for Rs.10, tea and coffee for Rs. 10  and Poha for Rs. 20. There is no other eatable item available nearby at least till one km outside the entrance gate of Karnala bird sanctuary, so be ready with all the items you need before proceeding the entrance gate. There is no drinkable water at the base available, there are 4 bore well taps which you can use for non-drinking purpose, packed water bottles are available in canteen.

We left the canteen at 5:20 pm and reached the bus stop opposite to entrance of Karnala bird sanctuary at 5:30 pm, the frequency of bus is very bad and we waited eagerly till 6:10 pm for a bus towards Panvel station which dropped us near Panvel station at 6:40 pm.

The Karnala trek is the best for an enthusiastic beginner as it doesn't exhaust you and leaves back some energy to think about the next trekking point. Now planning ahead for our next trek to “Kalavantin fort”.

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