Kalavantin Durg : Most Adventurous Trek
We reached to our start point at around 3pm & took ST bus is scheduled at around 3:30 to 4pm & reached panvel station at around 5pm.
If you are finding for a thrilling experience in trekking then "Kalavantin Durg" trek is the one for you.
Difficulty level : Medium to hard level
Endurance level : Medium
Height of the fort : 2300 ft ( around 700mtr)
Base Village : Thakurwadi Village ( near shedung phata)
Best time to visit : Monsoon(hard - due to steep and narrow steps its not advisable)
Winter(best - chill atmosphere)
Summer( average - as due to open environment more dehydration will take place)
Entry Fees : Rs 50 per person - Sanyukt Vanvyavstathapak Samiti ( for cleaning & guiding people at top of fort)
Kalvantin fort was basically built to keep an eye on the ancient ports of panvel & kalyan. There also caves on this fort which we uesd for storage of food in earlier days.According to ancient tribals, the fort was built for a queen named Kalavantin.
Steps leading up to the fort have been cut into the rock face of the hill. From the peak of this hillfort you can see Matheran hill, Chanderi, Peb, Ershal, and Karnala forts and also Mumbai city.
On every Holi (Shimga) Festival, the Adivasi People of Machi-Prabal village observe the custom of dancing at the top of Kalavantin fort. These people have a long-standing relationship with this fort and it has become a part of their heritage.
How To Reach Fort:-
Railways : Nearest railway station is Panvel
You need catch a train which can reach to panvel railway station & from there you need to catch the ST bus which will take you to Thakurwadi, the base village to kalavantin fort.
Bus services are limited thus you need to reach Panvel railway station there early morning by around 6:45am to avail the bus facility which is scheduled at 7:00 am.Thus you can enjoy the maximum of the day. ( bus fare is around Rs 20 for one way trip)
Return ST Bus is scheduled around 3 pm in afternoon.
Also rickshaw services are there but they would be charging you around Rs 400-600 for one way trip
Road ways : nearest known location is Thakurwadi village
Thakurwadi village is located at distance of hardly around 6km from Shedung phata, which is on NH48.
You need to catch the NH48 highway its easily accessible from Pune as well as Mumbai also, you have to take turn from the Shedung phata to enter the thakurwadi village. Road conditions are fairly good in this area.
Trek Experience :
We, a group of 3 best friends had started our journey from Andheri station (Western Railways) at around 5am in the morning & reached to Panvel station at around 6:40am in morning.
From there we took ST bus for thakurwadi which runs daily at 7:00am in the morning, we reached the base village i.e. thakurwadi at around 7:30am there we had our morning breakfast(kanda poha, tea).
We started to ascend from there at around 8:20 am, slowly & gradually have sight seeing, enjoying the silence reach the first base camp prabhalgad plateau at around 9:40am.
Over there is the provision for night camping & also there are various tent providing people(charges for over night tent is around Rs 50-100 per person)
There is also provision for nasta & mineral water over there by local, at quite reasonable rates.
From there onwards the real trek begins to kalvantin durg fort, going pass through thick forest, steep step carved out of stones we reached the 2nd base at around 10:40 am but till then all our energy was drain out.
The top of the fort is hardly a rock away but the only twist was, the rock was vertical (10feets high) & we had to climb the rock through ropes.
Initally it was fear inside us which was stopping to do rope climbing at such height & brezzy environment but over coming our fear we tries & did it succesfully.
We finally reached the top at around 11:10am & had the feeling of overcoming our fear.
The view offered from top is just mesmerizing & you may get to see complete 360 deg view of surrounding from there.
We started to descend at around 12:30pm, while the hot sun was over us. We had our lunch at a local resident hotel placed below 2nd base at around 1:30pm.
While descending down we happen to find a cave over there, with all due courage we 3 entered the dark cave till the end & figured out it to be a food storage location in ancient times. It was also a trilling experience for us.
We reached to our start point at around 3pm & took ST bus is scheduled at around 3:30 to 4pm & reached panvel station at around 5pm.
From there we reached our home by around 7:30pm safely & with lots of memory.
Note : Local are available at regular interval providing lemon juice/ kokam juice & other snacks for our ease.
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