A Trip to Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar
Seven of us Raju Felix Crasta (author), Vishal, Ivan, Peter, Gnana, Dileep and Alok, from the busy philosophical and theological research took a break for a day and planned to spend a day in one of the hill-stations of Maharashtra. We chose Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar as our destiny. It is just a 110-130 Kilometers from Pune which took roughly four hours’ drive by our Xylo car. We enlisted 11 places for our feasting, but could watch only few as each them is worth spending days and months reflecting the beauty and thanking the Creator for this.
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| Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar Map |
Places of Interest:
- Table land: 2 KMs from Panchgani: Only a scenery like carpet grass
- Kaas Plateau: 12 Kms from Panchgani, UNESCO heritage site for natural beauty
- Paragliding: 5 Kms from Panchgani
- Mahabaleshwar: 15 Kms from Panchgani (half an hour drive)- view points and scenaries
- Sydney Point: 2 Kms from Panchgani- View point
- Mapro Garden: 6 Kms from Panchgani, known for garden, specially strawberry garden
- Kate’s Point: 9 Kms from Panchgani, view point towards Krishna valley
- Devrai Art gallery: 1 Km from Panchgani: tribal art and crafts
- Rajpuri caves: 5 Kms from Panchgani, believed to have given shelter to Pandavas during their exile. The caves are surrounded by many holy kunds (ponds) which are supposed to get waters of the holy Ganga and hence supposed to cure all kinds of diseases.
- Parsi Point: 1 Km from Panchgani, Parsi community stays here
- Wai: 11 KMs, Known for seven ghats in Krishna valley
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| A Panoramic View |
Panchgani:
Panchgani is a hill station situated 4249 feet above the sea level in Sahyadri mountain range, and the municipal council in Satara district in Maharashtra, renowned for the many premier residential educational institutions and scenic beauty. The discovery of scenic beauty and making it inhabitable goes to John Chesson of British Raj who eventually made this as their summer resident sometimes back in 1860, planting silver oak and poinsettia trees, inviting several traders. The place is surrounded by five villages which gives it the name–Panchgani– and they are: Dandeghar, Khingar, Godwali, Amral and Taighat. The Krishnā River flows nearby which made the lake of Dhom Dam on the Krishna 9 km from Wai, another small town. The five hills are made by a volcanic eruption, which is the second highest in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. The area created has a table like area at the top of the hill known as “Table Land” with a small water pond. Just few meters below the top, there is a huge cave which can accommodate some thousand people at a time. Mythologicaly, it is said that Pandavas during their hiding time, took shelter here (from my study of Indology, how far this is verifiable, I don’t know).
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| Table Land |
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| Table Land entrance |
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| A view from Table Land Top |
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| Night View from Table Land |
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| Entrance of the Cave |
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| Relaxing in the Cave |
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| Author in Meditation |
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| Just outside the entrance, a semi cave |
Mahabaleshwar:
Mahabaleshwar is an half-hour ride (roughly 20 KMs) from Panchgani, was the summer capital of then Bombay Province of British Raj. Traces of it can be still found in some areas. It is situated 4439 feet from the sea level and is one of the evergreen forests of India. The peak of the hill range is called Wilson Point or the Sunrise Point. The river Krishna finds its origin here. The place is known for several ‘view-points’: Monkey point, Arthur point, Venna point, Eco point, Parsi point, Kate’s Point, Needle point, Elephant Head point, Savitri Point, Wilson point, Wengamala water falls etc. Pratapgadh fort built by Shivaji in 1860 is just a stone’s throw from this place.
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| at the background the lake |
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| enjoying in the nature |
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| Wilson Point |
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| Savitri Point |
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| Elephant Head Point |
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| It's a selfie-time |
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| Author at the Saviri Point - at the background thick fog |
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| at MAPRO garden |
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| Mapro Garden |
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| Mapro garden |
Many of these places are very familiar to those who watch Hollywood movies as these places are very much used in the film-shooting.
Other places of Interest: Mahabaleshwar Temple, Pratapgadh fort built by Shivaji in 1860, Mala’s food products Mapro Garden and factory, strawberry farms, etc.
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| At mapro outlet |
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| At the entrance of Mapro factory |
We had lots of fun and frolic on the way and in our destination. We returned back rejuvenated thanking the Lord.
Fr. Raju Felix Crasta
