Lonavala Bhimashankar Trek

Lonavala to Bhimashankar is arguably the best back-country trek in the Sahyadri range. The route passes through deep wild rain-forest, head-high bushes, lost-and-found trails, small rivulets, remote tribal villages, eerie temples, green meadows, hidden waterfalls and a plateau of flowers. You explore the best features of the Sahyadri range on this trek.

Today morning, four of us gathered at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus of Mumbai to catch Mumbai-Pune Indrayni express. The senior-most person in our group is the ever-enthusiastic Rabida, who has been trekking in the Sahyadris for the last 30 years. Then we have Fundada who has extensive knowledge of these mountains, making justice to his name. The youngest, heaviest and the most energetic member in our group is Sambudhha, who has started trekking only a few months back. And there is myself, who had spent the last three years trekking in the weekends, and planning to trek on the weekdays. Eventually, I decided to take on a virtually unexplored route: Lonavala to Bhimashankar.

I had been hearing from various sources that such a trekking route exists, directly connecting the popular hill station Lonavala and the Shiva temple of Bhimashankar, one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines in India. There is a circuitous bus route between these two places, but I could not find any map detailing a direct trekking route. It's not even mentioned in Harish Kapadia's “Trek the Sahyadri”, which is considered as the best reference book of this region. A search into any map shows an almost-empty region between these two places. I decided to explore this unmarked region, and proposed the idea to the other three. They immediately agreed.

The train left Mumbai at 5:40 am and reached Karjat at 7:15 am. We take a few pieces of vada pav along with hot chai (tea) and get ready for the next 45 minutes of train journey. One can't simply miss the scenery ahead. Green gorges, distant villages, countless tunnels and occasional waterfalls - Indian countryside at its best. Just when we start feeling that life can't be more heavenly than lazing on such a train for hours, we notice that our train is passing through Khandala station. Lonavala is about to come in a couple of minutes and we prepare to descend. It's 8 am when we get down at Lonavala. An auto-rickshaw takes us to Tungarli dam. A bright sunny day, perfect to start a trek. Yes, we are finally taking on the uncertain, unmarked and unexplored terrain ahead.

The first 3 hours of the trek is simple. We walk along a wide trail, reach a bifurcation at the
2-hour mark, proceed along the trail on the right and reach Valvand village in one more hour. Everyone is doing well and is in high spirit. The view of Rajmachi hills has been breathtaking and there has been nothing special to care about except looking at birds and butterflies and spotting the trains at a distance. The wide trail ends at Valvand. A few villagers listen to our plan and lead us towards a dense forest. We would apparently reach a village named Kundeswar in 3 taas (hours) if we are able to cross this forest. Moreover, that village has a temple where we can possibly spend the night. The villagers suggest us to take a guide but we decide to try it ourselves. Anyway, we would be meeting people ahead and can always ask for directions. That's what we do in other Sahyadri treks and this trek can't be an exception. Little did we know what awaits us ahead.

We walk towards the forest through the trail suggested by the villagers and it starts ascending steeply. Within 15 minutes, Shirota lake is visible to our right. A blue reservoir surrounded by green hills all around. The forest is more like a thick bush here and the trail is barely visible. We appreciate the view of the lake and move on. Half an hour later, we enter the forest. A real rain-forest immediately after the rainy season. One that is virtually untouched. The trail vanishes exactly at this point!

By now we have started to understand that this is not going to be an easy trek ahead. We are certain that we didn't miss any alternative trail along the way but there is still no way ahead. Fundada somehow discovers that there is a sparsely vegetated walkway through the dense bush ahead, and claims that the trail is lying beneath it. We move into the vegetation, unsure of what we are placing our steps on. Within a few minutes, any possibility of a return becomes remote as the trail we just passed through becomes untraceable. The trees are blocking any view of the outside world. The sun is covered with cloud. At least it was when we could still see the sky. We are in a soaked and shadowy world. But we need to go ahead. We can't accept defeat so easily. An hour passes by. We are still alive and have reached the edge of the mountain. The Dhak plateau becomes visible to our left. We turn right and surprise! A trail appears out of nowhere! We are back to track! Few hundred meters ahead of us lies a pristine grassland and it's time to take some rest. We are somewhat hungry but decide to take lunch on the completion of today's trek. The watch shows it's 1 pm.


We restart our journey and enter the forest again. It's not as dense as before and the trail is clearly visible. We are hoping that this trail would take us to the village in an hour. The trouble starts shortly. There are too many trails. Some of these starts descending to the left, some are going straight and the other ones are ascending to our right. Fundada takes out the compass and it shows the right side as the north. We know that Bhimashankar lies straight north of Lonavala on the map. But are we sure that there is a way directly in that direction? Or, should we descend down and take a turn at the base of the hill? Our legs don't really want to walk up again, but we decide to try it after some discussions. Within half an hour, we reach a scenic plateau. A number of domestic cows are slowly grazing around and its a peaceful world out here. The village must not be far; where else have these cows come from? We decide to take lunch here, being unable to withstand hunger any more. Slowly, we start taking naps. Sambudhha is the first, and then myself and Rabida follows. Fundada continues to search for the route, but the rest of us simply collapsed. The gentle breeze and the cushion of grass make us forget what lies ahead and what happened before. It's time to enjoy the present!

The watch shows it's 4:30 pm. We wake up, reluctantly. Fundada is sure by now that there is no immediate route to any village around. The cows have disappeared, too. We decide to get down from the plateau and enter another plateau. A forested one. The direction is still correct, i.e., north, but that only means we are getting closer to Bhimashankar as per map. It would have certainly helped if we were birds! Suddenly, like a perfect horror movie script, the weather starts changing. The wind turns cooler. The forest becomes thicker. The sun starts setting. The pleasantness of the last few hours is replaced with a sense of fear. Soon, it starts to pour down. We immediately decide to backtrack, at least till the pleasant plateau. When we reach there, the sun has already set down but the rain has stopped. Hey wait, wait a minute, what is that? Are we hallucinating? In the dim glow of twilight, we can see a tiny human figure moving at a distance. We all shout at our highest voices. Yes, yes, he responds back. Never wanted to hear the voice of an unknown man so urgently! It does not matter whether he is a saint or a bandit! He can only help us.


A young woodcutter soon arrives closer to us. It turns out that we had taken a completely opposite direction and could have descended from the hill long time back. He takes us through a short-cut to the temple we have been so desperately searching for. It's pitch dark now. A drizzle has started again. Without this guy, there is no way we could have got anywhere near this place. He says the village is still 15 minutes away, but we decide to spend the night inside the temple. The guy also offers to cook some dinner for us and bring it around 9 pm. We lit our candles and prepare our mattresses in the meantime. He comes back on time and we decide to take him as our guide next day. His name is Ganesh and he lives with his family in a tiny hut. Once he leaves, we lie down on our mattresses. An unearthly feeling slowly thickens upon me...old temple, dark moonless night, sound of flowing water, dim candlelight, continuous rain, a peculiar scent inside, wild creatures moving outside, wind threatening to tear the door apart...

I wake up at the call of Rabida next morning. Fundada and Sambudhha has already woken up and it's a bright dawn. Just like the weather in which we had started our trek yesterday. The village priest will perform a puja at 7 am. So, we pack off our mattresses and move outside. The location of the temple can be really appreciated today. There is a rivulet flowing just behind it, and at the backdrop lies a dense forest all the way to the top of the mountain. We can see Dhak plateau towards our right, appearing majestic under the glittering sunshine. We will soon move to the right of that direction, into Kusur plateau. We can't see it from here. It should be behind the hill which is partially blocking our vision in that direction.

Ganesh arrives before 8 am and we start today's journey. Soon, we pass through his village, a collection of ten huts. Within half an hour, we start climbing the hill that was blocking our vision. Ganesh mentions that the leopards occasionally kill their cows, especially the calves. We thank him for saving us and depriving the leopards to change their taste in the previous night. The sun has completely come out of the cloud today. We are already feeling drained. The climb continues. The trail turns right. We look ahead. An awesome landscape welcomes us. Kusur plateau.

Myself and Sambudhha had traveled a month back to the world-famous Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas. We really didn't expect the repeat of a similar spectacle so close to Mumbai. There is much lesser variety of flowers here but the entire landscape, as far as we can see, is covered with tiny yellow flowers on top of lush green grasses. A serpent trail moves through it, exposing us to a grander exposition at every turn. The yellow flowers are soon mixed with red, white, pink and violet ones. It's a natural festival of color going on here. We shoot photographs, take rest, keep watching till our eyes are satisfied, move on and then repeat the sequence. We have lost track of time. Suddenly, we see two huts ahead of us. Do people really stay in such an isolated location?



Yes, there are indeed people inside these huts and they offer us hot tea. The watch shows it's 12 pm. Ganesh tells us that it would be straightforward to go ahead as the route goes down from here. We say goodbye to him and start descending. Andhra lake can be seen at a distance. Appearing black under the cloud cover. An hour later, we reach Kusur village. It's a reasonably large village and there is a motorable road through it. We eat some food in a shop here and start waiting for a bus. It's scheduled to arrive at 2 pm. We dose off at the bus stop.

It is nearing 3 pm and no bus has arrived. We are now contemplating to walk 15 kms to Talpewadi village. Suddenly, an eight seater car arrives out of nowhere and announces that there is no bus today. And, they ask for a absurdly high charge to drop us at Talpewadi. After hard bargaining, we are able to somewhat reduce the rate and get into it. Just when we started appreciating each other about our superior negotiation skills over these villagers, a bus arrives behind our car. Anyway, we reach Talpewadi at 4 pm and quickly find a villager who agrees to let us sleep in his house. Tonight is the first night of Navaratri. A festival to celebrate cosmic energy. People are getting ready for Dandiya Raas. A rhythmic depiction of divine love through dance. The girls first form a circle and start rotating clockwise. Then, the boys form a larger co-centric circle and rotate counter-clockwise. The dandiyas (sticks) magically start making perfect connections. It's getting close to midnight. Celebration continues...


We wake up early. The sun has not yet come out. The villagers are asleep in fatigue. We quickly take some breakfast and leave Talpewadi with another young guide. A shy guy who doesn't even tell his name. Within an hour, we enter Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary. A forest famous for the colorful Giant Indian Squirrel (Shekru). The scenic beauty of the previous day has given way to a sense of wildness once again. The vast carpet of flowers has been replaced by occasional bushes of wild flowers.The trail moves up and down, taking frequent left and right turns. Hours after hours pass by. The sound of a waterfall can be heard from a distance. The trail takes us closer to it. A 100-ft high waterfall hidden in the forest. A white strip within the greenery. Sahyadri continues to unveil its marvels.

The watch shows it's 10 am and we restart our journey. The route remains similar for the next 2 hours till we enter a plateau. Another vast pasture full of flowers. A long range of Western Ghat is clearly visible at a distance. A perfect place to spend the day slacking. Our guide, however, hurries up saying that he would like to go back to Talpewadi today after dropping us at Bhimashankar. We restart walking and shortly meet a group of local tribes. They are hunting wild boars. Must be a real adventure. Of a fearless, remorseless and primitive type.

The plateau soon comes to an end. We enter thick bushes once more, and are quickly guided through this region of uncertainty. A left turn later, the trail starts circling a hill. To our right, we can get an unobstructed view of a vast uninhibited valley. Numerous streams flowing across it. The sun creating shadows over its vast expanse. A pleasant breeze blowing across. Birds singing. Butterflies playing around. Two hours of walk through this dream takes us to the other side of the hill. Two tribal villages appear at a distance. We start descending down to these villages. The watch shows it's 2 pm.

Due to the remoteness of the Bhimashankar Wildlife sanctuary, there are a few tribal villages where life still revolves primarily around hunting, gathering, and subsistence agriculture. We had met some of these boar hunters a few hours back. Both the villages are neat and clean. Life is slow moving. Sleepy. Tension-free. Addictive. At the backdrop of these villages stands the imperial Bhimashankar hill itself and on the other side lies the endless basin that had kept us mesmerized for the last 2 hours. A rivulet gently flows. An otherwise silent afternoon. We quietly pass through.

We reach the base of Bhimashankar hill at 2:30 pm. It's a straight climb up from here to the temple. The forest becomes deep and dark again. It's a land of wild animals. We don't meet any, except a few monkeys. The giant squirrels continue to elude us. More than an hour later, a river blocks our way. Bhima river. It turns out to be shallow and we easily cross across. The watch says it's 4 pm. The guide leaves us at this point and turns back for his village. He insists that he would cover the same route in 3 hours, alone, unprotected, through the wild forest, in near darkness, after having walked for 9 hours with us. Hmmm...best wishes!

The Bhima river originates from Bhimashankar hill and passes through the deepest part of the forest. It attracts abundant wildlife, as there is no other water source around. The trail ahead is really steep but properly maintained. The final leg of our journey starts. Soon, we notice a tiny dilapidated Ganesh temple. The trail gets steeper. An hour passes by. The forest remains dense. The sun can't be seen anywhere. Has sunlight ever reached this trail? The trail turns right. An ancient architecture manifests itself before us. An excellently sculpted temple illuminated by the setting sun. A place to worship destruction and transformation. Bhimashankar.