Bhivpuri Falls - A Sahyadri adventure 27th July 2014

I have been shuttling between Bangalore and Mumbai often in the last couple of years. But, this was the first time I was in Mumbai during the peak monsoons and I was determined to explore some of the hills around Mumbai and Pune. I had been looking at options for a potential destination when an opportunity came along in the form of a hike organized by our community.

The destination was Bhivpuri waterfalls in Karjat and the group was big. I did not know what to expect, a leisurely picnic to a waterfall or an adventurous hike. The destination was about a couple of hours drive from the heart of Mumbai. We were a group of 100 and traveled in 3 buses. We had breakfast on the way and carried packed lunch to serve as fuel for the hike. We had a bit of a confusion on the route and had gone a bit further along the Mumbai-Pune highway before getting back on track.

We reached the base of the hike around 10 AM and started walking towards the falls as a group. It was about a half hour walk to the main waterfalls. The walk took us through paddy fields and we were accompanied by a steady drizzle all along which added a magical color to the surroundings.

The main waterfall was at its thundering best and everyone enjoyed getting water blasts at the waterfall.

The noisy crowd at the falls was a slight dampener. So, some of us more decided to hike to the top of the hills in search of more serene and tranquil surroundings. The hike to the top was adventurous to say the least and the views of the waterfall from the top were amazing.

Time flew very fast and it was soon time to head back. We started back to Mumbai at 4PM. A day well spent. All in all, it had turned out to be both a enjoyable picnic to a waterfall and an adventure filled short hike. Given that it is easily reachable from Mumbai, I would highly recommend it, but I would suggest choosing a weekday to avoid the crowd.

Mugilu - Beyond the clouds

It had been a long time since we had made a weekend trip. This time we wanted to pick a place where we could drive to, in about 4-5 hours. So, Sakleshpur was an obvious candidate. After researching a bit, the two places that stood out in Sakeshpur.

First was Kadumane. While every place in Sakleshpur talked of coffee estates, this one was about a heritage tea estate dating back to British times. This was ruled out since it was closed for maintenance this weekend.

The second was Mugilu, a plantation stay  run by a couple - Chandan and Sapna. This one stood out by the sheer quality of reviews that it had received from guests.

Mugilu has just 4 cottages. So, it was unlikely that we get a place there given that I was calling as late as Friday for a booking on Saturday. With fingers crossed, I called up Chandan. Luckily for us, they had one cottage free and and we booked it right away :-)

We started from Bangalore at 7 AM on Saturday and reached Mugilu by 11:30 AM and were welcomed by Chandan and his pets, Shunti, about which a lot has been written in blogs and Keechu.

Mugilu does full justice to being a "homestay", be it the cottage, the people, the conversations or the food.

As we took our first walk in the plantation, a series funny looking spider webs caught our attention . These were very different from any spider webs we had ever seen. Each web was like a thick pipe with a huge spider within. We learnt from Chandan that these were funnel spiders.

Funnel Spiders

We had lunch in the common dining area which also doubles up as a mini library, rested for a few hours and went for a walk just in time for sunset.

Sunset at Mugilu

Sunset at Mugilu 

Smoke caught in the valley looking like clouds

The next morning, we started the day early around 6:30 - 7 AM and went for a longish walk accompanied, rather guided by Shunti. We had the company of Girish and Sushmita, who we had met the previous day.

Walking into the clouds at Mugilu

For a small walk with our guide

The huge meadows around Mugilu were gleaming like pearls in the early morning Sun rays.

Early morning Sun

Walking into wilderness

Paddy fields after a harvest

After the walk, we had a delicious breakfast, had some more conversations with Chandan and headed back to Bangalore. This time of the year is probably not the best time to enjoy the beauty of this place, but this visit has let us get a taste of this place, let us venture into places we might not be able to reach during monsoons and of course left us wanting to come back for more - a longer visit to this place, probably around the post monsoon season.