Kaas Plateau of Flowers 2012 & Bamnoli Lake.

Everyone!

After Vihigaon waterfall, the next one day trip was to Bhivpuri waterfall. Nothing to write about it, the place is a no go bcoz of bewda gangs. Then after a brief break of a week, did a short trip to the Pagoda and Borivali national park in Borivali. It was the beginning of September  Meanwhile i was constantly monitoring events at kaas with respect to the flowering season.

Normally the flowers bloom in August, but this year it was a "Adhik" (meaning: Extra) month, so the ganesha festival and the flowering season was delayed. 100/100 marks for the marathi calendar.

Now, the thesis was done, viva was over and had plenty of free time, so decided to go to my native (at Satara), on 15th September.

The weather at my place is almost same as that of kaas. And i can easily extrapolate the possible weather at kaas by observing it at my home. The sun was out for whole day and skies were dark blue, ideal for photography. The clouds were white and of non-monsoon category. At the evening, it would drizzle a bit.

These days, kaas is in news. So the authorities have woken up and this year, kaas has got the UNESCO world heritage status. With that, comes lots of renovation and publicity, which in-turn attracts partygoers and picnickers. This place was a top secret until last 3 years saw a outbound exponential rise in tourists. And its for sure,this magical heaven ad-mist the Sahyadris is going to be marred like Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani.

The authorities have set a maximum limit of tourists which stands not more than 2000 tourist/day. So the authorities have set up online booking facility to avoid any embarrassment for people coming from Pune and Mumbai. So i reserved a slot in advance.

The plan was set according to the classic route. i.e Kaas-Thoseghar waterfall-Chalkewadi windmills.

It was 18th September, i guess a Tuesday  It is important to mention the day because on week ends, this place becomes hell. Full with picnickers and non-sense idiots who don't care for flowers. I already knew about it, so it was out of question to go on weekends.

Info: All detailed info i've put in here, Kaas Plateau 2011

Got up early, everything ready, kick start i go! I was on a mission mileage, so noted the first kilometers.

The Map.

Map

Tripometer read: 35167

Time: 8:16am

The Tripometer

I had bought a new Samsung galaxy Y, albeit 4 months ago but the GPS, Google navigation was never put to test, so it was a testing time for them. So following the maps, reached Satara and then continued to Kaas from there. Kaas is 25kms from Satara city.

As soon as you ascend to Kaas, you witness Satara city nestled in valleys of Sahyadris. Its a pretty sight!

And when the bad patch of road ends, you come across beautiful vista of the urmodi dam.

Flowers and Urmodi dam!

The road passes through some very beautiful landscape, something which you've never thought of in this part of the world. Something that can even rival Europe!  And viola! It does make you to hum romantic songs, albeit me being a bit different i was singing about nature. That old discovery channel commercial, "I love the mountains, I love the clear blue skies, Boom de ya!" seems like this paragraph is written exclusively for Kaas!

Lonely Tree!

After 10kms, you witness the first carpet of Smithia.

Carpet of Smithias!

The Urmodi dam seems coming closer to you! And this wonderful scene!

My Bike posing in front of Urmodi dam!

Still 15kms to go!

I carried that small tripod. So setup for this Jab We Met wala style pic! :D

JWM Style!

A small tabletop en-route Kaas. There is no fort there!

Rocky Table top!

After a few minutes, Kaas is visible!

Kaas Table top!

Reached the table top at 11am. To my surprise, there were only a handful of people around. Around 30! The guy collecting toll stopped me asking to buy tickets. I bought one for 10rs and then he asked 50rs for camera! I declined that i wont pay for it and asked him to let me go. He agreed after sweet talk and asked me to hide it from bada sahebs ahead.

Then proceeded to the table top on the left, and saw the first bloom of the season!

There was nobody else on this side of the plateau, only me!

First look at flowers!

The flowers were little, but made a pretty sight with dark clouds!

Kaas Flowerscape!

I like to preserve things digitally, so i preserved this Kaas ticket!

Kaas Plateau!

The Flowerscape!

Now the flowershow!

Flower called as Nilawanti, due to its blue colour! ID: Cyanotis fasiculata.

Cyanotis fasciculata

Murdannia lanuginosa

Wild Turmeric flower! 

Utricularia purpurascens

Morning Glory! Ipomoea violacea!!

The Star, Smithia hirusta aka the Mickey mouse flower!

 Senecio grahamii

The Elephants Trunk; Vigna vexillata

Bees at work!

Rain water harvesting taught by a spider!

Water logging creates amazing view isn't it?

The road that will be fenced!

Look at the love Idiots!

Beautiful Kaas!

Carpets! Kaas Flowerscape!

This is my fav pic!

The Tsunami of Pink!

Red And White scenes!

Right focus, is the only aim!

The Lal Dabba!

Beautuful sahyadris!

With Kaas done till 1pm, it was time to head back to Satara. Had a bad lunch and then proceeded to Thoseghar. Thoseghar is known for its mammoth waterfall. It is 34 kms from Satara. I read a report which claims the fall to be of 500mtrs. That's half a km!! Pics cant do justice with its size, but it is a spectacular sight to watch! Not to mention the road to Thoseghar is so awesome! No potholes, wide enough and passes through beautiful Sahyadris!

Finally i reached Thoseghar at 3:00pm.

Parked the bike at the parking arena, paid a fees of 10rs, then a entry ticket of 5rs.

As i said, the sun was out, and the water flow had been declined tremendously, but still mammoth enough to stare at it for minutes!

There are two waterfalls, one bigger and other small, This is the pic of bigger one!

Thoseghar waterfall!

The small waterfall was obviously small. This is the feed to smaller one!

Feed of the mammoth waterfall!

After half hour of photography there, headed to the nearest Chalkewadi windmill farms.

The road to there is a bit tricky, but Google navigation came to rescue.

First view of Windmills is that they are giants. And the sound that they make is like a huge machinery at work. Again, i was the lonely soul till there.

Mighty windmill!

Shivaji sagar lake!

Flowers and Windmills!

Standing Tall!

League of Windmills!

Meanwhile, i had figured out that there is a kuccha road from this farm which joins directly to a tar road going to Satara  via the Asangaon. It was a bad decision. Why bad? It was hard, back breaking and troublesome negotiating that kuccha road. But it was fun, the sense of isolation engulfed me.

Just imagine, you, lonely on a plateau, cold winds brushing your shoulders, sounds of non-oiled windmills and wild flowers aside! And then the famous fear of breakdown or tyre puncture. Thankfully it didn't turn to reality.

After 15 mins of backbreaking ride, i reached a tar road, not so wide. But it was tar after all. So i was at riding at a speed of 40 km/h. Continuing for 16kms, joined the highway to Satara. You ascend a ghat and encounter a dam, makes a lovely sight!

But again keeda, i figured that the NH-4 is mere 2 kms from the diversion, albeit  it was also a kuccha road, and it began tarring after lets say 600-700mtrs.

The view from Asangaon ghat.

So this is the end of first half;

I returned home, had a belly full veg food, and the kumbakarn took over.

The tripometer 35353;

Trip Ends at 35353!

Total kms covered : 186 km.

Total fuel cost : 200 rs.

PART - II

Prologue: The Ganesha festival was due tomorrow . So my village friends came to native from Mumbai  And as usual, we go outing for a day every time we all meet.

Almost entire Satara is covered by us. Only remaining was Bamnoli lake. And this Kaas-Bamnoli-Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani circuit was planned last year but never executed it due to constraints.

So plan was formulated and finalized. It was 22nd September. All set, as these guys are lousy and due to difficulty in managing bikes, we got delayed and finally left at 12:30pm.

The route taken;

Kaas Bamnoli Mahabaleshwar circuit.

Reached Satara city around 2:00 pm. And then took the famous right before the tunnel to Kaas. Stopped at the same scene, and took some pics out there.

Urmodi dam!

Our Young Group!

The Bikers!

Nautanki!

Kaas Lake!

Continuing further 10kms, we reached the Bamnoli lake. The Shivaji sagar lake formed due to Koyna dam looks amazing. The whole road to Mahabaleshwar revolves around this dam.

Shivaji Sagar lake!

Witness the branching of the lake!

Finally reached Bamnoli lake. One has to take a left from bamnoli village to lake, The right continues to join Mahabaleshwar tapola road.

Our little monsters parked in a row!

It was already 4:30pm. And we figured out that we need to hurry to reach Mahabaleshwar.

Had a light naashta and then continued to Mahabaleshwar by the Bamnoli-Tapola-Mahabaleshwar route.

The highlight of this trip is the road to Mahabaleshwar itself!
Zig zag turns, running parallel to the lake as if playing roadrash in the pacific highway level.

The whole stretch is isolated and beautiful. One can spend a whole day stopping and adoring the vistas enroute, but it was not for us.

The ride experience here was unique. Just imagine, a stretch of 60kms, where in you meet only 3 oncoming vehicles, one of which being a ST bus!

The area is too remote. But the girls there are indeed beautiful. There are small isolated villages en-route  so you can take brief stops therein. No sutta's available.

Continuing the beautiful road, we access the Tapola-mahabaleshwar route. The crono read as 6:30pm, the sun was setting in darkness was taking over. And then the most exciting part of the ride; fog!

Yes! The last 20kms, we rode in fog! With no fog cutter lamps, the "upper" headlamp is useless, you got to rely on dipper. The fog was so thick at times you can barely see anything beyond 20mtrs! It was a wonderful experience to ride in such conditions. Slow  and steady and we reached Mahabaleshwar at 7:00pm.

My friend suraj had bought a new bike, Honda shine. He handed it over to my friend. He was triple seat, and on those winding roads, it got punctured. It was only noticed until we reached panchgani. Suraj wasn't aware of it being a tubeless tyre thus we removed the tyre and took it for repairs which the mechanic failed. Put it in place, filled in compressed air and rode it for 10kms. Finally dinner at dhaba and returned back home at 11:30pm.

Some tips:
1) DO NOT LITTER.  The authorities will fine you 500rs. Beware.
2) Don't carry plastic bottles/carry bags. Everything needs to be deposited at the counter at a deposit of 50rs/article.
3) Beware of snakes. There are many! 
4) Don't walk on flowers. Stick to the basics, stick to the trails. 
5) Parking in NOT allowed on flowerzone. It is better to park your vehicles 5kms before the plateau and then take a ST bus, coz they are the only ones allowed to alight on flowerzone.
6) Don't drink and drive.  
7) Leave only your foot prints (Not on flowers though!), remember we have to preserve mother nature for our grand children. 
8) If visiting on weekends, make sure you have registered on their official website.

YOU LIVE ONLY ONCE, SO GO OUT AND EXPLORE!!