Mahuli Fort : A Paradise for rock climbers !

 Mahuli Fort is located near Mahuli Village in the Thane District of Maharashtra. Mahuli has a long history culminating with the Maratha empire in the 18th century. It is a cluster of 3 forts very close by Mahuli, Bhandargad & Palasgad. Mahuli Fort is at 2815 ft, which is the highest point in the Thane district, hence it is also know as Everest of Thane. The trek route offers some exceptional views of adjoining mountain ranges; also being a part of the Tansa Wildlife, Sanctuary there's a chance of spotting some rare species of flora and fauna especially in the monsoon.

Mahuli Fort is a paradise for rock climbers because of many nearby pinnacles with interesting names like Vazir, Vishnu, Navra, Mahuli-Chanderi etc., given by the local trekking and climbing fraternity. Palasgad is northern side, Mahuli is in the middle and Bhandargad stands on the southern side. The entire trek from base to the summit is an easy grade level trek but requires high endurance.

History of Mahuli Fort

Mahuli's historical significance lies in the various eras of rulers who have ruled here. Beginning with the Mughals who created the fort, it came under the rule of the Nijamshahi dynasty in 1485. It was later on won by Shivaji Maharaj on 8th january 1658, but lost it in 1661, and later won it back. By the treaty of Purandar of 1665, the Marathas lost these forts again. In February 1670, Shivaji Maharaj tried to conquer Mahuli, but failed, and Manohardas Gaud was then in charge of the fort. A thousand Marathas were killed, most being from nearby villages. Shivaji Maharaj said to his dead kadam sardar that he was our gold. So he gave the Sonare surname to this family. Manohardas Gaud soon gave up his position and Alveerdi Beg took over. On 16 June 1670, after two months, Moropant Trimbak Pingle conquered the forts and Mahuli, Bhandargad and Palasgad became part of Swarajya. Until 1817, Shivaji Maharaj's dynasty owned the fort but later on it was controlled by the British Raj.

The Trek Begins 

The Mahuli trek begins with a local train journey to Asangaon railway station. Asangaon is the nearest railway station and is only 8km away from the base of Mahuli fort were the trek begins. One can reach the base village either by local ST bus or by auto. Local ST bus stops before 1.3 km before the base due  to which you need to walk a bit and the auto will take you to the starting of the trekking trail but auto costs more than 200 rupees. Local buses starts from shahapur bus station, which is around 2km away from railway station. Shared autos are available to shahapur, which costs around 15 per head.

The cliffs of Mahuli hills are visible from far distance so it totally refreshes the mood and gets you motivated for an awesome and exciting adventure ahead.

Eastern view 

A Shiva temple is the main attraction in the base village. Which is a kind of blessing before an adventurous trail.

Shiva Temple

There's a coffee shop just behind the temple, suggestion is to carry some of  your own snacks and enough amount of water which is obvious. 

From base village we need to walk to gate of the forest which takes around 5 minutes. Actually, we need to pay 30 per head to enter inside. After the entrance just in about 5 minutes, we reach a bridge over a small stream. The path to waterfall starts from the left side of the bridge and the trail to Tansa Dam starts from right side of the bridge.

Post monsoon is the best time to visit the Mahuli Fort. The first 2km of trail is climbing some rock paved steps and is easy as compared to remaining path. The first plateau is around 3.8km from the starting point. The 1 km trail before the first plateau is a little bit adventurous as one needs to climb some rock patches.

view from mid trail

There is a steep rock patch just below this plateau and is very difficult to climb. But in recent years an iron ladder has been placed to overcome this tricky part of the climb, but the problem is the ladder doesn't have firm base at the bottom and is held in place with a chain tied to a screw bolted in the dilapidated fort at the top.

View from first Plateau

View from the top is pure majestic and mesmerizing. The feeling is just soothing and relaxing. You may sit here and enjoy the breeze and capture some snaps of the valley. From here, you can see the starting of famous Bharangi river.

View from first Plateau

Shahapur Darwaza

After a quick break, we need to walk towards Shahapur Darwaza, which is about 10 minutes away from here. There are 3 small caves near the Shahapur Darwaza. In these caves the say are also accommodated for 10-15 people. Drinking water is also available here. But, it's really contaminated.

Maha Darwaza

Caves near Maha Darwaza

Kalyan Darwaza

After 30 minutes of break and having some lunch near shahpur darwaza, the trekking continues towards Kalyan Darwaza. There are many remnants of the fort along the trail. Also, there is small lake to the left side of the trail halfway, it's filled with water in monsoon. After walking on the plateau for around 45 minutes , we reach a big rock patch of 20 feet. A small ladder is pitched there climb the first half. After climbing the rock patch, it took around 15 minutes to reach Kalyan Darwaza. Which is the Konkan side entrance to the fort and its access has become difficult since the Britishers blew the stone carved steps. The specialty of this entrance is its location. It's almost impossible to locate this entrance as it has been carved in groves and cuts of the mountain through a huge rock. Since it was destroyed by Britishers, it requires technical expertise to access this portion of the fort. There is a big cave near the Kalyan Darwaza and is filled with water. The water is pure and we can fill the water bottle here.

View point of the three Plateau

Continuing the walk towards the viewpoint of the the 3 famous pinnacles, Navara, Navri and Bhatoba. The view point is only 5 minutes away from Kalyan Darwaza. The viewpoint is surrounded by the valley on three sides. We should be very careful here as the edges are not clear due to its slope.

After all the enjoyment and the adventure, we need to return back to Mahuli and the base village is around 6 km away from here, which takes around 2.5 hours to reach the bottom.

If you do not have your personal vehicle, you can try reaching the Mahuli village bus stop which is around 1.5 km away from shiva temple. And if you have enough time you can visit Manas Mandir. Manas Mandir is a famous Jain temple located at the bottom of the Mahuli hills. 

And here, the trek ends.

" A walk in nature walks the soul back home. " - Mary Davis

 Hope you all have a wonderful, refreshing and safe trek with beautiful and happy moments back home.