"Excellent Trek in Western Ghat Kalavantin Durg and Prabal Machi"

The way I understand its name is, 'durg' means fort and 'kalavantin' artist .... An artistically placed / carved steps in the wall of the fort depicts its name. Off course there is some history behind name and this fort. You can easily google it on wikipedia. Was this fort a part of Shree Shivaji Maharaja's empire? The answer is Yes and it was the part of treaty with Mughals which was reconquered by Maratha's. This was earlier also called as Muranjan fort.

I have decided to join for the trek to this fort when I heard plan that FONA group is organising this in October. The reason being two of my friends already done this many years back and they told me how interesting this trek is. So I never wanted to miss the chance to visit this fort.

How to Reach this Fort:

Just follow the google map below and it will take you there. The road below is from Nigdi, Pune to Durg. Actually its near to Mumbai and comes in the Western Ghat range. Typically this fort falls in the ranges of well known hill station, Matheran.

Reaching at the base by car is pretty easy and besides Pune Mumbai Old highway.

My Experience :

We have started at around 6.30 in the morning from Nigdi by Bus and reached at the base at around 10 am. Off course it does not take this much time to reach but we were group of 30/32 people and all were located at different locations. We has breakfast in between and tea, FONA has strict instructions to have heavy breakfast before start of any trek so that energy levels are high.



Without wasting any time we took Limbu Pani at the base and started climbing the hill. By the way you have decent parking place at the base with small hotel where you can park your vehicle safely and start climbing. You can get tea / Limbu pani and some snacks here. I understand village people runs this hotels / services for trekkers for their living. If you asks they also provide guide services till the end of trek at reasonable price. If anyone / any group is not aware of this before, you can enquire it at the base and they can provide you the guide service.




One thing if you try to search where is the Fort at the base itself, then let me tell you, Kalavantin Durg not visible from the trek start point unless you reach atleast 30% of your total journey.  The path is fully surrounded by dense forest and you can observed different colours of butterfly and flowers on the way.

At one point, you get short-cut to climb upward. Here we were of know clue how much steep it will but since one of our member started with that route all followed him. That was the very steep climb and we have to stop every 5 minutes to take break. It was exhausting patch in all complete trek for me. After fully exhausted and sweating, we reached at some flat place where all us could get the Limbu pani and Kakdi, We though yes we have climbed half the trek but to our surprise, it was not even half, we could see our destination clearly from here and it was way ahead from there.

After taking short break we have started further trekking and come across one small waterfall. Since those were post monsoon days hence water was not flowing fully but enough to get freshen up. There some of us thought of having lunch but finally all agreed to finish the climb and then have lunch. From here we have started again and difficult part of trek began.
Here you have to be cautious as one road takes you towards prabal machi and second takes you to the kalavantin durg. Two forts are in front of each other and separated by V. Photo can do
 the justis of explaining the same.

Here we have split in many groups and arrived at V. At V junction again we could see one stall providing Limbu Pani at Just Rs 10. The main and final climb starts here. From here fully rocky patch begins. The steps are cut in single rock. Many steps are in decent shape but some are worn out. The people having Height phobia have to be very cautious here since steps at many places are not wide enough to walk freely. So care has to be taken. There are not railing or support to other side and mistake could be dangerous. So be careful. Don't try to taken selfie in this patch. Its justs good suggestion. There are fine stones on there stair case's which makes it slippery to climb. So walk slowly and carefully.





Then after 15 minutes of climb you arrive at the enough top of the fort but still not at complete top. Due to humid climate and 1 pm time trek was becoming toughest. If you are climbing in this climate keep yourself fully hydrated to avoid any cramps dizziness etc.

Here one 20 ft rock patch comes which is pretty straight. You have to climb here very slowly. A rope here is required for safety elese it bit tough to climb. Rope is ensure safety as if you look down its complete valley. We have climb here at 1 pm and reached at very top of the fort where just 40/50 people can comfortably stand. From top you can see Matheran range, Mumbai city, Various other forts as well. If its silence a small clamp from Kalvantin Durg can be heard at the other end of Prabal Gad. Echo is generated. Though we have exhausted a lot reaching at the top was making us proud, satisfied. After taking some photo's and flag hosting we have started return Journey.

You have to be careful in your return journey as well. Those have fear of height to be more careful. After descending for 40 minutes we ahve arrived at Prabal Machi, and decided to have lunch. It was late so all were hungry. Here you get one hotel named Hanuman. They serve chiken, egg, veh dish as well. They also provide tents and sleeping bags on rent for stay on prabal machi if you plan for one day stay outing. Staying here is also good idea. You need to carry anything, since all the arrangement can be made here itself.

We took nap for half an hour. It was already 5 pm. Before starting return journey all of us sat together for short introduction of each other. The idea of leaders was, staying there for a while could give us nice experience of sun set. Watching sun set from here was amazing and different experience. Sunset here is different then we see at other times, Here sun vanishes behind horizon and not behind any building, hill etc. at 6 pm e have started descend and reached at around 7 pm at the base without any stop. It was already dark while descending.



Here we have started return journey with life time memories and new energy. Thanks for FONA group for organising such amazing trek safely.

Other Things to Do nearby:

If you plan for stay, you can do kalavntin durg and prabal machi both. Both are in front of each other. From Prabal machi complete view of Kalavantin durg can be seen.

Beast time to visit:

You can visit this places any time during year except Monsoon days since steps are slippery and heavy rain showers.

Here are some more pictures of Journey..













-- Keep Trekking