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Rediff.com  » Getahead » Looking out of the Maratha Empire's two crown jewels

Looking out of the Maratha Empire's two crown jewels

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 14:51 IST
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Rediff reader Rashmi Parab trekked to the twin forts of Lohgad and Visapur this monsoon.

Here's an account of her trek in 10 breathtaking photographs (and one map)!


The twin forts of Lohgad and Visapur share the same base and probably same plateau range.

There are more than a couple of routes to trek up Visapur, but we stuck to our known route.

During our earlier trek we had hiked all the way from Malavali station to the base.

This time we took a taxi directly to Lohgad base and saved almost four hours.


Visapur is much more gigantic and has a strong fortification.

It even stands sat a higher elevation than Lohagad.

While this fort has more or less equal expanse all along, its counterpart has a long maachi (the long extended portion of a plateau): the Vinchu kaata and hence is much smaller in size.

Image: The route of the trek



Most of us in the group were travelling from Pune. Two of us from the group came from Mumbai.

We decided to meet at Lonavala and took a taxi to the base of Lohagad.

It is a 30-minute drive that seemed much shorter what with the antakshari and all the stories that everyone had to share.

Image: Lohgadwadi -- point A on the map


We took a diversion towards Visapur on foot and spotted several people walking in the opposite direction -- towards Lohgad!

I felt we'd probably be the only ones walking to Visapur instead of Lohgad.

I was proven wrong later.

Image: Gaimukh Khind -- point B on the map


We had some tea and sought directions from a local towards our first landmark -- a hut (point C on the map).

From here, the route passes through a forest, goes along a stream and reaches all the way to the top (point D on the map).

Alternately, you can walk a little further from the hut and directly start walking upstream like we'd done during our previous visit here. That is a much better path.

Image: Trekking up towards point D


The patch between points D and E is relatively clear of vegetation.

It provides a fantastic view of Tung and Tikona and the Pawna backwaters sandwiched in-between.

On the extreme right, if you look hard enough, you can spot the entrance of Lohagad and on the left are the Visapur fort walls.

Image: Tung-Tikona view


Once we reached the top, we followed an earlier advice we'd received: We turned left and began exploring the fort clockwise.

As we approached the point marked F on the map, strong winds, clouds and rains welcomed us.

The entire stretch and houses water bodies and also a huge wheel which was possibly used to grind cementing mixture.

We waited for a long time for the clouds to clear our and provide us a view of Lohagad but we weren't lucky.

Image: Point F -- probably the highest pt of the fort.


The route from point F to point G is a fairly straightforward walk.

This portion of the fort is largely intact, has a strong broad pathway and small watch-windows and crevices all along.

We'd missed out on these parts of the fort during our last visit largely because we didn't have enough time.

Image: Strong fortification between points F and G.


As we approached point G, we spotted magnificent Shendur Maruti, seemingly the fort deity.

We sought his divine blessings and came across remnants of what looked like old residential places.


At point H we discovered a local cattle-grazer who showed us the way down.

All along our descent, we had the Mumbai-Pune expressway in view and finally we found a signboard for Visapur which came as a relief because it meant we were on the right track.

This I assume must have been point J on the map.

An old lady then guided us to the Bhaje caves, at Paatangaon where we had some homemade food that had been with us all this while.

As I looked back at the map, I was amazed at how much we'd covered but I also discovered that there was a part of the fort that we hadn't seen :-)

Which, I suppose, calls for another trip!

Image: The washed-out sign board that assured us we were indeed on the right track.

Photographs: Rashmi Parab

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