My Life.....: Ratangad

Ratangad means "Gem of Forts". This is the most beautiful Fort in Maharashtra. This is a Fort that no Treker should miss. The best season to visit Ratangad is just after monsoon (Mid-September to end of October). One can never imagine how beautiful this place is until he/she has been here !

Our Group : Andrew, Pratap, Vijay, Monica and Myself.

Bikes : 1 CBZ (Andrew), 1 Pulsar 150cc (Vijay), 1 Pulsar 180cc (Mine)

Route : Pune - Narayangaon - Sangamner - Akola - Rajur - Bhandardara - Ratanwadi

Total Distance : 240 Kms (One Way)

On the 20th of September we started from Pune at 5:00am. Our plan was to cross City limits before traffic and to maintain a comfortable speed throughout. We did not want to rip our bikes as all 3 bikes were fully loaded with us and our bags. We reached Akola by 12:00pm and had lunch and packed our dinner. On the way from Bhandardara to Ratanwadi, my bike had a flat tyre. There were no roads, only pot-holes. This is one horrible stretch of about 22Kms where you cannot control yourself from abusing the PWD. I had to park my bike at a Hut and started walking towards Ratanwadi. The place was green and wet. I hitch-hiked a ride on top of a Jeep. It was a different experience to sit on top of a Jeep and go through a forest. I reached Ratanwadi at around 3:00pm and the rest of our group was waiting for me. We had to trek up and reach the cave before it got dark. So we hired a Guide and started immediately. The entire route is along a stream. We could not waste time on photos as it would take atleast 3hrs to reach the top and it was already around 4:00pm. It started raining very heavily to make things tough, but we kept on moving through the forest. Suddenly something heavy fell down from the tree and ran into the bushes. None of us knew what it was, all we knew was that it was big and heavy as a branch broke as it fell down. These forests are known for Wild-Boars and Leopards. We finally reached the cave by 6:30pm and cleaned the place thoroughly. We sent the Guide back as he said that he would come back the next morning to take us down. So it was just the five of us in a cave, right at the top for the night. The good part is that the cave had a collapsable gate as there were too many monkeys. We changed to dry clothes and had dinner and were sitting and chatting. Suddenly we heard the sound of a plastic bag being crushed. Everybody became quiet as we knew for sure that we were the only people on top. Then we figured that it was a rat running inside one of the plastic bags in which we had carried our dinner. I wanted to kill it, but the rest of my group was against my idea. So had to leave the damn thing alive. After a while at around 9:30pm a group of 7 more guys came and joined us. We had to share our cave with them as it was raining like cats and dogs. The night was peaceful except for the fact that Monica felt the rat running beside her a couple of times and refused to sleep in the corner. So, I exchanged places with Monica. We woke up at 8:00 in the morning and the view was breathtaking. There were a lot of monkeys outside our cave. We got ready and packed our bags while our Guide came as promised. We checked out from our cave at around 9:30am and went to explore the Fort. The place was covered with fog and we could not see the waterfall. We went to the Nedhe (a natural orifice in the rock) and then started decending. I had sprained my Knee very badly and had a tough time climbing down the steep slippery slopes. We then reached one of the entrances which leads to a very steep and mossy staircase. This is very dangerous because if you slip here, you are going right down the valley. After getting down the staircase, we walked through the Jungle where we saw wild-boar pugmarks. We had bath in the stream and reached Ratanwadi at 1:30pm. Vijay and I hurried to get the flat tyre fixed. We removed the tyre and went to Bhandardara (about 16Kms away), fixed the puncture and came back to my bike and fixed it. Andrew, Pratap and Monica were waiting near my Bike. We then went to Bhandardara Dam and did not have time for boating. Then we rode to Bhandardara and got our bikes checked, had good food and then started our return at 7:00pm. It was already dark and we were way beyond schedule. We still had to ride 240Kms to reach Pune and through very pathetic roads (even the highway is bad and had a lot of potholes). The good part was that there was not much traffic on the highway as it was late. Thanks to my Xenon headlights which made riding in the Ghats a lot more comfortable. We stopped beside the highway at 10:30pm as Pratap had to attend to nature's call. He just grabbed a torch and ran into a field. We were laughing at him and at the same time we felt sorry for him as we did not have water or tissue papers. Then we had dinner at 11:30 at a Dhaba which was about to close. Finally we reached Pune at 1:30am. We were really tired and wanted to sleep. After reaching home, we called each other and made sure that everyone had reached safe.This is another well spent weekend. It is an experience we five would never forget. We rode almost 500Kms in these 2 days, faced some challenges due to the flat tyre, had some scary experiences and most of all learnt what unity and "team work" and "proper planning" meant.

Many plan trips, but only a few who are determined make it.