[AutoIndian]

There was a bridge over the river. Since the main temple and proper parking space was on the other bank I thought of taking the TUV to the other side

09-Orange Tank bridging the gap


10-The twin temples and the river bank from TUV's point of view


11-The Orange Tank with twin temples and the river bank in the backdrop from my point of view


12-Just see the landscape. Doesn't it correspond to the lunar surface or could it be Martian?


13-A closer look at the temples and river basin. What you still could not spot the river, then wait for the next picture


14-This view makes it clear what lies between the two temples. Seen here is the Kukdi river and connecting the two ends is the hanging bridge


15-Close up shot of the hanging bridge


16-A closer look at the river. Can you spot those holes in the rocks, hang on there are more to come, bigger ones, which can swallow even an elephant


17-Still waters of river Kukdi with greenish tinge. Probably due to underwater vegetation and moss lends a greenish tinge to the river water


18-An example of underwater vegetation

[AutoIndian]

Now some information from net: (Source --> http://www.amazingmaharashtra.com/20...moon-land.html)

Nighoj, a village in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra state, about 77 kilometers away from Pune City, is famous for Malganga Temple and the naturally created potholes (Kund) on the riverbed of river Kukadi. A lot of people, geologists, experts from all over the world come here every year to see / study the phenomenon of their formation. It is said that many years ago there was a huge amount of rainfall in this area and the River Ghod (Ghodnadi) flowed through this canyon with a great force forming huge holes in the rocks.

According to geologists the potholes (locally known as Ranjan Khalge) in Nighoj are supposed to be the largest in Asia.

Enjoy more pictures of the real potholes

19-This is the upstream from the temple


20-My daughter playing hide and seek in a a naturally formed rocky window


21-One of the pothole seems to completely swallow her


22-These really look scary


23-And some more


24-One can get completely lost in this maize of potholes


We had brought some eatables along with us. In one of the sabhamandaps in the temple we made ourselves comfortable and feasted on those. We then had some cane juice as well. After taking the blessings of goddess Malaganga and enjoying this natural phenomenon for almost hour and a half we started our return journey @ 03:00pm. Within 40 minutes we touched the highway and then we halted at Ranjangaon to take the darshan and blessings of Mahaganapati (one amongst the eight ashtavinayaks). We had some refreshments at a nearby hotel. Some snaps in the temple premises.

25-The Mahaganapati temple as seen from the back side


26-Kids relaxing on the steps.


After spending just over an hour we started return journey. Instead of going via Shikrapur, Koregaon, Loni-Kesnand, Wagholi we decided to divert from Shikrapur to Chakan, hence we took the bypass. The toll booths have been removed from this road and it is an undivided but very good/ plain road. This is a 30 kmm stretch from Shikrapur to Chakan, absolute pleasure to drive. In Chakan we caught up with some traffic but were not stranded. From Chakan we took the diversion towards right for Moshi Chikhali (after the toll booth) and reached home safely @ 7pm. Thus came to end another successful trip

Total distance covered - 222 km
Runing Time - 5:40 hours
Stoppage Time - 2:50 hours

[ssen]

Excellent post, I can related to it so well since I visited Sinhagarh recently. Following google maps, we started from wanowrie and took Katraj road and followed up Khed-Sivapur. The route is unfrequented by regular traffic and the ghat road is completely broken up. Its sort of adventurous to drive up on the broken path (though not recommended); probably it'll be fun doing it for some off-road "sort" of experience

[chinmaybaikar]

Originally Posted by GKMahajan

Dear AutoIndian,
Very nice! I am impressed by your trip, your coverage and your photo compilation.
I have been to all the places mentioned, except Shivthar Ghal. Now, I have to plan it!

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

In monsoons this place is like heaven on earth
3 h 23 min, 139 km
via NH66 (Tamhini Ghat)
2 h 56 min without traffic

Travelled to my native place (Dapoli) in June. First went to Sinhagad then took the Tamhini ghat to Mangaon. Travelling on Tamhini route in monsoons is kind of therapeutic. The road condition is better than the Varandha ghat and lots of waterfalls along the route. Posting a video of the monsoon escapade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Z0gAkNcYE

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

We started the return journey @ 03:00pm and reached home @ 06:10pm[/b]

Hi AutoIndian! Hope you don't mind me piling on to your thread to share a few pics from my Shivthar Ghal trip that I undertook yesterday. Started at 6:00 AM from home, and was back by 3:00 PM exactly.

While going, I took the shortcut that starts a couple of kms before the end of Varandha Ghat, and 80% of it is in good condition now, though quite steep in some places (it saves almost 20 kms, so that's a big point in its favour ). However, took the other route via Varandh village while returning.

Over to the pics:

Backwaters of Nira-Deoghar dam









Greenery on the route







Views in/from Varandha Ghat







At Shivthar Ghal:





The greenery and majestic views were a sight for sore eyes. Overall, a very refreshing trip. Jai Jai Raghuveer Samarth!

Cheers,
Vikram

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Hi AutoIndian! Hope you don't mind me piling on to your thread to share a few pics from my Shivthar Ghal trip that I undertook yesterday. Started at 6:00 AM from home, and was back by 3:00 PM exactly.

No problem at all. You can share here as much as you want. Rather I should thank you for sharing these lovely pictures over here. Also apologies that I could not respond to your queries in time before you took this trip, last couple of days have been very hectic on work front.

Looks like the road is in a real bad shape, but who cares when there is lush greenery all around, water bodies to accompany you and a rugged Scorpio at your disposal, a divines combination for a perfect trip. Do share more pictures here, would love to see all of them.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Looks like the road is in a real bad shape.

Yes, the roads after leaving NH4 (just before Shirwal), and particularly after crossing Bhor are not in great condition, but as they say, bad roads lead to good places

Our original plan was to visit Sajjangad (for which I had posted a question to you on another thread), but changed it to Shivthar Ghal at the last moment.

I don't have more pics in my mobile, but will see if the missus has taken any that are worth sharing

Cheers,
Vikram

[JoshMachine]

Great travelogues Autoindian and comfortablynumb!
With the monsoon rearing its head again in Pune, not sure if I will be able to take my Vento there, what with the "offroading" conditions present in these ghat roads?

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Great travelogues Autoindian and comfortablynumb!
With the monsoon rearing its head again in Pune, not sure if I will be able to take my Vento there, what with the "offroading" conditions present in these ghat roads?

Thanks JoshMachine. If you are the lone driver or max one more passenger with you, it should not be much of a problem, if you drive carefully. However with a full passenger load (read: rear seat occupied by 2 or 3, you will have to be extremely careful, while negotiating the craters. It is a bit risky to drive through Varandha ghat during monsoon, not just because of bad roads but also this ghat is prone to land slides. Tamhini ghat is a safer bet, being closer to Pune.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Great travelogues Autoindian and comfortablynumb! With the monsoon rearing its head again in Pune, not sure if I will be able to take my Vento there, what with the "offroading" conditions present in these ghat roads?

Thanks! As Autoindian has replied, if there are only 2-3 people in the car, navigating this route shouldn't be a problem. The only time you will have to be careful of under-body scrapes is when you have to take the LHS tyres off the road to make way for an oncoming vehicle, particularly if it's a ST bus or truck. However, such instances won't be frequent as traffic is sparse on this road, specially on a week day.

Cheers,
Vikram