After I was successfully married, my spouse and I decided to take time off work and other responsibilities and go for a trip. The place finalized was Mahabaleshwar. So we packed our backpacks and headed for our dream tour for 3 long days. It was winter season and we had notions that it would be cold over there. So, our Backpacks contained mostly of woollen clothes. But to our dismay the cold hadn’t settled in yet. The average Climate in winter season goes down to 8 to 9 deg normally. Though at that time the temperature was between 16 to 18 deg during evening and a little less after the sun had set. But during afternoon the temperature raised up to 24 deg. We had pre-booked a Resort named Ramsukh for our fine stay. It’s the best resort cum hotel in the entire Mahabalehswar, Located in old Mahabaleshwar some 9 k.m. from the main Market. It can so far be termed as the best Resort in entire Mahabaleshwar coz of the Ambience, View and the helpful & generous staff. Also the food here was excellent. The Main facilities provided by the management were Activities from 3p.m movie to 5p.m games to 7p.m Housie to 8p.m activity to 9:30 p.m disco. The view from the hotel was Breathtaking. Check out the image below, this one was taken from my room’s lone window.
If one tilts a little to their right side, one would see the following view from the same window:
The main Part in the entire Jai Jai Ramsukh was the Jungle Trek, provided complementary by the Hotel. This Activity, conducted at 7:30 am, is one of the finest experiences one can have while visiting Mahabaleshwar. And if you think I am exaggerating, then you will find yourself proven wrong after reading even further or at the max it will only take you to believe it is visit the place in person. And it’s worth every penny you spend of your hard earned money.
In the peak of the morning dew at 7:30 a.m. we, me and My Spouse started off for our journey through the midst of the tree clad muddy path with a guide cum entertainer named Mr. Dominique. He was a real cool dude, who made us sweat at a temperature of 12 deg. He was also in charge of the Housie and Activity games conducted at the hotel’s pool side. It was a well decided path that took us an hour for the entire tour Half hour both ways. The following pic depicts what exactly I am trying to say:
And that is Dominique. He was well versed with the entire path, as though it was his second home. If we would had gone on our own we would get really lost in the woods that was for sure. He guided us thru the beauty of this wonderful Almighty’s creation and made our journey worthwhile. Due to the Dew, the smell of freshness was ruling the atmosphere and the sweet smell of mud was tinkling our senses. With every high rise in salary, you all get the benefit of high tax deductions and same was the case with us. Due to the moisture on the rocks, our shoes slipped every now and then and we fell numerous times, but thank to Mother Nature for providing us with trees to save our fall by clinging on to them. Here is another Pic of the scenic beauty that we were swearing too:
Just going around trees and jumping some rocks on our path, we suddenly came to an open ground. This reminded me of one of my favourite TV series LOST. It was like when we were running around trees, between them, under them and sometimes over them and then suddenly reach to a pleatue covered with high grass and no trees, Plain land all around us. This was the best scenario with us. This was even more breathtaking.
Dominique then pointed to the Cliff (from right), far behind in the above pic. He said that it’s our target and we have to achieve it. By this time we were almost exhausted and decided to take a bit of rest. We were as excited as a 5 year old opening his Birthday present, hoping to find great surprise in it. Soon we started for our quest to seek the well set goal, finely visible to each neuron of our pupil. We were enjoying the entire scene so deeply that we found our self noticing each and every detail of the perfect lush green surrounding. At some point in time, we found our self approaching a near dry stream of water, emerging from the top of the mountain. This was the hot spot for rest and some photography:
Not much clear though but a really scenic beauty to watch for bare eyes. Now he tipped us that we are very near to our destination and within no time we were all numb to see what was in front of us. It was not something that can be missed in a lifetime. Something like this should be accessible to all eyes. Take a look for yourself.
I would have jumped from this cliff, if I knew paragliding or even If I would have had a Parachute to support my big leap. But to my dismay, it was time for us to return to our normal world. Heartbroken we began to walk back, but then suddenly Dominique decided to do something more interesting. The above pic was taken standing above the edge of the cliff from where the stream passes and turns in to a waterfall hereafter. So he told us that we are moving upstream, climbing the path of the “to be” river. Since monsoon was over, the stream was all dried up, but the moisture of the morning dew was settled completely on the rocks, that were laid on the entire way, which would make our trek more slippery. But it was worth a Shot and so we went for it. Here is the glimpse of it:
We reached the same spot where we had earlier rested, some while ago, following up the rocks. This particular act made us staggering for more, but now we made our self prepared to call it End-of-the-day. So with this final task also was completed the adventure and now anything remained was to wish goodbye to the whistling winds of the plateau region and keep for our self the wonderful memories that we had gained through the trip. We slowly walked our way back to the hotel room wondering whether to have a hot shower or to go back to sleep. On our way back we were astonished to see foot prints of wild boar, a creature from the local wild life. The final verdict would be to rate it 10 on 10 not just for this wonderful Forest Trek, but for the entire Resort. It is surely the most pleasant trip to Mahabaleshwar I’ve ever had.
