Ratangad Trekking Pleasures and Travel Delights

The trek to Ratangad is one of the most favourite of all trekking enthusiasts and it is one of the oldest forts of Maharashtra. You get everything in this trek. So experience the most fascinating sights of the jungles the streams and enjoy the thrill of being in a lovely locale in this part of the world.

The trek starts from the time you leave Pune for the place. So ensure that you have all the food that you need in a trek. So have your First Aid Kit, enough water, some snacks, cold drink and enjoy the sights of the majestic fort which is at a height of around 1297 metres. Lying around 215 km from Pune and around 160 km from Mumbai, the Ratangad fort has a lovely cave and provides a lot of thrilling experiences and memorable moments. This is a cave where around 30 to 40 people can live at a time. There are some smaller caves too in this place.

There is a needle hole or a nedhe here and this is a hole that is created naturally in the mountain and this is a place where you can sit and enjoy the high speed wind that is found here.

Then there is the Amruteshwar temple here which is located at the foot of the fort of Ratangad and is famous for being one of the oldest Hemadpanthi temples with a lot of lovely stone carvings.

Ratan means jewel. Ratangad is a place that is so called as it is known as the jewel fort. Located in the Kalsubai forestland this is a lovely place to go on a trek. When we had gone on a trek here we had scheduled it such that we could travel till Bhandardara and then move on the Ratanwadi which is the village at the base of the fort.

We reached Igatpuri by train and then took a jeep to Bhandardara. From Bhandardara we proceeded to Ratanwadi. This was a forty minutes ride and the entire ride was very pleasant with a cool and mild weather. We directly went to the Amruteshwar temple here in Ratanwadi and this temple is famous for being a 2000 year old Shiva temple in this area. After visiting the temple we proceed to go to a nearby joint and had our dinner.

The next morning we got up to a cool and pleasant weather and started our trek. The route that we took first went along the river. The route then passed a jungle and had an elevation which goes up a plateau. All of us had brought our binoculars and cameras so we were able to take the best pictures of the place. There was a dense forest we crossed and we experienced the changing weather.

Then the entire area seemed to be covered with fog and as we climbed up we almost thought that it would rain. The thick fog created a magical look to the place and we were quite amazed at the sheer delights offered by this place. Mother Nature seemed to have reserved a special spot for herself in this land of thrills. We were soon at the base and one by one we climbed up. There were some girls in our group and it was quite difficult for them to climb up.

Then we reached the main entry point of the Fort of Ratangad. This is called the Darwazas. Ratangad is a place that has a lot of monkeys. The monkeys were in groups and I dint want my camera to be snatched away by them so I hung it on my neck.

The Nedhe or the natural hole was our next halt. This is a natural hole which is found on the wall of a mountain and is made normally due to the erosion caused due to strong winds. There were some water tanks that we saw on the way back. We also went to the cave and saw many sculptures scattered alongside.

We climbed up to the Nedhe and the ground was quite slippery and rocky here. The Ratangad Nedhe is very big and here we halted and refreshed for a while. As the wind relaxed our tired nerves we decided on our next plan of action. It rained as we went down and soon we reached the bastion again. Then we got down the ladder and then traversed the jungle paths here.