Trek Experience — Kalavantin Durg
Date: 7th January, 2018
Completed this trek in half day, starting from Panvel at 8.00am.
Geography of Kalavantin Durg :
Kalavantin Durg is easily seen from Panvel. Opposite Matheran and next to Prabalgad Fort. Kalavantin is a 500m high pinnacle on the northern edge of the Prabal plateau. Kalavantin Durg is one day trek as it is near from both Mumbai and Pune.
Height: 500 meters / 2300 ft
Difficulty: Medium
Edurance Level: Basic Endurance Level
Trek Experience — Kalavantin Durg
One of the memorable trek with buddies.
For me trekking is like life which gives a full of refreshment. Its being with nature, feeling nature, feeling wind, feeling cold, discovering (may be rediscovering will be right word), about enjoying freedom. So when I read about a trekker’s experience at Kalavantin and saw pictures of Kalavantin durg, I decided to trek to Kalavantin. It was just on 2 months waiting list and my wish came true after Rajgad trek. My journey started from Pune to Navi Mumbai on 6th January and on 6th January after too much conversation/planning we decided the trek date to be 7th January.
I stayed at my sister’s place in Ulwe. The next day 7th Jan as it was Sunday, it is very difficult to get to up early on weekends so I set an alarm of 5am, I was very excited to trek soon. I woke up at 4am because of the excitement and started making calls to all guys at 5am so that they can start getting ready. But none of them received call. May be I was too much excited about the trek. I woke my sister up and asked her if she can make a cup of tea (though I decided to not to wake her up, but child within me had other plans). I was freshened up by bed tea and got ready by 6am. I headed to Nerul from Ulwe. I reached Nerul around 6:30am. I got ticket and waited on train platform. Again I was making continuous calls to other guys but they were running behind time. Only 2 of us were on time. I started thinking of at least one trek from Kalavantin Durg and Prabalgad.
Start:
Meeting point was set to Nerul but as the guys were new, they were not able to catch the decided train. (Might they were still getting ready :P). Out of 6 we 2 met in train at Nerul station. It was a cold winter morning with and for very energetic start of the day.
We 2 reached at Panvel station around 7:15am. From Panvel we need to move to place called Thakurwadi. This is the base place from where the trek starts. It is around 14 KM from Panvel station. So we started enquiring at auto rickshaw stand near Panvel railway station it resulted to INR 350 for 1 auto and that was not cheap. So we moved further to Panvel bus stand for bus rates. The bus stand is at 5 mins walking distance from Panvel railway station. The bus rates are very cheap INR 16/person from Panvel to Thakurwadi. The first bus is at 8am. The next bus is around and then 9:50am incase some of friends come late. Our 4 guys didn’t reached bus stand and we needed to catch 8am bus as that is the cheaper option to reach the base place. After requesting too much the bus driver and conductor waited for 10 more minutes and by that time our remaining 4 guys reached at bus stand and we then boarded Thakurwadi bus. Special thanks to driver and conductor Kaka. :)
We reached around 8:35am and started our trek towards Kalavantin Durg. Our plan was to trek both Kalavantin Durg and Prabalgad. But as the guys were new to us or might be I did not know the power of smart phone to get pictures :P, possibility of completing both treks was getting lesser.
We walked too much and walking much made us very hungry. We had packed a lot of fruits and water so we did not had to wait for too long anywhere. At middle of the fort there were too much tourists having their camps. There were hotels to breakfast as well. We had our own food material, so we did stopped at this place. We had lemon juice in middle of the journey at a small juice stall. Then actual journey started with small rocks, roots of trees followed by foot steps. Anyone can see a giant nature. Unfortunately our camera’s battery got exhausted. :(
At around 12pm we reached at top point. Actually this can be second last point if you are doing the rapping thing. Everyone at this point was busy with having fruits, sandwich, clicking pics with smart phone, DSLR. Then finally we saw the last point or top most point and it was looking simple but after seeing lots of people climbing to reach the top using rope. Some of us dropped plan to move at top. Then out of 6, 2 of us decided to check how the guys who were going at the top. There was a long queue waiting so that their numbers and they reach the top. After watching 2–3 people reaching at the top using the rope we decided to move further and we started climbing one at a time. After a bit struggle we 2 of us reached at the top. Now after we reaching the top other 4 were saying they need to come at top but they did not. It was right decision to stop there only. It is a bit difficult to reach at the top. You can check it out in the video above. After sometime as people were still trying to get on top a guy slipped and small part of giant rock broke from it and started rolling down from the peak. People started shouting watch out…watch out so that others who are still trekking might get a hint of a stone is coming rolling down. But none of them got injured. We captured pictures and finally were started descending journey. And it was too hard as compared to ascending journey.
There is bus at 3pm from Thakurwadi to Panvel and next is at 4:30pm. I needed to catch the 3pm bus so I was forcing everyone from our group to step fast. But others were we as lazy as me. We missed the 3pm bus boarded the 4:30pm bus. Reached Panvel by 5pm and boarded as per their choices. Love you guys, you had given your 100% for the trek. Though it resulted to too much pain while returning and next day as well.
But it was a nice trek with all the guys so helpful and I just liked it very much.
THE journey went one of the BEST treks and that too apparently toughest and memorable treks!
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How to Reach Kalavantin Durg and Prabalgad
- By Train Mumbai and State Transport Bus
- Get down at Panvel railway station on Harbour Line.
- Walk till State Transport Bus Station 5 minutes away.
- Take State Transport Bus till base village Thakurwadi 30 minutes ride.
- After reaching Thakurwadi you can easily trek till Prabalmachi route is well marked.
- By Train Mumbai and Rickshaw
- Get down at Panvel railway station on Harbour Line.
- Walk till Highway for Share TumTum Rickshaw get down at shedung phata.
- At Shedung Phata, hire Rickshaw till Thakurwadi Village.
- Route is well marked out from here on.
- By Car Mumbai to Kalavantin Durg or Prabalgad
- Drive till Shedung Phata Panvel on old Pune express way
- Take a turn towards Thakurwadi Village from here
- Landmark Zoia Mountain Spa near Thakurwadi Village.
Food Arrangement at Kalavantin Durg or Prabalgad
Food is available on top of Prabalmachi. Many Villagers offer homestay and camping option at Prabalmachi Village. You can also carry your own lunch.
Best Time to Visit
Can be visited all year round. Due to increased popularity of Kalavantin Durg it is heavily crowded during monsoon seasons and at weekends. So please reach as early as possible to avoid crowd.
Note: This blog is also available on https://www.swapnilwaman.in/2018/01/trek-experience-kalavantin-durg.html
