Chambhargad & GandharPale Caves (किल्ले चांभारगड आणि गांधारपाले लेणी)

Me and Chaitanya decided to go for trek to"Chambhargad-Songad" near Mahad in Raigad district. The plan was to go by ST bus. There are lot of ST buses from Swargate ply to Mahad. Finally Amar, Laxmikant and Kaustubh joined us. We caught early morning 6:00 A.M bus from swargate. ST bus took lot of time to reach Mahad. We reached in Mahad at around 10:00 A.M. We had some breakfast of Misal, Wada-Paav on small hotel on Highway. Due to late arrival, we cancelled the plan of Songad and decided to do only Chambhargad and Gandhar-Pale caves.


Then we move towards "Chambhar-Khind", a base village of Chambhargad. Chambhar-Khind village is situated near to Mahad ST stand. 10 minutes of walk from ST stand leads you into the village.

Then we started ascending the fort from the village. The path was well-trodden. As Monsoon was at the pick, there were couple of waterfalls flowing everywhere.

Slowly the path becomes steeper and due to the grass it became slippery as well.

Then we have to climb through one of the colony which will lead us to the back side of the fort. See the right hand side colony in below snap

 

Then from the back side, a small travel from left side, we reached near the water cistern on the fort.

 This is the only sign remains on the fort. One can also see Bhagwa on topmost part of the fort.

 Then we started descending the fort and again came on highway to go for GandharPaale caves. GandharPale Cave is situated 5 kms before Chambhar-Khind village. We hired auto-rickshaw and in no time we reached near caves.

 After 10 minutes of small climb using steps, we reached in front of the caves. One can see water cisterns and rooms and other remnants near caves.

 After this, we again went to Mahad to catch return ST bus. Unfortunately, the next 2 buses from Mahad to Pune were full in ADVANCE BOOKING. So, we decided to catch Dapoli-Pimprichinchwad bus. We caught that bus, but inside the bus there was no place to sit. Oh my god.... I worried with the fact that, we are now going with standing from Mahad to Pune (4 - 5 hrs). But luckily there 4 people was to stop at "Lonere" village on the way. So, we got our seat and return journey completed.

Note:
1) If you are going with ST, Please book the return ticket to Pune in advance for Mahad on weekends to avoid last minute headache.
2) If you want to cover Songad as well, you need come here early morning in base village of Chambhargad and then you can do Songad also.


You can find entire photos of this trek at  
https://picasaweb.google.com/110853779229661321949/ChambhargadGandharPaleCaves


Enjoy!!!!!