RAIGAD PARIKRAMA

Everybody knows about Raigad the capital of Shivaji Maharaj. However very few know about Raigad Parikrama.  I had no clue about this trek until recently.   I was told by our cyclist cum trekker friend Hemant about this trek and we instantly decided to explore it.

On 25^th January 2015, a group of 8 trekkers got  in to 2 cars at 5.30 am. We reached Raigad Payatha after  our normal breakfast of Pohe. Apart from 6 adults (Hemant, Anirudh, Chandan, myself, Omkar and Mr. Bramhe) there were two youngsters; Drumil age 12 and Sharvari age 13.

From L to R: Mr. Bramhe, Hemant, Sharvari, Ashwini, Drumil, Chandan, Anirudh and Omkar 

Hemant guided us to the left side of stairs. We could see Raigad Parikrama painted in yellow on a rock.  Raigad parikrama is a unique trail of around 12 kms. The parikrama path takes you around the entire fort.

As we enter the parikrama path, we leave the gigantic fort on our right side. The path is quite unknown and difficult to explore. You need guidance from an experienced trekker. Since we were led by Hemant  who had been on this trek twice, finding our way turned out to be easy. We slowly entered into a dense forest.  We were still able to see the glimpses of the fort on our left side. We continued to walk for another hour. This stretch was easy and there were no extraordinary climbs. Omkar had brought his DSLR camera with gigantic lenses. I was truly impressed and withdrew from taking snaps on my tiny mobile.  We could see enormous Lingana on our right side. 

Lingana 

We were walking on the dried grass under the trees. The shade made it pleasure sum to walk too. On the way there was a pile of firewood from which each one of us picked up sticks. They are very useful while descending.

After an hour of walk we decided to take a break for a sip of water.  The next stretch again took us though the jungle. There were varieties of trees.  We kept walking on the golden grass for another hour and took a break as decided. After a round of refreshing fruits we started waking again. The rout was more or less plain with some easy climbs.

On the way there were a few huts. We interacted with the residents and found out that they had no electricity.  When we in the urban areas electrify every corner of our cities there still are good number of people living in the darkness. 

As we proceeded ahead,  there was a carpet of purple flowers laid in front of us.  We crossed this beautiful piece of our journey and realized that we have started climbing. It was a climb of almost half an hour after which we found a shade and some patch of leveled ground to sit down and rest. We opened our Tiffin and finished our lunch. It was already one pm by this time. There was a small group of trekkers who also followed us.

After a long break of almost 30-45 minutes, we started our journey again. The route now took us through an enormous descend. The sticks were a great help now. The soil beneath was loose hence we had to watch our steps carefully. Hemant , Drumil and Omkar went ahead. However I was holding up the people behind me since I was scared of the loose soil. I suggested that others may like to overtake me as I was obstructing them. However no one did so since they said anyway the trek will be complete only when the last person completes it. How true! We reached the bottom of the hill after a very long and difficult descend. There were huge trees protecting us from mid day sun.

We took some rest and started our journey again. To my dismay, it was a huge climb again. Nature gives you life lessons all the time. If you do not like descends there are climbs. By the time you settle for something you hate you will soon have something else to hate more.  Take change to your stride and start enjoying every step.

As we climbed up again we realized we were in the final leg of our trek. The fort looked closer. After a climb of another half an hour we could see the first glimpse of cables of Raigad Rope Way. We now left the forest behind us and entered the open unpaved road. At about 2.45 pm, we could now see the cable cars in front of us. It was amazing to watch them rolling up and down carrying passengers.

Our last halt was at Deshmukh hotel to drink Lemon Sherbet to celebrate our completion. This was indeed a lovely trek in the company of lovely nature and of course lovely people.