Dhakoba Caves and Ganesh Temple Trek

While at work, I got a call from one of my good friend(Tushar), I knew he would have called up to tell me about his latest trip. Instead he was asking to plan for a one day trek. He along with his friends were ready to trek as they were tired of routine work and wanted to rejuvinate themselves.

At first, I was thinking about the scorching May heat and was not keen to plan something. But it was Tushar's enthusiasm that made me plan a day trek to Dhakoba Ganesh Temple.

With this trek, I also planned to break the gap of about an year, where I had not done a single trek.

Dhakoba, is a good trek in the Malshej Ghat range. There are two points, which can be visited there.

One is Dhakoba itself, which is a tough trek and follows the ridge all the way to the top. Second is the Ganesh Temple trek, which is more to the south east enroute to Dhakoba and easy.

We finalised saturday for this trek, so that one could rest properly on Sunday.

Since Tushar and his friends were coming from Kandivli, they were asked to reach Kalyan by 7:00 am. Dhakoba trek starts from the Village Pallu, which is ahead of Dhasai.

Once you reach Kalyan, take the highway towards Murbad. Once your cross Murbad, keeping moving towards Malshej Ghat. Approx. 35-40 Kms after Murbad, there is right turn (along the main road itself) for Dhasai. Kindly ask locals for Dhasai, if you are unable to find it.

Pallu village is about 8-10 Kms from the main road.

Once you reach Pallu, its recommended to take locals along with you for the trek ahead.Since its easy to loose your way during this trek. We spoke to a couple of villagers and convinced them to take us to the Ganesh Temple.

Since summer was at its peak, we packed many water bottles with us. On speaking to villagers, we understood that the tanks up at the Ganesh Temple were dry. Please carry as much water as you can, while trekking during summers any where in the Sahyadri's.

We started our trek from Pallu at around 10:00 am and soon saw ourselves next to a huge water body, which had ample of water in it.

We walked all the way round the water body and reached the other side of it. Ganesh temple and the caves were clearly visible from the water body also.

After walking for about 45 mins, we then started to experience the thrill of that climb. The climb was getting steeper and steeper and the sun was taking our toll. Initial walk till the base was moderate and comfortable for the complete group. But as the climb got steeper, some people were unable to cope up with it. Due to which, we were breaking frequently and our consumption of water was on the rise. :(

The climb was getting steeper with slippery soil along with route.

One has to be overcautious during such climbs, as a single slide will take down the guy behind you. :)

Everyone were asked to take a cautious approach and successfully reached the top.

We entered the first cave and rested for about five minutes. The feeling there was awesome after such a trek, which took our toll during the ascend.

After that we moved towards the temple, offered our prayers and explored the other caves there. Temple is the biggest cave there but the other caves are also big and well designed. :)

There are 2-3 water tanks, but the summer heat had left them dry.

We decided to take a long break and have something in the last cave, which was offering the best view.

We then had sandwiches and took power naps before begining our descend to the village.

We had to be over cautious during the descend, since the route was steep.

Everyone was able to cross the steeper section properly.

The heat took toll of couple of guys, they were dehydrated completely. We were also running out of water. :(

We were stopping frequently to beat the heat somehow.

After walking for about an hour we reached the water body and had a hand pump just before that.

The very sight of the hand pump made us feel that we will survive this heat.
For some, this "god-send" water pump was like heaven and they were enjoying it a lot. Seriously, water at this hand pump was so sweet and no one was ready to leave that place. :)

We filled our water water bottles and took good rest. After getting ourselves refreshed there, we started walking back towards the village Pallu.

Few of our of our friends (Liju & Tushar) had lost their way and reached some other village. They were also fortunate to get water there.

On reaching Pallu, we gave some chocolates and other eatables to the villagers who accompanied us and we started our drive back home.

All in all, it was a nice trek. This trek makes me more happy as I was able to start trekking after a long gap. All thanks to Tushar for initiating this. And the group was also very nice. I enjoyed every bit of it and hope the rest of the group also.

Hoping that this trek starts a streak of treks and we reach new places every weekend. :)

Note: Avoid trekking in the summer heat, unless you are confident of yourselves. The heat takes your toll.

This is a very good trek during the monsoon season or after that. According to the villagers, the waterfalls here are awesome and Dhakoba gives you the best of views in Sahyadri Region during the monsoon.

P.S: On our way back, we were collecting the waste (wrappers, plastic covers, cigarette wrappers etc.) which we found enroute. During trekking, preferably on your way back, requesting all my fellow trekkers to take care of this and ensure that the place, you are visiting, is clean and non-degradable items are dumped at the right place.

Enjoy Nature. Trek safely and keep the environment clean.

Dhakoba Trek

The Concrete Jungle was as usual dry and humid, despite of the fact that monsoon season was going on. So we decided to get ourselves some fresh air and decided to setup a rendezvous with Sahyadris again. This time monsoon trails beckoned us to Dhakoba.

Dhakoba is one of the finest treks of the Sahyadris. Dhakoba (Chota and Motha) has all the aspects of making it the most difficult (almost impossible during Rains), lengthy and technical trek of Sahyadris.

We were four of us on this trek. We had started at around 10 am from kalyan. Reached Pallu village, from where the trek actually starts.

Pallu village is 35-40 Kms ahead of Murbad. After Murbad (on the highway towards Malshej Ghat), there is a right turn for Dhasai Village. There is small sign board on the left hand side, directing you towards Dhasai Village. There is a Nice Ganapati Temple on route to Dhasai.
Which also has a nice large lake adjacent to it. From Dhasai, just ask for Pallu village, its some 7-8 kms from there.

After reaching Pallu, we had to convince the villagers to send someone with us till Dhakoba.
An old kaka(guy) from the village agreed to guide us to Dhakoba.

We started at around 1:00 pm in the afternoon. After taking into account our walking speed, Mr Mahadev Koli (our guide for this trek) had estimated that it would take around 4-5 hrs, for us to reach the top. Which the villagers usually cover in around 2 hrs time. :D

Initially we were just crossing the fields to reach the base of this trek. After reaching the base, we started off and then came the actual feel of a complete monsoon trek in the sahyadris.
Tropical forest kind of feeling with rain pouring down heavily and we were making our way through the trees and mosquitoes enjoying fresh blood.

Would suggest to come here in track pants and extra pair of clothes, as this trek has lots of poison ivy trees and mosquitoes during monsoon.

We were making our way up the slippery, muddy trail. The trail also involved going through the nali, from where the water was coming downhill. Water gushing downstreams, had the rocks covered with Moss. This made the climb more difficult and treacherous.

After crossing the nalli, we reached a plateau region. Crossed the whole plateau region to reach the base of Dhakoba. After another one and half hour's trek, we reached Dhakoba.

There is a small temple uphill of Dhakoba, which perfectly compliments the spirituality of the Sahyadris. :) We settled ourselves and after sometime planned for the tasks ahead. With the head torches on, we started brewing Hot tea for ourselves.

After the hot tea, we managed to set up a bonfire with the dry woods kept inside the cavern.
This bonfire provided a perfect relief from the chilly winds and rains, that had take our toll sometime back.

Finally the sleeping bags were out and the melancholic memoirs of misty mountains, we drifted into a nice relaxed soothing sleep.

The next morning was pretty good as the rains had subsided and a bright sunny morning had dawned upon the dew drops on the mountains. Had our morning tea, packed everything and started on our way back to Pallu village. It took 3 hrs for us to reach Pallu village. Also expressed out gratitude towards our guide for this trek by giving him lots of chocolates and biscuits for his children.

On our way back, we had taken a break at the Temple and did spent some nice time at the lake adjacent to it.

It was a mesmerizing experience of a good monsoon trek in awesome Sahyadris. :)