Vandre – Bhimashankar – Bhorgiri

Its early morning. We reach Vandre village located west of Pune, a village enroute the famous Lonavala – Bhimashankar trek. It’s a small hamlet situated on the edge of Western Ghats dividing the Konkan region and the plains. Needless to say, the people here mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

Instead of doing the entire Lonavala – Bhimashankar trek, we have selected only the last leg of the trek today.

The climate is pleasant. The month of November has brought a cool breeze with it. The trek passes through large grasslands on the edge of Western Ghats overlooking the villages in the Raigad District. The grass that was green till a few weeks back has turned yellow now. In fact, early rays of the Sun make the grass look more golden than yellow. The morning breeze is making it sway and dance resembling the golden waves on the grasslands. The edges of the mountain and the shrubs on the grassland have managed to stay green. I feel I am a part of a perfect picture.

On the grassland, red coloured fruits resembling cherries shine on the thorny shrubs. Some colourful flowers have bloomed in the slightly shallow area which still holds the wetness left behind by the rain waters. The yellow and purple coloured flowers and the colourful bees they attract make the grasslands look more beautiful. They will continue to exhibit their beauty for another fortnight till the Sun outshines them till the next monsoon. They will patiently wait until then to blossom again. The game that is on for past millions of years will continue for the benefit of nature-lovers.

It’s a very interesting trek through the grasslands with a few ups and downs though large part of it is a plain walk. We traverse the Kamaljai Temple and climb down a bit to reach a stream very close to the origin of Bhima River. Located in the dense forest, crossing this stream in the monsoon season is an adventure in itself. Few buffaloes bathing carefree in the stream are disturbed by our presence in their backyard. They give a skeptical look and grunt at us clearly indicating that they want to be left alone. We respect them by moving ahead quickly. We then rest a bit, upstream.

As we pass through the bushes towards the dense forest of Bhimashankar to begin the final ascend, fragrance of wild flowers compels me to stop, breaking my rhythm. With my closed eyes I wait for a while to breathe in as much air as possible. There could be no better aroma therapy to treat the body and mind, I feel. The fragrance overpowers every other thing present in the surrounding nature – the mountains, trees, grass, bees, birds, streams….  Calling it fragrance or aroma or scent or perfume would, beyond doubt, be an understatement. It surely is a divine experience. I try to locate the flowers in vain. “Art of giving without disclosing the identity”…. What else can I say? There is so much to learn from nature. 

After a brief climb and a walk through the evergreen jungle, I reach Bhimashankar temple, one of the twelve jyortirlingas, the place from where Bhima River originates. Though this river originates very close to the Arabian Sea, it travels eastwards through the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana to merge with the Bay of Bengal on the Eastern Coast. I see a lot of monkeys jumping from one branch of a tree to another exhibiting their acrobatic skills. Shekroos [the giant squirrels], which are in large numbers here, did not show up. They are, probably, taking an afternoon nap on the branch of some high tree. 

After resting a while, I descend to village Bhorgiri at the foothills of Bhimashankar in Pune District to complete a 23 km long trek.

[Nishad Umranikar]