All you ever wanted to know about Vasota/Vyagrahgad

As Jagdish rightly says" The leader with his collar Tight!!"
A part of the Fellowship.
What the hell this person's upto??
For more snaps follow this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjagtap/TheFellowshipOfVasota
Facts & figures Height above MSL: 4200ft
Grade: Medium
Type: Forest fort
Location: Satara,Maharashtra, INDIA.
History:Built by King Bhojraj II of Shilahar Dynyasty. Conquered by Shivaji Raje in 1660 AD.In 1669 Rs.26,000 were found on the fort. ( guys count for inflation)
Was used to keep Arabic prisoners & later English men.
Our story:
It was a long time since i wanted to do the Vasota trek. I had been dreaming about it for the past 4 months, since July. I had heard a lot about the trek, the place. I had my exams in October & the only thing that kept me going was that i will be going to Vasota in November-December. At last the exams got over on 17Th November, but there was no respite from the academics. The college started from 19Th November. The next 3 weekends i had classes. So i had to wait for four weeks till the time came. The dates were 15Th 16Th & 17Th of December. Many sites, blogs were visited for the plan to be finalised. At last 2 alternative plans were suggested.There was a pretrek meet which 10 people attended. The final size of the group was 20!!I had to actually turn down 2 people, for the group then would become difficult to manage. The inventory to be brought for the trek was divided among the group. I was happy the way things were shaping up. My only concern was that i was the only person who had taken charge of the planning & had no other brain at work. Madhav, Jagdish & Rohit then put forth some of their ideas. That helped in finalising the plan. Sudarshan my pal in many of the treks i have been to also agreed to come along. I was happy. The actual day of the trek arrived. I had been having a lot of cough & cold for the past 2 days. But then that would never deter me from going on a trek. A part of the group got into the bus at Parel. Some people boarded it at Maitri park & some of them at Vashi.
The trekkers were:Chaitanya,Shailesh ,Sudarshan Madhav, Mandar, Vinayak, Makrand ,Vinay, Palak, Nipun, Jagish, Purvi, Ritesh, Sindhumathai, Smita, Geeta, Aniruddha, Ravikiran, Sanjal & Chetana.
We reached Satara st depot at 4.30am. on 16th December. We had the bus to Bamnoli at 6.30am. People freshened up, had their breakfast. They were briefed about our plan & the things we would be saying to the forest officers. It was 6.40 am & still no announcement for the bus had been made. Just then Vinayak informed us that the bus was already half full & ready to depart.He saved the day for us. Hurriedly we put our bags into the bus. Fortunately all of us got a seat. The bus started for Bamnoli at 6.45 am. We reached Bamnoli at 8am.The bus fare was Rs.26 per person. So Rs. 520 for the entire group. Immediately me, madhav & mandar went to the launch wala & booked for our trip to Met Indavali. The 1 way charges for a group of 15 ppl is Rs. 600. Even if u have 1 more person they charge double the amount IE rs 1200. So we had to shell out Rs.1200. Then we went to the forest officer. I think his name was MR. Jadhav. I was ready for the worst. Among the many rules listed on the wall behind his seat, some that frightened me were: The officers would check our bags. No substance like fire crackers, kerosene etc were allowed inside the forest, both these things we were carrying. Staying atop Vasota was a complete no no. Madhav gave a fictitious address as his place of residence. When we told the officer that we were going to get down from Choravane on the same day itself & not staying in the forest, he asked us whether we would like to rent the two tents at Met Indavali for the night @ Rs.400 per tent. But we declined saying our previous argument. Still he demanded from us Rs.20 per head per day for 2 days amounting to Rs. 800. He also charged us Rs. 75 for hiring the launch. So total of Rs. 875 were spent in the forest office. He didn't ask for our bags to be checked. I think he could easily see through our plan of staying at Nageshwar. He had seen the luggage we were carrying. Nobody would carry sleeping mats for a 1 day trek & half of us were carrying them. Maybe he thought that they are trekkers & would not create any nuisance in the forest & let us go. At 9.05 am we boarded the launch for Met Indavali. At about 10.40am we reached this place. After checking in with the Rangers & showing them our passes at Met Indavali we had our Brunch consisting of sand witches( 3 sand witches per person) prepared by the ladies( u know they can be of use too!! :p). At 11.30 am we started our trek. Just then Smita realised that her sock was soaked in blood. An unlikely leach had been the culprit. After removing the leach and cleaning the wound we resumed our expedition. Initially we were searching the route for some time. The route for some time goes along a nala. Then we crossed the nala,after this there is no chance of getting lost. At about 12.05 pm we came across the first Maruti temple. Smita & Geeta were the trekkers who were lagging behind. I asked Smita, if i could carry her bag, but she was hesitant. After some persuasion she finally let me carry it. Taking cue Sudarshan and subsequently Jagdish too carried the bag for her. We reached the bifurcation for Vasota at 1.20pm. Sanjal & Chetna (H&W)decided to stay back at this point. We left our bags in their custody & started out for Vasota. At 1.40pm we managed to scale the mountain. Just as i was beginning to enjoy the surroundings Madhav called out to me saying a Bison(Gava) was scaling the mountain at wind's speed & we should take shelter atop the Mahadeo temple. It seems that Ravikiran had tried to exchange Hi Hello's with him, which he had not taken to kindly. One thing i forgot to mention to the group was, never attract attention of any wild animal. We wasted nearly 30 min's in the resulting confusion & fear. At 2pm we again resumed exploring the fort. After entering the fort we see 3 ways parting in front of the second Maruti Mandir. We could only explore one of them as we suspected the bison(wild buffalo) to have taken one of the other two ways. We could see the Nageshwar cave in the distance. The scene was breath taking. I was sad that i had to move without seeing the entire fort. But then isn't it reason enough to visit the place again!! At 2.25 pm we started our trek to Nageshwar. When we reached the place where Chetna & Sanjal were waiting for us, everybody was hungry, so we decided that we could do with some biscuits & cakes. After having some food which would sustain us for the next 3 hrs we started out for Nageshwar at 3.10pm. The way to Nageshwar first passes through thick forest for about 40 mins and then takes us along a narrow ridge for about 80mins. We reached Nageshwar at 4.55pm, well in time. Madhav & his friends collected firewood for cooking. Some of us tanked up our water resources for the night. There is an arrow showing u the way to the water tank 5 minutes before the Nageshwar cave.The water at first sight doesn't look good enough for drinking. But then try collecting it in a bottle by filtering & add clorivat & u have potable water. The sun was setting. Those moments were really divine.The sun took its last dip at 6pm. and we were covered in complete darkness. Preparation for the meal had already been under way. The fire was lit, the maggi noodles were pooled. Everybody had their fill by 8pm, except Geeta who had a dislike for maggi. She went to sleep without having much, in spite of our persuasion.At about 9.30pm everybody was dozing. Madhav & his friends had gone out to do God knows what!! me and shailesh had our night shift lined from 10 to 11pm. At 10.15pm i had a huge shock. Ritesh had been bit by a scorpion. We tried to kill it, but it escaped. Ritesh showed immense composure & i should say he had shown some courage. After tying a lace on his thigh and applying some antiseptic cream, we asked him how was he feeling. He said he was ok, and not experiencing the kind of pain a poisonous bite would have evoked. After about half an hour when still there were no signs of poisoning i was relieved. It was 10.45pm then. At 11pm i was so sleepy that i almost immediately fell asleep. As far as the night patrol was concerned, seeing everybody sleeping so soundly i didn't have the heart to wake them up. At 6.30am on Sunday 17th December i woke up the entire group. The wind was roaring through the valley. It was time we climbed up the Nageshwar cliff to see the sun rise beyond the distant mountains. The way to the top was a bit difficult at times, but all worth the effort. Once on top the view was spectacular. The flag atop Nageshwar was fluttering wildly. The wind was threatening to throw us off the cliff into the valley below. Soon the sun rose and the misty mountains came alive. After the photography sessions were over we got down to the cave. We had coffee,sand witches, maggi & upma to our hearts content. People freshened themselves up. The water stock was refuelled.There is no water source en route to Chorawane. Everybody was fresh from a good nights sleep & ready to take on a steep trek down to Chorawane. At 11.20 am we started our descent. Initially the path was a bit difficult, but manageable. After about 1 hour of such descent we reached a point the route from thence became quite easy. We enjoyed the scenery all around us. Nageshwar,Vasota , old vasota & Babu Kada all were in line of sight, you get the complete picture from here. At about 3.15pm we reached Chorawane. I must admit that Geeta, Smita, Mandar & Palak had taken care that we don't fall behind schedule by taking that extra effort though they were very much drained of all their energies. We had exhausted all our water resources so tanked them up again at Shinde wadi. The bus for Chiplun was scheduled at 4pm. So wasting no time we rushed for the bus stop which is on the other side of the river which passes through Chorawane. At precisely 3.55pm we reached the bus stop. Surprisingly the bus was there at 4 pm sharp. The distance from Chorawane to Chiplun is about 35kms. & takes 1.5 hrs. The ticket was Rs.26 per person. We reached Chiplun by 5.30pm. Then there were the money matters to be taken care of. Lot of money changed hands in the next 1 hr or so. Palak & Nipun were the bankers for the trek, & they had done their job well. By 6.30 we had finally got over with the financial issues & were ready to have an early dinner. Ravikiran, Shailesh and Jagdish went to book our tickets to Mumbai (Rs.175 per person) while we went to a nearby hotel, to be joined by them later. Madhav & co. had decided to take private transport back home. They boarded the 7pm bus for Mumbai. Geeta & Aniruddha staying at Ambernath & Thane respectively, got into a bus for Thane at 8.15pm, while the rest of us got into a bus for Mumbai. We reached Mumbai at about 3 am. Jagdish & co. got down at Vashi. The entire group was back at home by 6am max. on 18th dec as had been predicted by me. Thanks to all the group members for making this trek a success. Everybody behaved responsibly & hence my job was made much easier. Hope that i have such company on my future treks too.
The balance sheet for the trek:
Mumbai-Satara: Rs.205. per head.
Satara-Bamnoli: Rs. 26. per head.
Forest officer: Rs.875/20=Rs.44 per head (approx).
Launch to Met Indavali: Rs.1200/20=Rs.60 per head.
Choravane to Chiplun: Rs.26 per head.
Chiplun to Mumbai: Rs. 175 per head.
Group expenses(includes food, kerosene, clorivat etc): Rs.50 per head.
Maggi per person:Rs.37
The total cost of the trek all inclusive was Rs.625 per person.
The important timings:
Mumbai, Parel ST Stand :10pm 15/12/06
Satara ST Stand 4.430am 16/12/06
Bus for Bamnoli: 6.30am
Bamnoli: 8am
Launch for Met Indavali: 9.05am
Met Indavali: 10.40am
For Vasota: 11.30am
At Vasota: 1.40pm
For Nageshwar: 2.25pm
At Nageshwar: 4.55pm
For Chorawane: 11.20am 17/12/06
At the Chorawane bus stop:4pm
At Chiplun:5.30pm
For Mumbai:8pm
At Mumbai: 3am 18/12/06
Two things that i am wondering about after this trek:

1. What if the bison had attacked us? what was the solution?




2. What if the scorpion had been poisonous? What could we possibly do in that remote place hours away from civilisation??

Any answers guys??

The Final Plan

1. Assemble @ Parel ST Stand on 15th Dec Friday @ 9.30 pm at the place from where the buses leave. Catch the 10pm Bus for satara(265kms).(RS. 205)

2. Get down @ satara ST stand @ about 5am. On Saturday 16th Dec. refresh yourself. Have your breakfast on the ST stand itself.(RS.25 approx)

3. be ready to catch the 6.30am bus to bamnoli (35kms) (RS.40approx)

4. Reach bamnoli by 8am. Take the permission of the forest officers to venture into the sanctuary. This may take up to an hour. Money charged shall be about RS. 30 per head.

5. At about 10 am catch the launch for Met indavali (RS. 500 one way). Reach met indavali at 11.30 am.

6. After checking in with the forest officers start our trek by 11.45 am. We can reach vasota by 2.45 pm., which I think is a bit too late, as we have to aim at reaching nageshwar at 5pm max. Going to vasota on the first day itself will be feasible only if we start our trek by 10.30 am max. Which may happen if get through the formalities earlier. In this case too we have to start for nageshwar by 3pm max as the forest to nageshwar is dense and the sunset occurs at 6pm during these days.

7. This is the other alternative we have: go directly to nageshwar if getting late. Way to Nageshwar goes to the right, just about 10-15 min before the top of Vasota. Reach nageshwar by 4pm. Max.

8. Start preparing for our royal meal; get the inventory of water full. Water cistern at Nageshwar is situated to the right (on about 5 min distance), just before the steps to the cave. Have an early meal @8pm. Go to sleep by 10pm. There are going to be night shifts of 2/3 ppl at a time for 2 hrs each. The fire has to be kept burning throughout the night.

9. Next day morning wake up at 5am. Have breakfast till 6am. Leave the cave as soon as the sun rises @ about 7am for vasota. Reach vasota by 9.30 am. Explore the place till 11.00 am. If we have visited vasota the day before then we can have the luxury of getting up by 7am. In this case leave nageshwar by 9am for chorawane. Reach choravane by 3pm max.

10.Start our descend down from vasota to choravane at 11.00 am sharp, If visiting vasota on 17th Dec Sunday.

11. From vasota there are 2 ways of reaching choravane one takes about 3 hours but slightly difficult. The other is simple and takes about 5/6 hours.

12.Any of the 3 situations preceding we reach choravane by 5pm max.

13.Have some food at choravane (RS.25), and depart for chiplun by 5.30 pm. Reach chiplun (RS30) by 8pm max. From chiplun there are frequent buses to Mumbai. We can have dinner in chiplun (RS.50)

14.Reach Mumbai by 6am max on 19th Dec Monday (RS165).

Total cost of the trek according to this plan is RS.620/-. It is advisable to carry RS.1000/- per person.

Note: we cannot stop anywhere in between to have food. Food can be had at bamnoli or only after reaching nageshwar.

Smoking, doping & drinking on the trek strictly prohibited.

Although everybody will have their say, the decision of the leader and co leader will be final and binding.

We can have a group of 15 people max. on first come first serve basis.

We are going to spend the night in a cave in the middle of a jungle; I hope nobody has a problem with it.

We are supposed to bring these things with us, which are for common usage: 1-liter kerosene, 6 big candles, and clorivat.

If anybody suffers from any physiological ailment like diabetes, asthma, high B.P., etc they should declare the same prior to the trek & join the trek on his or her own responsibility.

Although we always see to it that there are no accidents, each person is responsible for his/her own safety.

The Dates: 15Th Dec Friday starting 10 pm from (parel ST stand) to 18th Dec Monday till 6am max. Dadar.
Each one of us joins the trek on his/her own responsibility. We all are visting the place for the first time. SO we all should be ready for a few surprises.

Note: This is a no profit no loss trek .Whatever the expenses will be shared equally by all the members.

There is going to be a pre trek meet just to get an intro of each other and collect money for the reservations (to satara). The day is (3rd Dec Sunday) @ 5pm @ Shivaji Park near the Ganesh temple opposite Mahatma Gandhi swimming pool, below the statue of Raje Shivaji Maharaj.
Friends there are 3 ways we can do the Vasota trek. The final decision will depend upon the no. of ppl confirming their presence (as on 3rd dec) and the cost that we estimate.
The 3 ways are:
1. Vasota via Satara: This is the most popular route and the costliest 1. The plan: Catch the 10 pm ST Bus to Satara (260kms) from parel ST depot (RS. 205) on 15th dec Friday. The Bus reaches satara ST stand @ 5am max. Catch the Connecting bus to Bamnoli @ 6.30am on 16th (Rs. 40). Reaching Bamnoli take the permission of the forest officers (involves money) to stay atop vasota overnight. Then catch a launch to Kusapur from bamnoli (Rs.900 One way for a grp of 15-20 ppl).Whatever the grp size the cost remains the same!!! It takes 1.5hrs. From here it takes about 4 hrs to reach Nageshwar, our halt in the night. Nageshwar is a cave cum Temple which can accommodate 15-20 ppl. Next day follow the same route home. Last bus from bamnoli to satara is @ 5pm. There are frequent buses from satara to Mumbai. Reach Mumbai by 5 am max. Estimated Cost of the trek: RS. 410+80+100+1800/10= Rs.770/- Thinking we have a grp size of 10 & the forest officers demand Rs. 100 per person for the overnight stay. Eating and other miscellaneous expenses can take the total cost to Rs.1000/-max



2. Vasota via Chiplun and return Via Satara: This route is not very popular, but will reduce the cost of the trek considerably. The plan: Catch the 10pm ST Bus to Chiplun ( 250+kms) from parel ST depot (RS.165) on 15th Dec Friday. The bus reaches Chiplun @ 5am max on 16th Dec. There is a bus @ 8.30am from Chiplun which takes you to a place called Choravane.There is also a bus directly from Parel to Choravane at 9.30 pm. From here it takes 6- 7hrs to reach Vasota.We plan to hire a guide from this place who will accompany us on the entire trek. Here there is no qn of taking permission of forest officers or hiring a launch. (Money saved). Halt @ Nageshwar in the night. Follow the route described in case 1 home. So we will have to pay for the launch (Rs 900). Estimated cost of the trek: RS. 330+900/10=420. The cost of the ticket from Chiplun to Choravane is not known. The cost of the trek including miscellaneous expenses can go unto Rs.800/-max OR Vice versa IE start from Satara and get down from Choravane.



3. Vasota via Chiplun Both ways: While going the way remains the same as in case 2. Return to Choravane from Vasota by 6pm and then to Chiplun by bus or jeep. Catch a bus to Mumbai which are frequent. Estimated cost: Rs.700/- max



Whatever route we take, the plan after reaching Nageshwar remains the same. Reach Nageshawr before 4pm. Have our food Cooked noodles, rice, soup etc. Potable Water is available near the cave. Go to sleep @ 9pm. There are going to be night shifts of 2hrs each for 2-3 ppl at a time. Get up early morning by 4.30am. Have breakfast. Get ready for the trek to vasota By 6.30 am sharp. Reach Vasota by 9.30am and enjoy the view. Start our climb down acc to the plan (Predecided from Mumbai) @ 12.00pm sharp if following satara route home ow @ 10.30 am leave Vasota for Choravane.

Friends your suggestions are welcome. Also each of us needs to bring something out of the following: Kerosene 2 liters, 6 big candles (Rs.30 each), clorivat (Rs. 16) [These will suffice for the entire group]. The cost of these things will then be divided amongst us. That will be decided on 3rd @ the meet @ Shivaji Park.

The checklist:
1] New Cells and a Good working Torch.

2] A good back pack ( 40 liters capacity is more than enough)

3] Carry mat (to sleep on)

4] 3 liters of water

5]Sweater, monkey cap or Muffler and windcheater(optional), shades( optional). Warm clothing is an absolute must. The temperatures may hover around 5-10 degree centigrade in the night.

6]The medicines u usually require,Iodex Or Moov spray, Odomos,tooth paste and brush

7]first aid kit (if u have 1)

8]3 pairs of clothes, cap, 2 pairs of socks, good trekking shoes( hunters are the best if u r used to them). They are available at any Bata shop for rs 250 approx. ow any other sports shoes having a good grip will do.

9] An inflatable pillow (optional), Blanket.

10] A towel, a napkin.

11] Spoon and a plate.

12] a climbing rope of 30 ft. (if u have 1)

13] Food which u can easily cook. (Maggi 4 packs, tomato soup etc.) A cooking vessel.

14] Kerosene/ match box. If you have a lighter then gr8. (VIP) 2 liters for the entire grp suffices. So if u has it definitely bring it.

15] Some ready to eat food. (having a long shelf life) plum cakes, biscuits etc.

16] Adequate cash

17] the carry mat and back pack can be bought from Kamats (24143810).

18] Water purifying tablets or clorivat (1 bottle for the entire grp) VIP.

19] Camera (optional)

20] Tissue paper (optional)