Our Trek :
we all reached Lonawala station by 8.00 am and from their the transportation to Kurvande village was arranged. It was a 15-20 minutes journey to the Village. One has to just enter on the right of the main road into the village and the next sight is of this long INS Shivaji fencing you see.
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| Fencing of INS Shivaji as seen at the start Point of the Trek |
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| First Look at the approaching Nagphani Hill |
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| Walk through the pass |
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| Just when you take left you can see the fencing at far end |
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| Lush green paths to walk on |
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| "Chal bhai ek baar peeche mud ja" |
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| Nagphani Hill or Dukes Nose |
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| Lovely Valley as seen from the Top |
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| Have a closer look of Nagphani hill |
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| Oh! How mesmerized I am by this beauty of nature |
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| Walking on the footsteps of Shivaji |
Despite being monsoon there was no sign of clouds or rains.The sun was hitting us hard, so the sight of stream even though small was refreshing.
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| Refreshing water stream enroute |
and filled up our water bottles from this stream.I also took out some time for posing.
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| Posing Time |
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| First Sign of Village Life |
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| Walk through this , and take left |
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| We all rested for a small snacks |
After resting for 5 minutes we all moved , descending a little down on a gentle slope towards an open ground at lower level
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| Descending down the gentle slope |
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| Large plain ground |
So Shivaji and his troops took advantage of this situation, as one battalion which was following the Mughal troop till here hid behind the tree .Keeping complete vigil over the activities of the Mughal soldiers below and never for once the Mughal troop realised that they are been followed and in the meanwhile the other battalion had spread wide and far in the jungles below.
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| One battlaion of Shivaji was hidden in these jungles |
and one more battalion was waiting at the Umberkhind all set to ambush the Mughal soldiers. One very note worthy thing I want to mention here is that from this plain ground on wards the troops has to leave there chariots,horses,elephants here and had to descend on foot down through the jungle route where only a single person can go through at a time. Honestly I could feel the thrill of entrapment.
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| Descending from here to the jungles |
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| Green grass and small water bodies |
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| Marching troops of Shivaji |
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| Amazing green woods |
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| Beauty at its best |
we have to cross this river and go across. One has to be very careful because at times the flow of this river is very furious. In fact our trek was postponed by few days as the village people had warned us to avoid coming during excessive rains.All our us crossed this river very cautiously.
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| We crossed the river very cautiously |
Once the river is crossed, we again see the bullock cart road, this road can be very easily be seen after we cross the river.
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| Bullock Cart road as seen after crossing Amba River |
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| Amba River flowing along the road |
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| Resting on the Bridge over the Amba river |
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| Majestic sight of Amba river flowing with another bridge at far end. |
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| Slumped due to heat but the smile is intact |
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| Board on the road at Umberkhind |
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| Vijay Stamb or Victory Memorial on Amba River |
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| One has to cross the river to reach this memorial |
On one side the history is mentioned.
Another side has Aagaya Patra embbed in the stone
And the fourth side has the details of the people who initiated and inaugurated the Vijay stamb or the Memorial.
For us the most important part was now, because this was the time to offer our prayers to all the brave heroes who fought the war bravely and intelligently.
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| Paying our respect to the brave warriors |
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| Time to chill out |
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| Atlast the trek is over,resting on Pali-khapoli Road |
Special thanks to our trek organiser Kiran Shelar for bringing the history alive for me.
Travel tips:
1.Trek starts from lonawala
2. Lonawala to Kurvande village arrange transport.
3. Kurvande village start point.
4.Chavni village next point
5. Detour from Umberkhind board for the Vijay stamb or Memorial.
6.Final 4kms walks till the shemadi Village, on pali -Khapoli road.
7. Tum tum ply from Pali to khapoli, but preferably arrange for advance transport .
Grade: Easy/Endurance.
Umberkhind
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 9.08 mi
- Elevation gain
- 784 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 2,336 ft
- Max elevation
- 2,507 ft
- TrailRank
-
28
4
- Min elevation
- 378 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 3 hours 14 minutes
- Time
- 7 hours 33 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2634
- Uploaded
- February 2, 2020
- Recorded
- February 2020
near Khandāla, Mahārāshtra (India)
Viewed 559 times, downloaded 18 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
1,845 ft
Comments (2)
Mumbai
If you staying in Pune and it's rainy season then your mind will take you to beautiful Mountains & Waterfalls
But
in Rainy season places like Lonavala, Khandala, Mulshi and Tamhini Ghat
are heavily crowded on weekends, then you will like to opt out a less
known place.
After thinking a lot I started reading the list of Forts
which I haven't explored, during that time I came across a Fort called
Mrugagad.
Name sounds different and it took my attention.
I saw
its pics on Google, I liked it and came to know it's rarely known, less
people visit it, so I decided to explore on coming weekend.
Details From Pune given below
Name - Mrugagad
Difficulty Level - Easy
Time required - Max 2 hrs
Base Village - Bheliv
Distance from Pune - 120km
Best time to visit - Rainy season
I read about this place on Tuesday, packed my bag on Wednesday itself and was very eager for upcoming weekend as it was going to be very beautiful.
Things to Carry
* Waterproof Bag
* Min 2 Water bottles
* Snacks like Wafers, Farsan, Chips
* Energy drinks like Glucose
* Fruits
* Extra pair of Clothes
* Shoes
* First aid kit
* Mobile, Camera on Personal risk
* Plastic bag to cover your mobile and camera
Started my journey early morning, it was drizzling and I was lucky it wasn't raining harsh, start of the day I felt day is lucky n gonna be great.
On the way only I had breakfast and before reaching the base Village I came across a name plate Umberkhind.
As
I know history a bit, I remembered, There was battle in Umberkhind and
it was fought between Shivaji Maharaj and Kartalab Khan.
As it was on my way I decided to do it and Pay my tribute to Brave Marathas
Finally reached the base Village Bheliv, parked my car in started taking info about the route.
The villagers told, the route is easy, I just need to follow the markings which were made by trekkers, it sounded good and easy
I
decided to follow the instructions and started following the markings,
the markings took me through dense forest, the forest was very dense and
very beautiful and after 20 mins I came to a place where I need to
start ascending the fort.
The ascending was easy and there was one
rock patch and way was narrow and was between the 2 rocks, anyway I had
the experience of trekking so it wasn't a big challenge so I passed
easily.
As I was ascending, rising above the ground I started seeing the forest from top and beautiful mountain range with waterfalls.
After
some time I completed the first part of Ascending, there I saw a way,
the way was towards cave, reaching the cave was very challenging and
Thrilling, should be done only by Experienced Trekkers.
After that there was a beautiful rocky stare case which starts the beginning of 2nd Phase of Ascending.
Within
no time I got on top of fort, the fort was small and nothing to
explore, but it's one of the most Beautiful Photogenic place, so I spent
most of my time in clicking.
I had my lunch as carried it. I took rest for some time and started descending.
Descended in half hr, reached the car and took rest for 20 mins and started my Journey towards Umberkhind
Umberkhind
Umberkhind is the place where battle was fought between Shivaji Maharaj and Kartalab Khan.
This battle was in dense forest where just 1000 Marathas defeated 20000 Mughals.
For more details please read it in Google, after reading you will definitely feel proud to be part of Maharashtra.
Umberkhind has only the Monument of Victory over Mughals and as it was raining season there was a Water stream.
I checked the depth of water it was not over the knee so I played and enjoyed in water stream.
At the end of the day I payed my tribute to the Brave Marathas and moved towards my home.
The place is small and one of the most beautiful and should be in list of every trek lover.
Keep Travelling, Keep Trekking and Keep Enjoying.
I would like to end with below Words...
“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets”
“Don't listen to what they say, go see”
Mrugagad
Waterfalls seen in surrounding
Ascending through 2 rocks
Beautiful steps
Beautiful waterfall all around
Beautiful Mountains
Umberkhind
- Travel from Mumbai - Umbarkhind- Mumbai in private non AC vehicle
- Breakfast, Morning Tea and Evening tea
- Guide and Expertise Charges
- Bottled Drinking water / Cold Drinks
- Any personal orders/expenses
- Any personal or travel insurance
- Anything which is not mentioned in cost includes
- Haversack to put in everything to be carried for the trek. No sling bags
- Water 3 Liters at least (Compulsory)
- Lunch for the day (Compulsory)
- Windcheater / Poncho
- Extra clothes and Towel / Napkin
- Camera and something to munch on (Optional)
- Personal medicines required if any
- Plastic bags to wrap your stuffs
- Wear proper footwear. Avoid Chappal, Sandal etc.
- Identity Proof
- Consumption of alcohol, smoking, drugs, narcotics is strictly not allowed and would lead to expulsion from the trek.
- Leader's decision will be final and binding to all members. No arguments will be entertained.
- Each member is responsible for their own safety and baggage.
- Please do not wear any jewellery or gold ornaments.
- Please do not litter. Do not throw plastic, paper, wrappers, bottles etc. Carry them home to throw in the dustbin.
- We strongly believe in saying - Wherever we go, leave only footprints and take back only memories.
Hiking / Trekking / Rock climbing is an adventurous activity and accidents can happen in spite of taking utmost caution and care. The organization will not be responsible for any injury / accident / death to the participant while on trek.
Battle of Umberkhind
Around 4 km from Khemabari village in the Khalapur taluk of Raigad district, on the Khapoli-Poli road, is located a small tri junction at Chavani. The Amba river here originates from the foot of a small cone, near to Kurnawade village in the Maval Taluka. The river passes by Umarkhandi along the Garmal valley, and merging with the Nagothane creek, before it merges into the sea.
Umberkhind is one of the many ghats in the Nain-Maval area, located right below Kurnawade Ghat. During the first Anglo Maratha War in 1781, the Peshwa chieftain Haripant Phadke, guarded this area to prevent the British from approaching Ghatmatha via Kuranwade Ghat, instead of Bor Ghat. One of the narrowest passes, in the Western Ghats, separating Lohghad from Visaghad running parallel to Mumbai-Pune rail route, it is a popular trekking route in the Sahyadris.
This pass would however be remembered for a historic battle fought here on February 3, 1661, when Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj defeated Kartalab Khan, the right hand man of Shaishta Khan, one of the most decisive victories ever, that further consolidated his position and strengthened the Marathas.
Kartalab Khan was Shaishta Khan’s right hand man, whom Aurangzeb specifically sent to crush Shivaji in 1660. Setting up base at Pune, he captured the Chakan fort by June 1660. And by 1661 Shaista Khan, sent him to capture the forts of Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Panvel, Chul and Nagothane in the North of Konkan. Along with Kartalab were the Rajput chieftains Chaturbuj Chauhan, Amarsingh Chandravat, Mitrasen and his brother Sarjerao Gadhe.
Kartalab Khan started from Pune on February 3, 1661, leading an army of 20,000 troops, which while was adept at open plains warfare, had no experience dealing with guerilla warfare which the Marathas used. His experience was primarily in the open plains of North India, that too against armies made up mostly of mercenaries. Here he was dealing with the Marathas in absolutely hill territory, who were ideologically driven by the Haindavi Swarajya dream.
Kartalab made his way via Chinchwad, Talegaon, Vadagon, and instead of taking a turn towards Lohagad fort, that was right on the border between the Sahayadris and Konkan, he took the steeper descent from Ghathmatha towards Umberkhind, a very narrow route. His original plan was to travel via the Bor Ghat( now the Khandala Ghat), which actually was much more wider.Fact is had Kartalab, taken the route via Bor Ghat, it would have been a much more tougher battle for Shivaji, as that was quite wide and open.
One aspect of Shivaji’s campaigns not that well known, is that he had an awesome intelligence network, which is how we actually managed to win so kany battles. He had spies, who would track every moment of the enemy, keeping him always one step ahead.
It was not just the intelligence gathering, Shivaji also used the tactics of disinformation really well to fool the enemy. And he did so here, feeding Kartalab Khan information through his spies, that Shivaji was at Pen, in Raigad district, throwing him off track. The disinformation strategy worked, it made Kartalab Khan change his original plan of travelling via Bor Ghat, to Umberkhind Pass, assuming that Shivaj was at Pen, when in fact he was waiting there. A trap had been set and Kartalab walked straight into it.
To put it into perspective Umbarkhind is 2200 feet above sea level, you would need a descent of 300 feet to Tugaranya, which was surrounded on all sides by forest and hills. And Kartalab Khan was actually planning to fight Shivaji at this place. Shivaji knew the Sahayadris and Western Ghats like the palm of his hand, he grew up there. What Kartalab Khan tried was equivalent to bearding the lion in his own den, that too a rather ferocious lion which had the fight in him.
The trap was the pass of Umberkhind where Shivaji and his 1000 strong men were hiding in wait, equipped with arrows, boulders, rifles. The thick dense forests, made it easy for the Marathas to camouflage themselves, from the Mughal soldiers. Mounted on a horse,holding a bow in one hand, with a spear in another, sword dangling from his waist, Shivaji Maharaj, waited for Kartalab and his army to descend the pass. The Marathas slowly surrounded the Mughal Army without them even being aware of it. It was a perfect trap, and by the time they reached the base, they were surrounded from all sides.
The Marathas began their attack by rolling boulders on to the hapless Mughal Army, And they were surrounded on all sides, even worse they could not even see them, due to the thick forest cover. It was a rout for the Mughal army, as the Marathas pounced on them, and within 2-3 hours, the battle was well and over.
Kartalab Khan had to send a message to Shivaji Maharaj, that he was willing to surrender and leave the place for good. Maharaj accepted the proposal, as Kartalab Khan, Mitrasen laid down their arms in front of him, all the other Maratha sardars fighting in Umberkhind, were asked to cease fire, as the Mughals made a retreat, leaving the entire armory to Shivaji, which gave the Marathas more firepower.
Not to mention large amounts of gold and jewelery. And some of the Mughal soldiers too switch sides to Shivaji. Netaji Palkar was put in charge of the Konkan, to thwart further attacks by the Mughals.
Once again a 1000 strong Maratha Army under Shivaji Maharaj had defeated a much larger Mughal force of around 20,000, just using smart strategy and tactics. The victory at Umberkhind is considered one of the great victories in Shivaji Maharaj’s career, and is commemorated every year on February 2 since 2001.
Shiva Mitra, a Lonavala based organization has erected a victory memorial here that was inaugurated in 2007 by Babasaheb Purandhare and Udayan Raje Bhonsle. The memorial is around 12.5 m high, bearing a statue of Shivaji Maharaj in the front. A brief history of Umberkhind battle is engraved on the right side of the memorial.
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Trek to Samarbhumi Umberkhind - The Haunt of the Baba
Distance : 75 Kms approx from Pune(By Road), 125 kms from Mumbai
(By Road)
Route:Pune-NH4-Lonavala-Kurvande
Its been such a long time that a posted on my blog that I nearly forgot I had one. Lot of water has flown down the Ganges, but my passion for trekking keeps going stong. So what compelled me to write down after so many days - it was just a picture I took out from my camera. It compelled me to put down the story of this trek. I call it the The Haunt of the Baba, more on that as you read on.
The best part about staying in Pune is that you are never short of trekking options, this was one which I really wanted to do, especially after reading about the valor of the marathas in the battle fought at this very place. Also because this was one of those battles in which Shivaji Maharaj himself fought. After several failed attempts to plan this trek, it finally needed a cancelled plan of range trek to Nasik to convert this trek to frutification.
We were initially a group of 10 folks - me, Anoop and his 2 friends, Anupam, Athiappan,Gauravi, Nilanjan, Prashant and Shreya. As with most plans there are last minute drop outs and this one was no different. Nilanjan and Athiappan could not make it.
We decided to do this trek using public transport, the Pune Lonavala local was our choice of ride.
I had already called up our contact in Kurvande Village to make arrangements for our breakfast and packed lunch. He was generous enough in helping to arrange for a vehicle to pick us from Lonavla station. We reached Chinchwad station on time for the 6.57 local, all of us boarded from the same location except for Gauravi who boarded from Pune Station. 26th January being a Public holiday, the local was mostly empty except for some passengers a few other trekkers who were going on treks in Lonavala region.
We reached Lonavala in about an hour and I called our driver for pick up, he was going to take another 10 mins to reach, so we had hot wada pav in the meantime near Lonavala station. The Sumo for our pick-up reached in time and we proceeded to Kurvande, it took about 15 minutes for us to reach there. We were dropped at our host, Vilas Borkar's house. He had already prepared Kande Pohe for us, after completing a heavy breakfast, he provided us with packed food in his own containers. I had already asked all the participants to bring empty tiffin boxes and everyone was not amused on carrying the empty boxes needlessly.
He also arranged the guide named Kailas for our trek, we enquired about the availability of water on the route, to which his reply was negative. We loaded our sacks with additional water bottles and proceeded for the trek.
The route for the trek is same as Duke's nose(also known as Nagphani) uptil a point. We need to take a left turn and follow the route parallel to INS Shivaji Fence.
He didn't say a word even after asking him, as I had fallen back, I left him on his own and proceeded further. Everyone was waiting for me at the school in chavani village. We had the packed lunch of chapati and potato sabji. Refilled our bottle at the handpump, which are quite a few in chavani. The distance from Chavani to Shemdi phata(the Pali-Khopoli road ) is 5.5 kms, and we discovered later that it was the most challenging part of our journey. From Chavani onwards it is a walk on bad tar road. After a walk of around 2kms, we reached our destination - The Umberkhind Smarak.
A little further ahead it was becoming increasing difficult to walk in the sun on the tarred road, there is very little shade on the road. It drained all of us, the girls especially Shreya was reluctant to walk. I had difficult time pushing her. Not her fault really, it was indeed difficult for me as well. I and her were the last people in the group, with greatest of difficulty we reached GAIL terminal. a little further ahead was the main road where we could get a vehicle for Khopoli.
To our surprise, our guide, Anupam and Prashant brought a six seater to pick us up, all smiles.
We reached khopoli in another 20 minutes or so. Everyone bought bottles of cold water and then had lassi to cool themselves.
It was around 3.30 p.m when we reached Khopoli bus stand, bus to Lonavala was due anytime. We boarded the bus as soon as it came, almost all of us managed to get a seat. We reached Lonvala and then took the next available local to reach home. Inside the local we all opened our foot wear, I discovered I had blisters on my feet, really painful experience for next couple of days. Nonetheless we all sang and played antakshri in the local, I don't remember who won in the end.
It was a season of good byes after the singing ended in Chinchwad. A trek accomplished safely once again.
view more - Lonavala Tour Packages
Umbarkhind trek
ट्रेक उंबरखिंड
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| विजयस्तंभ |
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| गणेश परदेशी |
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