Dronagiri Fort

Fort:Dronagiri
Height: 1001 feet above MSL
Base : Uran
Grade: Medium.

Dronagiri is a fort located near Uran in Raigad district. This fort was build in olden days and was captured by the Portuguese during their rule. It also houses a church on top of the fort built by the Portuguese.



We came to the base of Dronagiri after doing the Belapur fort. Uran is around 30km from Panvel by road. Once in Uran we get near the ST stand and then to Dahanu Nagar which is at the base of the mountain. ONGC has its main office in there at the base of Dronagiri. We asked for the route to get to the top of the fort and found that the route is to go ahead inside the nagar and then go up winding on the mountain.We started the trek to Dronagiri to get to the top. The route was very slushy due to the constant heavy rains pounding us continuously.

We got to the top in about 1 hour and there are lot of remnants on top to check out. The main door is a beauty and then there are remains of the church and a beautiful well.

My camera was damaged here due to entry of water inside it.

Belapur Fort

Fort: Belapur
Type: Land
Location : Belapur - Navi Mumbai

This fort has only 1 of its bastions left and is located in Belapur (Navi Mumbai). This is located near the highway to Uran. This fort was supposed to be built by the Siddis of Janjira during 1560-1570. The British partially destroyed this fort. Nowadays only a bastion remains to be seen of the fort.

Sole bastion of the Belapur fort

Sewree fort

Fort: Sewree fort
Location : Sewree (E) - Mumbai
Type: Sea fort.

Route: Dadar (TT) -> Khodadad Circle -> Wadala (E) -> Godrej Foods -> Hindustan Petroleum (Sewree) -> turn right in front of Railway Gate -> ask for Colgate Company -> Fort is near a Dargah.

Some type of inscription describing when the fort was built

One of the room type structures inside the fort

The expanse of the Sewree fort
Old entrance to the fort

This fort was built in 1680 by the British to ward off attacks by the Siddhis of Janjira. This was basically used as a watchtower. Structures inside the fort have been renovated recently and hence we can see many intact things.

Worli fort

Fort: Worli
Type: Sea fort
Location: Worli (south Mumbai)

The Bandra Worli Sea-Link bridge from the Worli fort

The Worli fort
The Worli fort entrance

This fort was built in 1675 by the British to keep a watch over the sea and to ward off enemies and pirates from the sea. It now houses a gym inside the fort. The above pictures seem to be of a facelifted fort done by some NGO and is not the actual fort. The actual fort lies just behind this one and is razed to the ground.

Mahim fort

Fort: Mahim (Mahim cha Killa)
Type: Sea fort
Location: Mahim (W) - Mumbai.

The Mahim fort located in Mahim Bay

Bastions of the Mahim fort
Ruins inside the fort
One of the doors of the fort opening into the sea

This fort is located on the seashore near Mahim(Mumbai). It is currently in dilapidated condition and slums have made their way into the fort. Most of the walls are in crumbling condition. This fort is supposed to be built as early as 1716 or before when Portuguese tried to capture this fort from the British. The area around this fort is strewn with garbage, excreta and what not making it a bad place. The Archeological Survey of India has done nothing to restore this fort.

Dharavi Fort (Kala Killa)

Fort: Dharavi (also known as Kala Killa)
Type: Land fort
Location : Sion (E) - Dharavi Slums (Mumbai)

Route: Sion circle (turn right to Sion railway station) - cross to Sion east and ask for Kala Killa (near Hanuman Seva Mandal)

The plaque on the fort describing the details

The walls of the fort

Some remnants of structure on top of the fort
A tunnel on top of the fort - this goes to sion fort as per locals (myth or reality?)

This fort is also known as Riwa fort and was built in 1669-1677. This was built by the British as a watchtower. Not many people know of the existence of the fort inside the slum. Although many of the structures are in good condition.

Sion fort (Shiv cha Killa)

Fort : Sion (also known as Shiv cha Killa)
Location: Sion (west - Mumbai)
Type: Land fort





It was built by the British Governor of Bombay Gerard Aungier atop a conical hillock. The fort was built between 1669 and 1677 (source : Wikipedia). To get to this fort one has to goto Sion (west) (near Sion Circle - Mumbai) cross Sion circle and go towards Dadar. Turn left after the first signal and ask for Jawaharlal Nehru Park (udyan). The way to the fort goes via this park. It is a small fort in dilapidated condition and nothing much to see on top. However the view of the surrounding areas gives an idea behind the strategy of building this fort.

Thane Fort

Fort: Thane
Type: Land fort
Location: Thane city (Mumbai)



This fort is located near TalavPaali near Court Naka in Thane city. Locals do not know about this fort and this fort is converted into a Central Jail now and one cannot go inside to have a view. We saw this fort from the outside and got a view of the bastion. Nothing much known about the fort.

Jivdhani Fort

Fort : Jivdhani (better known as Jivdhani temple)
Grade: Easy
Base village: Virar (Mumbai Western)

Route: Thane->Ahmedabad highway->Virar (50 km)



This fort is located in Virar and is a temple now, a famous one of Jivdhani devi. It takes around 40 mins to get to the top via steps and there's nothing to see on top except the temple of Jivdhani Devi. No fort remains on top as most of it is gone in the reconstruction of the temple. Takes hardly 1 hour to go and come back.

Dativare (Sea fort) visit

Fort: Dativare
Type: Sea fort
Base village: Dativare

Route:
1. Thane->(Ahmedabad highway) Varai Phata->Tandulwadi->Safale->Dativare(75 km approx)

This was the 4th fort in the trek series and the first one today. As this was a sea fort we had ample time. We started from our base at Kelve in the morning at 6:30am and were on our way to Dativare via Safale.

Dativare is a small village on the west coast with a population of about 1500 odd. The Portugese had built a fort here when they ruled the coast here. However this fort is not known to many people including the locals.

We reached Dativare at around 8am and asked for the fort. First people looked at us like what we were asking as no one knew the fort existed here. Then they directed us to a talav and rocky structures nearby. We went near the talav and it was bliss there with Lotuses in the water and there were queer rocky structures where there was a temple.


After seeing the temple we went on ahead to check out the actual fort , nobody knew of the existance of such a fort here but some local boys told us that there is some fort wall which they can show. We went with them to check out and indeed there was the only sole remaining structure of the fort, a wall.





After seeing this we started back to check out the other fort Jivdhani near Virar.

Tandulwadi fort trek

Fort: Tandulwadi
Base : Tandulwadi Village (Thane district).
Height: 1900 feet above MSL
Grade: Medium

Route:
1. Thane->Varai phata->Tandulwadi (60 km)
2. Waghoba Khind -> Lalthane -> Tandulwadi (12 km).

We reached Tandulwadi from base of Kaldurg in about 30 mins. It was raining heavily now. Tandulwadi was a small village with the fort behind the village at some distance. We hired two guides to take us up the fort and come down as the route was via forested path and we didnt want to lose our way.


With the rain pelting down we started our trek at 3:30pm and at first it was ascent for 10 mins and then there was a clearing from where we got a good view of the fort on top. Continuing ahead it was continuous climb for around 25 more minutes and we reached one more clearing from where the fort seemed near but it was a very steep climb ahead. This was a supposed short cut to the fort.

Tandulwadi fort from base village

Tandulwadi fort after initial climb

We reached one more clearing ahead after a steep climb and some of us were hungry so we had chivda and water , refreshed ourselves and continued ahead where there was a rock patch which we climbed up without any problem and continued ahead. After some more steep climb we saw the bastion of the fort through which we came on top of the fort. On top we saw a series of water tanks which were full of water. It was raining on top too and nothing could be seen nearby due to the clouds.

After seeing the water tanks we inched ahead to the other way to get down which is supposed to be a long way but easy one. On the route we saw one more water tank with cool, crystal clear water in it and had our fill. We started climbing down from the other route. The route was full of waterfall stones and the rain water over it made life hell for us but it was easier than the route we climbed. We reached Tandulwadi village in about an hour and changed our clothes and got into the vehicle to get to the night halt for the day.

This was a nice trek indeed.

Kaldurg Trek

Fort: Kaldurg
Base : Waghoba Khind on road to Palghar (from Manor)
Grade : Medium
Height: 1547 feet above MSL.

Route:
1. Thane -> Manor -> Waghoba Khind (stop) route ahead goes to Palghar.
2. Varangade -> Kokner -> Waghoba Khind

This was the second fort of the day after Asawa and we left Varangade by 10.15am. We took the route to Kokner and the road of 10km was bad to worse and in about 45 mins we reached Kokner phata from where we turn right for Waghoba Khind. We could see Kaldurg's rocky structure from far away in fog. The rain too had now stopped and we prayed it shouldnt start for long as we wanted to trek Kaldurg.

Kaldurg in Clouds:

I had done Kaldurg before with friends and given my leg condition I didnt want to do it however I decided I would take a call at the base. We reached Waghoba Khind in about 45 min by 10.45am and there was a shop there where we ordered tea and had breakfast of bread / butter / jam and tea. Once refreshed I took the decision of not going up as I didnt want to get more cramps so I stayed back at the base and as I had done the fort before didnt want to do it again.

The route for Kaldurg goes from behind the Waghoba temple. Its an easy 1 hour walk to the top. On top there are a few steps , a temple of devi, some water tanks.


As I was at the base I decided to explore the temple and surrounding area.The temple had a nice shivling near it. The temple was dedicated to Waghoba. Not sure what exactly does that mean but its an incarnation of God Shiva.



Some distance ahead on the road I chanced across an amazing waterfall which was flowing in full glory. It was nice to see the waterfall and I sat nearby for some time listening to the sound of water and enjoying the nature nearby. Some time later drops of rain started coming down and I walked back to the temple. There were a few police officials there who were talking to me just like that to while away their time. They were talking about their experiences in their jobs and I had a good time chatting with them.

The others who had gone to the top came back in about 2 hours and we started for Tandulwadi fort our 3rd and last for the day. Its coming in the next blog.

Asawagad Trek

Fort: Asawa
Base Village: Varangade
Height : 1587 feet above MSL
Grade: Easy

Route: Thane->Ahmedabad Highway->Tarapur phata->Chillar->Varangade (75km)


We had gone on a mega trek of 14 forts in 3 days during last weekend of August. The first of them was Asawa fort. We started from Pune on Thursday night and had the plan to reach Varangade the base village of Asawa in the morning by 4am and rest and then on daybreak trek up the fort and come down. However due to the monsoon activity coming up in September , we encountered heavy rains on the way and the rains wont relent at all. We saw huge traffic jams on the NH4 and prayed that NH8 (Ahmedabad highway) shouldn't be like that.

We reached Thane at around 1am and continued ahead. It was raining very heavily , we connected to the Ahmedabad highway and continued. In between after Ghodbunder we had some snacks of Vadapav and Tea to refresh ourselves and continued. The highway roads were bad at some places due to the rain and hence our driver had to continuously check out the roads and keep speeding at bay. Adding to that the rain was relentless and didnt stop at all. We reached Chillar phata from where we take a turn to Varangade the base of Asawa. We turned and asked and found that Varangade is around 10km from here.

We reached Varangade at 4am and stopped. Due to the rain there wasnt an inch of dry land here and also there was no school in here to sleep so we had a problem. There was a factory here (Viraj) and we asked the guard about any place to sleep and he said there isn't any place. So we all slept in the sumo and it was uncomfortable to sleep but we did. Around 6.30 I woke up to find the rain still pouring on but the sun had risen. We looked towards the left side and checked out if we could see Asawa and we could see a hill from here and it resembled Asawa as seen in the photo.

Asawa fort from base village Varangade

We went towards the village and asked a person who told us that there is a temple on top of the hill and he knew that but he didnt know of any fort. Usually people in the village associate a hill to the temple and usually if you ask fort they dont know. So we went inside the village the road to which goes after the company ends to the left. We asked someone for the Mahadev temple and they told us that hill which we saw in the morning which confirmed that it was indeed Asawa. So we asked one villager for the route and by now the rain had stopped. So it was good. We trudged on the path ahead which the villager pointed out and continued. To reach Asawa we had to climb one hill before it and continue to the fort ahead.

We started our trek at 8.15am in the morning and continued. The climb was not hectic so we made good time and continued ahead.We reached the top almost by 9am and I didnt go on top but I could see the bastion of the fort. My legs got some cramps and I stayed some distance below. On top one can see bastion, water tanks and the temple. Nothing much on top.

Others came back in about 15 mins from top and we continued back down. We reached the base village in about 45 mins and by 10 we were near our vehicle. We started for the second fort of the day Kaldurg which was about 15 km from here.