Panhala and Vishalgad Trek

Fort : Panhala
Base village : Panhala
Height : 3177 feet (above MSL)
Grade : Easy
Region: Kolhapur

Fort: Vishalgad
Base village: Vishalgad / Gajapur
Height : 3630 feet (above MSL)
Grade : Easy
Region: Malkapur

This was a long awaited trek from many years and came true when i was talking to Rohit and he told me that they planned to do it on the weekend of 14-15-16 August 2009. I was interested and got bookings by Sahyadri to Kolhapur and started the journey on 13th August night from Pune.

We reached Kolhapur in the morning at 6am. The trekkers were Rohit , Anu , Parag , Hemant, Pinak , Tanmaya , Sameer and me. Stuff was distributed among all of us to be carried. We walked upto the Kolhapur ST stand which is hardly 5 mins walk from the Railway station. On arriving there post enquiries we found that the first bus to Panhala was scheduled at 7.45am so we decided to get autos to Panhala at 200/- bucks per auto instead of waiting upto 7.45am. We had a quick breakfast at the ST canteen which consisted of pohe, upma and chai.

We boarded the autos and were on the way to Panhala. Panhala is about 20km from Kolhapur city and is located on the road from Kolhapur to Ratnagiri (NH-204). We need to take a diversion from the NH at a village called Waghbil. We reached Panhala without any problem by 8 am. There was a thick mist shrouding Panhala and it was somewhat cold now. We had planned to see the fort in 3 hours upto 11am and then proceed to the route of Vishalgad via the Pusati Buruj of Panhala.

Just to give an idea we were to trek the route from Panhala to Vishalgad a distance of about 65 odd kms. The significance of the route is such that when Siddi's troops laid a siege on Panhala in the 17th Century Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had escaped from this route to Vishalgad not before losing his able aide Baji Prabhu Deshpande who fought bravely at Pavankhind (a pass in the mountains) so that Maharaj would get safely to Vishalgad. This tale of bravery and the beauty of the route spurs on many enthusiasts to do the route and thus pay obesiance to the warriors of the yesteryears.

Statue of Bajiprabhu Deshpande

Andaarbaav on Panhala

There is a statue of Baji Prabhu Deshpande at Panhala and we paid our tributes to the great warrior here. We started our tour of Panhala post freshening up and filling up our bottles with water. We first saw the Andhaarbaav , a three storeyed well type structure and went ahead. We saw the Parashar cave (guha) where supposedly sage Parashar had meditated in olden times. Going ahead we saw typical temples and bastions on the fort. We also saw the Veer Shiva Kashid samadhi , Shiva Kashid was a lookalike of Maharaj Shivaji raje and he sacrificed his life by letting himself get captured by the Siddi's troops and posing as Shivaji Maharaj so that Maharaj could safely get away.

Parashar cave on Panhala

There are a lot of temples and lakes on top of Panhala , Someshwar Talav is one of them.We could see Pavangad - sort of sister fort to Panhala from Panhala on the other side. We saw the Sajja Kothi (royal palace of the olden times) and then we went to the tabak udyan (garden). This garden is located inside the fort and was part of it from olden times. After visiting tabak udyan we visited the Ambarkhana (granary) and some other structures there. Finally we visited the Teen Darwaza a series of 3 doors through which you enter the fort from the other side. After all this we walked our way to the Pusati Buruz from where the route to Vishalgad starts. It was roughly 11.15am when we reached the route and waited for others to join in.

Pusati Buruj of Panhala from where the route to Vishalgad starts

We started on this route down Panhala with others. The first village on this route is Turukwadi as soon as you get down Panhala. From here the route gradually ascends to Mhalunge village and onto the Mhasai Pathar. Disaster struck me before Mhanlunge. While negotiating a path filled with stones my ankle twisted so badly that I could not walk without pain. I took a decision there that I couldn't walk the whole 60 km ahead without inconveniencing others so i told other to continue and i would return back to Panhala and get to Vishalgad and meet them. This was the saddest moment for me on the trek to come so far and not be able to do the famed route. Such is fate.

I returned back to Panhala limping in about 2 hours to catch a bus and the others continued on the journey. Coming back to Panhala I had lunch and took a bus to Kolhapur for the day and stayed at Kolhapur. Next day morning I decided to goto Vishalgad by bus and then meet the others who come by the trek route.

Vishalgad from Base

Steps to top of Vishalgad

Morning I got the 6.45 bus for Vishalgad from Kolhapur ST stand and it reached Vishalgad via Malkapur at 9.45am. I went to top of Vishalgad by steps. The fort is a huge place and is located in a strategic area. However people live on top of the fort making the fort dirty. There is also a famous dargah on top of the fort where people from far off places come and pay their respects. This fort contains the mahadev temple , amruteshwar temple , ganesh temple and the samadhis of Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Fulaji Prabhu Deshpande brother of Baji. After seeing all these points I came back to the base and waited for the others to join in. However they were not to be seen so I decided to get back to the point where the trek ends at Pandhrepani. I got a bus immediately from here and went to Pandhrepani. By then heavy showers had started.

I waited at Pandhrepani for almost an hour but finding no sight of the others decided to take the bus back to Kolhapur as I wasn't sure when they would reach here as there was no network too to call them up. I reached Kolhapur at 3pm and immediately visited Mahalaxmi temple and came back to the bus stand. I decided to return back to pune now as I wasnt sure when the others would come back. So leaving a message to the others I started for home by Asiad bus and reached home by 11.30pm in the night.

Although the trek didnt happen as it had to but i could do something and the views of both the regions was too good. I will do the route sometime surely.