Trek to Rajgad Fort
‘The King of Forts’
The journey began on Saturday night 11pm. I and my friend Nimesh Ghelani joined the trekking group Trek Mates India at Dadar, Mumbai. Along with 25 other people, our journey began to the base village of the Rajgad fort, the king of forts, where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj spent 25-30 years of his life.
After a quick breakfast, the hiking started.
And we never missed a chance for a quick photo and a quick breath.
The mountain ranges were visible throughout the way, the ones on which the fort was built and the ones we were going to traverse.
There’s just one job: to just go on and on, to be in the moment, looking through nature’s creation, listening to the sound of birds chirping because you know that you got to enjoy it while it lasts, because those scene are there and those moments will only last till then, because this cannot be captured by any camera or painted on any canvas or relived in the future.
Rajgad is famous for its construction. The fort can be divided into four different parts based on geographical terrain and fortification. There are the three sub-plateaux (Machee) namely Padmavati Machee, Suvela Machee and Sanjevani Machee, and at the centre is the Ballekilla. The route we followed was designed as an escape route (Chor Marg) in case of an attack. It led us to the ‘Padmavati Machee’.
The journey commenced from Padmavati Machee to Suvela Machee. Between the way, comes the main entrance to the fort.
By now I was tired and had finished my Gatorade. But the best and most beautiful part is still left, ‘Ballekilla’, the highest point of the fort.
The way to Ballekilla was so thrilling and adventurous that I could not manage to take a photo. But trust me, the view you get to experience is totally worth it.
We couldn’t visit the Sanjevani Machee due to time shortage. However, here is the view of Sanjevani Machee from the top of Ballekilla.
After climbing the highest peak, we started our descend. Reached the base village around 5pm.
We were lucky it didn’t rain, though we had a little drizzle at Ballekilla after we finished our lunch. Rain would have made the descend more thrilling but then I wouldn’t have been able to present to all these pics.
