Lohgad Fort(Iron Fort)

Lohgad fort which means iron fort is situated in lohgad village(Base village).Malavli station is the nearest station next to lonavala station on mumbai-pune railway line.It is  3,450 feet (1,052 m)  above sea level.


Mandar was back from nashik couple days ago due to diwali vacation so mandar,me and aakash planned to roll somewhere far from concrete jungle.On 28th Oct 2014,it was  almost 1week before my board exam.we planned to meet near andheri station at 5am so we can catch 5:40am indrayani express from dadar station.I woke at 4am and got ready,mandar picked me up from apna bazar in rickshaw,Till 5:50am we were at andheri station near MC Donald waiting for aakash but like usual he was not picking up the call now we were worried! After 30min he picked up the call and said he will be there in couple minutes.He was there by 6am,that time me and mandar felt like cursing him.I opened mumbai indictaor(App) to check when will next train head to lonavala station from dadar as there is no train available directly to malavli station,Intercity express was the next train available at 6:40am heading towards lonavala,wasting no time we boarded train to dadar station after getting there we got ticket to lonavala station and now patiently waiting for intercity express at platform,as soon as train reached we were searching for unreserve coach(dabba) which was at the end of the train.
Train was packed somehow we made ourself comfortable standing with breeze going on,it was all good.we departed at lonavala station around 9am,after enquiry with Ticket collector we got to know train to malavli station will arrive at 10am.We killed our time talking and eating chips,train to malavli station arrived at 9:50am.We ran towards train and took the seat but train started at 10:30am.Till 11am we were at malavli station.

View from malavli station

One need to take right from malavli station which will take you to road above mumbai-pune express highway.Don't expect any travel mode until and unless you got your personal vehicle which will take you to the base of lohgad fort which is 6-7km from malavli station.It is an easy trek.

Mumbai-Pune express highway

After 1.5-2km of walking we arrived at bhaje village.I asked one of the local lady vendor about direction,she told us to follow straight gali which we did,then we found out further there was big bushes field which i doubt was the route according to all that research i did on internet.These bushes with no trail would have been filled with snakes and insects,i was little tensed however before rolling further we all thought of buying drinking water,cold drinks and snacks.We went back to same local lady vendor and copped it,after buying - same lady told us to follow another route which was simple well structured road.I was shocked if it was't about buying! we would have ended somewhere else lost or trapped in those bushes.I never expected something like this from locals.

On the path there is a steps which leads to bhaje caves because of time limit we left bhaje caves which would have been time consuming.There was a way from bhaje caves to lohgad which i was not aware nor do i wanted to follow that way because many people got trapped and lost following some or the other unusual route for adventurous experience and more then that only couple days were left for board exam.
I was amazed to see how well the road was made and maintained.After couple hours of walking we started our photo session on one of the spot.

Road to Lohgad

,

Remember - There are also small shortcuts through trees and grass every now and then incase if you don't want to follow roads and pressurize your steps on those upward slope roads.

Afters hours of walking,we were at the spot where we were able to view visapur fort and lohgad fort,The structure of the visapur fort was amazing.Visapur fort is just opposite to lohgad fort.Left path will take you to visapur fort and right to lohgad fort.If you want to trek visapur fort it will be better for you to take guide or experienced member from your group,in past many trekkers got lost and stucked doing it independently.

Visapur fort behind me

Lohgad Fort behind me

On my way i saw big mangoose but it was fast enough to get out of my eye sight and end up in bushes before i took out my mobile and snap pictures,further i saw some kids killing butterfly with the help of wooden stick,we told them not to!

Now we were at the base of fort.By the time we stepup,group of monkey surrounded us making heel faces,roaring because of chips and bottle in our hand so mandar threw one of the empty bottle making all monkey distracted,in that mean time we managed to pass them.

In above pic the lake that you see is a pavana lake.I saw someone Jet-skiing in it.

                                           

     

Lohagd Fort is the real definition of architectural wonder,i mean - Walls and all the 4 doors(darwaja) is in good condition.The fort has been declared as a protected monument by Archaeology Survey of India.

Darwaja

Now we were on top of the fort and were able to get panorama view of the fort from the top.There are temples,caves,dargah,graveyard for muslims and few water tanks on top of the fort.When we entered laxmi kothi caves the smell out there was strong and seductive,maybe because of rangoli in the caves,i feel like smelling it for hours.According to aakash it was devil smell to attract and trick his/her victim's which i doubt and don't believe.

View of the fort from the fort

Laxmi Kothi Caves

Rangoli

Darhgah

Now we were at the highest point of lohgad fort though something was odd out here as i do not saw any people near our spot maybe because of graveyard near us or maybe with the fear that there were many snake looking holes near grass! little far away was the big water tank where i saw some frog,gappi fish,crab,sucker fish and snail.

Water Tank

Aakash,Me and Mandar

It was already 3:50am so we decided to head down,it took us 10minutes to go downwards and from there around 90minutes to malavli station,In between we took a rest near one of the waterfall on the way.I was suprised to see waterfall during spring season.On the way we eat apple and oranges which we got for ourself from home.

we boarded local train from malavli to lonavala station and from there boarded trivandrum express to dadar station and then local train to andheri station,then we took rickshaw to KFC(Fun republic) as we were damn hungry,don't really remember what i ordered but it cost us around 250rs per person(Tax inclusive).I was home till 12am.