Agra – The city of Taj Mahal

 

I had a chance to spend one day at Agra and I jumped at the thought of visiting one of the 7 wonders of the world! I reached Agra Cantonment at around 10am. Straight away I headed to the Pre-paid rickshaws booth outside the railway station. It is manned by a police man so no worries. I choose the option of 4 hours rickshaw and 3 places to visit… The Taj, Agra fort and market. It was about Rs. 200 which I felt is very good deal.

Our Rick headed directly to the Taj Mahal. On reaching at the entrance gate and buying the entrance ticket (~ Rs.25/- for Indian nationals) we were surrounded by many guides. Finally we decided to hire one for 100 bucks. Later we came to conclusion that it was worth having a guide.

Our guide showed us multiple optical illusions and provided a lot of interesting information about Taj. I would love to share them with you :)

As soon as you enter the main gate you will get the first glimpse of Taj. I was overwhelmed by it, to say the least. In this entrance dome, stand at the centre, I think there is some kind of mark there. From this point look at Taj and move towards it, as you move the Taj seems to grow in size and as you move back to original position it shrinks back. This is the first illusion that our guide showed us! Check out the photo below.

Taj was designed as per the description of heaven in holy Koran. Made of various rare kinds of marbles and precious stones it must have been one of the greatest monument of its time. It is symmetric in every aspect, from all sides it is exactly same.

It has 16 gardens 8 on each side, 53 fountains.. our guide told us that it indicates the year of Taj’s construction – 1653 (16 gardens and 53 fountains). On the entrance door there are 22 smaller domes signifying 22 years that took to build this enormous monument.

Each door has inscription of holy words from Koran. These words are not painted but carved in white marble and then exactly same shaped black marble is fitted in it. As a matter of fact this is true for all designs. The size of the words increases gradually from bottom to the top in such a way that it appears to be same sized from below and hence easy to read. Another example of well thought craftsmanship and optical illusion!

From the back side of Taj one can see the flowing Yamuna river. We were informed that emperor Shahajahan had marked a site right across the river to build exactly the same Taj mahal but with black marble! I cannot imagine the magnitude of wonder it would have been if these twin Taj were in existence today. You can see the site marked even today (pic above)

Our guide helped us in clicking this excellent reflection of Taj.

When to visit 
September - March

What to shop
Petha – a sweet made up of White Pumpkin or Ash Gourd. (Panchhi (bird in hindi) Petha is apparently famous in Agra). You can find many flavours, must try.

Jaipur – The pink city

If you have read my wish list of the places to visit, Jaipur was one of it. And I managed to plan a trip in the month of September. It was a four days tour and I also visited the Agra for a day. More about Agra in another post.

In Jaipur I stayed at The Palms Hotel. The hotel is located in good area of the city very close to the Raj Mandir – A well known cinema theatre. The hotel was not exactly the best one. The service was not as expected. You may want to check the review at this site.

I reached Jaipur at around noon and after a brief nap was as good as new. Soon I was out to explore the place. After a brief walk I was in front of the much talked about theatre – The Raj Mandir.  I was advised by a good friend to check out this theatre and so I went ahead and booked tickets for Dabangg. Once inside I was impressed by the Raj Mandir, one has to consider the fact that this theatre was built much before the concept of multiplexes was introduced in India. The chandeliers, the decorative pieces, the lightings… all of this really made it worth the view.

Next day we proceeded for site seeing and for that purpose booked a cab for the day. I think it was good deal at 1.2k for an AC indica. Our first stop was at the Hawa Mahal. The structure is right on the main road. Though our driver said there is nothing inside, we went in and climbed till the top floor. One can see the Jantar-Mantar from Hawa Mahal.

The next stop was at Jantar-Mantar. This huge astronomy observatory was built under the regime of Maharaja Jai Singh II between 1727 and 1734. One of the Yantra (Instrument), Brihat Samrat Yantra, here works on the principle of sundial and can give time to the accuracy of 2 seconds! You may want to know more about it please check the Wikipedia link.

Amer or Amber fort is about 12 km from Jaipur. Out of that 3-4 km stretch of road is not very good but at the time the repair work is in progress so it should be ok in another 3 months or so. Apart from that the drive was quite good.

I can only wonder what they might be cooking in this huge vessel.

  

On our way back we stopped at the Jal Mahal. I am told that till some days back the visitors could go inside by boats however now that service is no more available. The view of Jal Mahal at the dusk was awesome.

As the day was coming to end we decided to do some shopping. Please bear in mind that many shops here will declare that they are the government shops. However I have learnt (the hard way) that apparently government gives the contracts to the shops to sell the local articles but they are not 100% govt. shops. The prices are on higher sides. For example the shop right in front of Jal Mahal, it is a huge establishment which sells gift articles, jewellery, sarees, dress materials etc. But the prices are quite high. I guess the travel agents prefer it for the commission they get from the owners. Anyway I found that the better way to shop is to check at least 3-4 shops before deciding the right place.

The following day we went to the city all by ourselves by the autorikshaws which are very easily available. We enjoyed the shopping and also viewed a show at the Birla Planetarium. We did some experiment with food and tried our hands at the daal-baati-churma. Must tell you that it is such a wholesome meal that even after 4 hours I was feeling full :)

However I think I would visit Jaipur one more time to check out the places after studying them in more details. Also I have missed out some sites like the Nahargarh fort, Jaigarh fort and Gaitore. They certainly call for another trip.

Things to consider
Study about the place and its custom. At Albert hall museum one can buy tickets for 5 other places at concessional rate. This not only saves money but also saves time which otherwise would be spent in standing in queues.

I would advise to take a guide at places like Jantar-Mantar. I could not get good guide at Amer fort but if you could get some one, please try it. And fianally check out the links below for more information about the beautiful Jaipur.
http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Destinations/Jaipur/AboutJaipur.aspx
Links courtesy Mr. Shiv (Post about wish list)
http://www.jaipurtravel.com/about_jaipur.htm
http://www.jaipur.org.uk/

What to eat
Daal Baati Churma, Malpova at Rawaat Sweets

When to visit
October - February

What to shop
Bandhani dresses, Traditional Sarees, Laakh jewellery (Bangles) at Chhoti Chopdi and Badi Chopdi, The puppets

Minimum stay duration
3 days

Jejuri, Narayangaon and Balaji

It has been long time that my family wanted to visit the Khandoba of Jejuri, Datta mandir of Narayangaon and the Balaji temple. I had been to Balaji temple last year and I was quite impressed by the cleanliness and the automosphere of the location. When I say balaji temple I mean the one which is near to Pune. With the help of google and few friends we chalked out the path so as to cover all these places in one go!

 

View Larger Map

 

We started at around 9:30 in the morning. Our first stop was at Balaji temple. This temple is developed and managed by Venkateshwara Hatcheries. It is located at a very scenic place. Everything is well managed and it is said to be the replica of the Balaji temple of Tirupati. I have not been there so I cannot judge. We reached there at around 11am. After darshan we decided to have our lunch at the temple itself. It consisted of rice and sambhar and was very well prepared.

Then we started for the Narayangaon. It is famous for its Datta Mandir. The temple seems to be renovated and is right on the main road passing through the village. You have to be lucky to find the parking space by the road. There was no crowd on the day of our visit so we had good darshan of lord Datta. This is the first temple where I saw ek-mukhi Datta. The road to Narayanpur was very beautiful, more so since it had rained for a few days before our journey. All over there was greenery.

We did not spent much time at Narayangaon and proceeded to Jejuri. I had been to Jejuri long time back during my college days with my friends. Once a sleepy village is now a bustling small town. One can drive in the four wheeler right till the base of the temple. There are many private parking spaces available for some fee. I parked my car as near the temple's base as possible :-). One has to climb about 150 steps to reach the Kandoba's temple. On the way one can see the huge statue of Umaji Naik. This temple is actually a fort on which Shivaji Maharaj met Shaji Maharaj after a long time and at this place they worked on various war strategies against the Mugals.

Jejuri is also known for the deepmalas. There are more than 100 deepmalas on the way to the temple. These are made up of solid rock and were used in olden days to put in earthen lamps. For reasons not known to me at this temple the devotees diplay their devotion by throwing fine turmeric powder and pieces of cocunut and chanting "YelKot YelKot JaiMalhar". I do not know the reason or root of this traditioin. If you know about it, you are welcome to share it. Make sure that you do go up the stair case on the side of the temple. From top one can see the beautiful water bodies around the temple. This site is not to be missed!

 

After Khandoba's darshan we started on our way back to Pune. The return journey was through Hadapsar so though there was traffic the distance was less. Have you been to these places? What was your experience?

Paris - A business trip

In june I had to go to Velizy, France for a business trip. But there was only one problem... no two... nah three... or may be more. The first one - my passport was about to expire. I applied for it's renewal at the regional passport office. In first instance itself I managed to submit all the necessary documents. And then started the long wait for the passport to arrive. After 30 odd days I still had not received it. I checked the status on the website of passport office and for next couple of days I observed that the status was same. And next day early morning of I went to the passport office only to be sent back with a status that my application is at police station. The police station of course has not received my application and thus started my running from police station to the passport office and then back. The least that I can say about the passport officials is that they were least helpful and illogical in their approach. The system could be hi-tech, the office could be computerized, but in the end it is the mindset of the officials that can improve the efficiency of the office. There could be 100 reasons to say NO to improvement but only one strong boss to turn around an organization.

Finally after n number of round to police stations and passport office, I received my passport. But then the appointment to the France consulate for getting visa was not available! Now this is the 'office' where the applications are moved in very efficient manner. However I must say that my travel office really tried their best and got an appointment for me... just a day before my flight. And thus I got my passport stammped with the France visa!

I was packing my bags on saturday, the same night on which I was to fly to Paris, I got a call from office. Some data which I had to take along with me had some problem. Once again I was shaken. I rushed to office and in another 3 hours or so got everything under control. In the mean time called up my wife to pack whatever she thinks is appropriate and I dd not regretted that... :-) Then I rushed back in time to say good bye to my family and of I went to the Mumbai airport.

The flight was good and landed on time in the fashion capital of world - Paris! The weather however was quite bad... it was cold and raining. Very unexpected in June. Visited the Musee the Louvre, Trocadero and Eiffle tower on sunday. Could not go up the Eiffel due to the chilling wind and the rains. Interestingly there was a big screen put up at the Trocadero for the football world cup. The football fever was in the air.

Monday - first day of office at Velizy was good. Met all my colleagues after a long time. The conference for which I went there was on the next day. Everyone was putting in all there efforts to make it a success. The conference was excellent and very knowledgeable. I also got opportunity to meet experts of various fields. Meeting and hearing the views of customers from all over the world, getting to know their perspectives was altogether a different experience. Most importantly I conducted a session in this conference and it was very well received and appreciated... Making it worth all the troubles!

Vedi Farms

From last few weeks I was having difficult time to find suitable place to visit during summers. The summer is a bit harsh this year and it is not helping to make this decision any easier. So while idly reading the local newspaper I spotted a news about agro-tourism. This is where I spotted the name of Vedi farms... Vedi Ve as is Way and di as in Dinar, is about 90km from Pune on Pune-Satara NH4 highway, approximately 45km before Satara. As soon as you cross the Khambatki Ghat, keep an eye on your left for a village road and a hoarding pointing towards Vedi farms. This stretch of road is quite rough and lasts for about 10km. On reaching the destination I was told that the road is under construction and would be tarred within a year or so. And what I found was that the Vedi farms itself is under construction. This fact was hidden very cleaverly by the marketting person from me. Most of the staff was on leave, the caretaker was not informed about our arrival. We were left to ourselves and after lunch we asked the caretaker about the activities and farm visit. They agreed to show us the farms as and when we were ready. So we started in the evening at around 5 pm after a siesta. Saw some crops like tomato and capsicum and then headed to see the Emu farming. Also saw the green house of Gerbera. I was curious as I had never seen the bird before. It bears similarity to ostrich, is about 5-6 ft tall and has a stronf smell. In the evening we had dinner and roamed around the Machan, this is a wonderful construction at this farms. It is quite windy at machan and one can see for long distances at a stretch. At night one can see the lights of the vehicles driving down the highway far away.

The next day we left after lunch. On the way we saw the windmills and on whim decided to check them out. Just about in 10-15 minutes drive we were at the base of the first windmill. I was awed by the size of the structure. I was surprised that the windmill was spinning even when there was not much wind. My idea was that it would need a huge thrust of wind to move those huge blades... its a must see.

In about an hour and half we were back in Pune. All in all the visit was not all that interesting. Probably I had some expectations set after seeing the website of Vedi farms, and they were not met there. As a matter of fact there were no vistors there and it was so very empty. I hope that the owner of this wonderful site would make the most of this location and most importantly handlle the marketting properly. Afterall a satisfied customer is the best advertisement.

Checklist for outing

Outings in general consists of happy moments, either with friends or family members or both. Sometimes it so happens that in the excitement of making these happy memories, one misses out to put the camera in their bag pack or to forgets to pack that special outfit bought specially for the trip. Of course the trip goes on but somewhere we know that it is little less than perfect, right?

So to reduce this problem to significant extent I thought of preparing a checklist of some sort. So whenever you are planning your next excursion, make sure to keep this check list handy!

I think I have included most of the essentials in this list. And I suggest that you keep a copy of this with you while planning your next trip. Do you think something is missing from this list, say it.

Wishlist-2010

When ever I have some time at hand I like to travel. Some of the places are my favourites and that includes Kashid Beach and Goa (specifically Colva beach). I make it a point to visit these places once a year. And most of the times I plan well before stepping out. The hotel bookings, the travel arrangements, the site seeing if any, everything is planned to last details (Satara was one of the exception and the trip turned out to be great). So a thought came to my mind ... why not create a wish list of the place which I would like to visit! And so here it goes:

Goa (Colva beach): This time around would like to try Vinay beach resort. It is close by to the GTDC resort and the beach as well. Last time I had checked it and found that the rooms are much cleaner and better than the GTDC's. And the charges are almost same. The GTDC service is good, so I hope that GTDC paints and cleans their property. I would like to spend around 4-5 days in Goa and would be visiting Panjim and explore some interior parts of Goa. And yes I want to try my hand at photography too! Bangda fry on plate and watching sunset in the silver sands is definitely a bliss! Goa is the place where one can be enjoy being lazy and not feel guilty about it :-)

Kashid: The start of my winter would be at Kashid, around 3-4 days is good enough. Would be eating at Patil Khanawal (hotel or mess) but would also like to find some other local food joint. Kokani fish recipes are hmmmm... my mouth is already watering. Seen it twice already so this time around I might give a miss to the Janjira fort. On the other hand would explore the Phansad Wild Life Sanctuary. I understand that it is somewhere near-by to Kashid.

Jaipur: Always wanted to see the pink city for myself. Seen this magnificient city on television many times... the pink buildings, the hawa mahal, the palaces, the intricate art work, the kathputlis (puppets), the Rajasthani cuisine. I think it will need 4-5 days to do justice to Jaipur. But I need to do some research to find which season/months are more suitable for this visit. May be you can help me in this. I would like to know your experiences if you have visited Jaipur... or are from Jaipur.

Koyna Backwaters: Saw the pictures on net and they are superb, especially during monsoon season. I certainly would like to spend 2-3 days at Koyna dam. Just want to get wet and roam in rains. The back water would be magnificient with mist and the breeze. Wow, I wish to be at Koyna dam in 2010.

Kaas: How can I miss this one. I have been to Satara and after visiting the near-by Kaas Lake I was so taken a back by the greenery that I decided to re-visit it. Later the locals told that the right time would be September-October. During these times all kinds of flowers bloom near the Lake and the view is mesmerizing. It is said that many of the flowers seen here are not even categorized by the botanist. These flowers are said to be found only in this region.

For smaller duration, am considering some near by resorts. Durshet, Saguna Baug, Panhala, Malshej Ghat, stay at Sinhagad.

Now that my wish list for touurist places for 2010 is almost finalised, I am going to try every bit to make it real. With my fingers crossed I am looking at 2010.

By the way if you have to spend say 5 days at a destination, where would that be? C'mon be sporty now.

Satara - Weekend Getaway

One of my close friend, Manjunath, and I were discussing as to which place to visit during a weekend. We considered various options but were not able to reach a consensus. Then I threw an idea of visiting an offbeat location. It was a spontaneous decision, and we agreed to visit Satara. And of we started our journey in the morning in Manju’s WagonR Duo. About 2 hours and 120 km of drive on the excellent NH4, we reached our destination. On the way we stopped at one of the roadside hotel, Virangula, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of service and the taste of the offerings. This hotel is just about few km before Satara on the left side. I would recommend that you must try the Thalipith at this place if not full meal. Total two and half hours of relaxed road travel and we were in the city of Satara. The first and fore most agenda for us was to find a suitable hotel to stay at. There are lot of hotels on Radhika Road (named after a movie theatre) right in front of the Satara bus stand. After checking various hotels I zeroed in on Hotel Sagar. The rooms are quite spacious and clean. You can also book the rooms on phone – 02162-228331, 228332. In case you prefer western WC then go for AC room, or else non-AC rooms are good enough. Same day evening we went to Sajjangad, the fort where Swami Samartha stayed. I think its 20km drive, though the hotel manager told me that it will not be more than 10 minutes ride..Ha 10 minutes? Puhleease.. It took us good 30 minutes. But then no part of the journey was dull. Every turns a good view. From base of Sajjangad it's approximately 20 minutes to the top. We reached in time for the evening prayers. It was Holi day, the day when Hindus burn their sins in to the sacred fire of Holika dahan. It was a different experience to watch the sacred fire in the dead of the night! Early next day we started for Kas Lake. 34km from the center of Satara, the first 10 or so km is sort of dry rough patch. After that one is surprised by the view, by that time you are on the upper side of the plateau and on a clear day can get very good views of various water bodies around Satara. And then you enter the dense flora, it’s almost like a jungle. The air gets cooler and cleaner the road is covered with shadow from the trees. It is pleasure driving there, it is. After spending some time at Kas Lake, we started for Bamnoli. At Bamnoli there is excellent facility for boating. A boat ride of 45 minutes was cool! The boat is stopped for about 15 minutes before it returns back. Those are peaceful 15 minutes, water everywhere and green mountains at distance. Just relax or click away your camera. And then we returned back to hotel. That was one great weekend getaway! While returning back we picked up many packets of the Satara special Kandi Pedhas, a local specialty. Do try it. And back we started with a resolve to return back in Monsoon to visit the Tapola (near to Kas Lake) also known as mini Kashmir.

Where to stay
Sagar Hotel is good hotel, there is a luxurious hotel also in Satara

What to see
Sajjangad, Kaas Lake, Tapola, Bamnoli

What to eat
Kandi Pedha

When to visit
August to February

What to shop
Hmmm... Kandi Pedha

Minimum stay duration
2 days

Kashid with Friends

There are times when one wants to get away from the daily chorus and there is nothing like going to sea. Sea has this special ability to sooth you and put you to relaxing mode. Probably it is the combined effect of the salty breeze, the sound of waves splashing on the shore, the soft sand underneath the feet and the vastness of the sea. Somehow it puts a spell on me and I am mesmerized by the nature’s bounties. For most part of my life I have stayed at place which is quite far from sea. So when I first saw sea, it was love at first sight for me.

Since then I have been to Goa (I love the Colva beach for it’s not very crowded plus it gives a sense of safety even while walking at mid night) almost every year. However Kashid is near to me and is perfect get away for 3 days. So any extended weekend is ideal for visiting Kashid. This place is quite near from Pune/Mumbai and can be easily reached in about 3 hours. There is one 5 star resort their, Prakruti Resort. It is luxurious but costly. More over it’s quite far from sea. And anyway who wants to go to disco, have continental meals and breakfasts and air conditioning when one can stay at the local resorts which are 10 hops away from beach J

Kashid is a small village with population of about 2000. The exceptional quality of Kashid beach is that it is not crowded like its neighbouring beaches. And the sand at this beach is silvery. You can walk for long stretches enjoying the solitude and the occasional glimpse of the flying fish in the sea. It’s like having a private beach only for your self! If you are going with friends then this is perfect place to bond.

Some residents of Kashid have built accommodations for tourists and most of them are maintained pretty well. Some have gardens with banana and coconut trees and the hammocks to lazy around in the noon. I prefer to stay at Friends resort because it’s clean and has a very good garden. And most importantly it’s quite close to sea. I have found that the uncle who owns it is quite friendly. The cook, a lady, is an expert is Surmai and Bangda (mackerel) fry.

While visiting Kashid, it is a good idea to take a trip to Murud Janjira. It is just about 16 km from Kashid. One can visit the sea fort of Janjira. There are boats (prepaid sailing boats) to go to this fort. There are guides at this fort to provide information about its history. I hired one but found it to be not very useful. You may very well skip hiring a guide. Instead get the material from internet. The view from the top of Janjira is something not to be missed.

Where to stay

Friends Resort, Kashid Sea Face, Surve Huts

What to see

The Kashid beach, the Janjira Fort, Murud beach

What to eat

Home made sea food, fish fries, soul curry (made up of coconut milk)

When to visit

Mid September to mid March

Minimum stay duration

2 days 1 night

How to reach

The nearest rail head and airport is Mumbai and Pune (almost equidistant). From Pune/Mumbai one can go by car.

Distance from Pune: About 180km. The route to follow is:

Pune-Express High way-Lonawala - Khopoli Exit – Pen – Alibag – Nagaon – Revdanda - Kashid

Distance from Mumbai: About 120km

Some useful links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murud-Janjira

http://murudjanjira.blogspot.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashid

Contact info for local resorts:

Friends Resort: Mr A. A. Belose 09270371274

Kashid Sea Face: Mr. Abhishek Kate 02144-278555

Have you been to Murud or Kashid? How was your experience? If you have visited some super cool place in Konkan aread, do share your views. I would like to explore Konkan and your first hand opinion can be useful.

Chikhaldara - Hill station of Maharashtra

Chikhaldara, many of you would find the name a bit strange. At least I did when I heard about it the first time. This gem of a place is located at the vidharba region of Maharashtra. This little known hill station was first discovered by an Englishman during British rule. He was so enchanted by this untouched beauty that he developed this place as a summer retreat.

Even today Chikhaldara is covered with dense forest. As a matter of fact it is very close to the Melghat tiger reserve. This small town situated in the folds of Satpura ranges is the place to be if you want to calm your nerves and enjoy a relaxing holiday. There are no 5 star hotels, shopping malls, movie theatres or spas or such things out there but one can enjoy the simple things of life like smelling the pollution free air, enjoying the cool breeze, talking with the simple town folks, walking on the streets without any care in the world and of course taking the forest safari to list a few.

It was a long weekend staring out at me and I was wondering what I can do to utilise it. I had already searched for my options at the MTDC resorts online. None was available. I also tried calling a few resorts around Pune and Mumbai but with no luck there either. Then all of a sudden I thought, why not go to some off beat place. A little googling, a little surfing on the travel sites and out comes Chikhaldara. There not much information about Chikhaldara on internet and I thought – how about a little trial for a change, may be it will turn out to be a great destination. I could not have been more right!

I and my wife started our journey towards Badnera, the nearest railway station to Chikhaldara on the eve of Friday. Railway being my favourite means of transports (more about it later). After overnight journey we were standing at the Badnera station and got ourselves a Sumo booked to drop us at Chikhaldara. After 100 km out of which 25 km involved climbing up we were there. Due to last minute planning I didn’t had any hotel reservations. So for the three nights that I had in mind, I stayed at two excellent resorts :-) So much for not planning for the stay.

As soon as one enters the town of Chikhaldara the first hotel that one comes across is “Harshwardhan”. Personally I didn’t find the location appealing though the food is good. The MTDC resort has arguably the best location, overlooking the valley. The Satpura resort is also near by. Another good resort is Green Vallies Resort. This one is close to the bus stand. I had stayed at the Satpura VIP (this one is the extension of the Satpura resorts) thought not that good. It has four suites, two on first floor and two on ground floor. However this one is a stand alone building originally constructed by the State Irrigation Dept and now leased to Satpura management. And for remaining two days I stayed at the Green Vallies. The expanse of Green Vallies is huge. The attached restaurant, Gavilgad, is near by and one can get descent food and service there. The quantity of the food in a dish is generous so it is better to get waiter’s opinion before placing the final order.

The climate of Chikhaldara is cooler throughout the year. The rainfall is very heavy during monsoon. During summer the greenery would fade away but then it becomes all the more easy to spot the animals during the forest safari. Talking of safari, there are no elephants or gipsies for safari. One has to hire vehicles (Sumo, Indica, Bolero etc). Indica is a complete no-no for safari. It’s too small and at some places won’t be able to manoeuvre through certain places like river bed. I preferred the Sumo and didn’t regret the experience. From Chikhaldara the Melghat tiger reserve is about 24km and on reaching there, the forest dept at Semadoh provides the guide and charges a forest entrance fee which is nominal and some refundable deposit. The safari takes about 4-5 hours from Chikhaldara to Chikhaldara and one can expect to spot Tiger, Leopard, Wild Dog, Sloth Bear, Sa-mbhar, Nilgai, Wild Pig, Bison, Flying Squirrel etc. and many types of birds and reptiles.

Other than forest safari, there are many points to visit in and around Chikhaldara like Devi point, the Bhimakunda, Shakkar Talav, Gavilgad (fort), near by windmills and so on. But one should not miss the forest safari at any cost. Even if you are not able to spot any animals, the effect that forest leaves on you will be soothing. For more adventures sort there is forest lodge at Semadoh which can be booked through Conservator of Forest dept.

To enjoy the vacation at Chikhaldara at leisure I advise that the duration of stay has to be at least 3 days and 2 nights, anything less than this would be a compromise.

Where to stay

MTDC resort – Can be booked online

Satpura Resort – Can be booked through phone and by depositing the money in their account (details available on request)

Green Vallies Resort – Can be booked through phone and by depositing the money in their account (details available on request)

When to visit

Oct-Mar, though any time of the year is good. Avoid monsoon if you do not like heavy rains.

Must see

Forest safari, Devi point, Bhimakunda (huge water fall, especially during monsoon), Shakkar talav for boating

Minimum stay duration

3 days 2 nights

How to reach

By Train: Badnera is the nearest railhead is about 100km from Chikhaldara

By Air: Nearest airport is Nagpur

What to carry

Khaki/Green clothes, Woolen sweaters, Thermals, Cap, shades, good shoes, Camera, Medicines etc