Satara - the Gateway to Paradise!

Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The wikipedia mentions that the town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary the Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century.

I for one, while travelling on the NH 4 (Mumbai - Bangalore), assumed it to be just one of the cities or district one just travels past during one's journey. But, a few months back, while surfing on the net for some details about the 'very popular' Kaas plateau or the 'Valley of Flowers - Maharashtra', read a few useful details. And once i vsited Satara, i can with full conviction say it's a Gateway to paradise!!

Though my priority was THE Kaas plateau, i had planned to visit a few places untill 2 days back, i thought were a few places i would visit to just pass the time before i landed up at 'Kaas'. But then the Satara has much much more to offer to a keen traveller & Nature lover, especially after the rains! In support of my above statement i am posting the 1st batch of photos of 'Sajjangad', the 1st place of interest in Satara!! Here is a photo report of the 1st peak into this 'Gateway to Paradise'!!!



Sajjangad from a distance!



A small intro to Sajjangad: It is said that this fort is the oldest in Maharashtra. Sajjangad fort, also a holy place is said to be built during the 11th century to have been donated by Shivaraji Maharaj to Sant Ramdas Swami. This prosperous holy place is open to visitors from sunrise to sunset!!

So here starts the travel on a Misty Morning! On the Mumbai - Pune expressway (NH 4) around 6.45 am. The visibility was less than 200 mtrs.



En-route Satara - a common sight near Shirwal!



Way to Sajjangad - spot the right sign board!



A picturesque sight en-route Sajjangad - an old bridge!



The landscape - The route to Sajjangad!



Almost close to Sajjangad!



A view of the valley/road we have taken towards Sajjangad, from the peak.



The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Mahadwar to Sajjangad!




Sajjangad layout!



A young calf being nursed by it's mother! At a small temple on the right hand side while climbing up the steps to Sajjangad.



The 'Swami Samartha Seva Mandal' - 'Prasad-Gruha'!



Sun bathing - a happy go-lucky turtle in the drinking water source in front of the Prasada Gruha!



Notice at the Prasad gruha - 'Swami Samartha Seva Mandal'!



Inside the 'Swami Samartha Seva Mandal' - The temple!




The prasada gruha - The hall where the prasad is distributed!! The prasad was not just namesake 'Prasad' but full 'Meals'!!



Prasad at Sajjangad fort! We were served with hot Rice, amti, Cucumber curry, pickles & yummiest Lapsi rawa (broken wheat) Kheer.



View of the temple gopuram!



The Swami Samarth Samadhi with a temple dedicated to lord Ram and the samadhi of Shri Swami Samarth in the basement!



'Swami Samartha Samadhi'. The front view of the temple. The temple is very neat & clean. Photography inside the temple is not allowed!!



A breath taking view - Behind the Swami Samartha Samadhi temple complex! Once you walk behind the temple, the views are something wonderful, ofcourse some of the open area is littered with plastic bottles & covers!!



A small temple towards the edge of the valley.



Another picturesque view!



Another temple at one end of the mountain. One can also see the ramparts of of ancient fort which once existed, when you walk up closer.



Beautiful curves? View of the road to Thosegaar falls & Chalkewadi, from Sajjangad!



Another temple dedicated to a Devi (Godess)!



Inside the temple - a bugle / trumpet!



The decked up & colorful idol of the goddess in the temple!



View of the parking lot from another side of the mountain!



The main entrance as seen while exiting the Sajjangad fort!



While climbing down the steps back to the parking lot, spotted a lonely Sparrow - not interested one bit in posing for the camera.



Thus the Sajjangad visit ends with a very happy memory!! From here we marched towards the 'Thosegaar Waterfalls', our next place of interest !!

Wonderful Wonderful!
We stopped at the same place for pics! The fourth pic bridge, and the cow feeding the calf.

In the grasslands, just will ascending from the stairs, saw 2 peacocks dancing! With 3x zoom my camera just trolled. Sad..
Here's my log Sajjangad and Ajinkyatara.

Awesome start Naveena to your photo travelogue. Keep them coming. In particular I liked the landscapes taken from behind the temple complex. Those are excellent.

Ronak.

@Nick-H, Thank you !! I see that you like my post!!



Regards
Naveena

Naveena, Everyone here is more than happy to go through your travelogues. So let it flow or should I say keep the travelogue bombs coming.

Ronak.

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Nice photos! The photos are all of Sajjangad? and how far is the wild flowers place Kaas from here? Also, what is a good to visit the wild flowers plateau. The bird in your photos is a Pied Bushchat.

!!


RWeHavingFunYet: Thank you,. I now know whom to contact when i need to know something about the birds , thank you for identifying the one in the photo.

The images actually show the route we have taken to Sajjangad. The 1st photo is of the actual appearance of Sajjangad from a distance of may be 5 Kms towards Thosegar falls. The images from 'The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Mahadwar to Sajjangad' are all actually of 'SAJJANGAD' - on the mountain plateau (Various temples scattered all around the plateau, views of surrounding valley and also the road tobe taken towards Thosegar falls - remember the beautiful curves?, lakes!)

We can keep Satara city as the reference point for travelling towards the most picturesque places - hence i started the thread as 'Satara - the Gateway to paradise' ! To reach any of these places, one needs to travel atleast 3 kms from Satara city to reach a circle or it's commonly known as 'Chowk', here the road bifurcates in 2 directions (Y - shape) -

One towards the left into the tunnel (this is quite a popular road in Satara - they call it the 'bogada'), which leads you towards the 1st place of interest (atleast for me)Sajjangad (around 15 Kms from this circle), you travel ahead, you pass through Thosegaar falls & few Kms ahead, Chalkewadi windmill Farms!!

Now the Second route, towards your right from the main circle, would lead you towards Kaas plateau (22 kms from this circle). A photo of the tunnel, for you !!



So, effectively you need to come back from Sajjangad (remember 15 Kms)to this tunnel or the circle & move towards Kaas plateau (another 22 Kms). Few Kms ahead one travels, one finds Kaas lake & further ahead is the Bamnoli Village!

The roads are good but with lots of twist & turn. A word of caution, apart from all the instructions (the dos & don'ts) for Kaas plateau, I felt one should remember to drive carefully on these roads. The roads are single lane, narrow and most importantly, the other side is entirely a free fall valley!!! When the roads are in good condition, one tends to speed up & forgets to expect the oncoming traffic & the gorge on the other side - a dead-ly combination.

Now about the best time to visit Kaas: Generally flowers are at its peak before 2nd week of October, I was told by an IM member. But it depends entirely on the arrival of monsoons, just a few weeks (may 2 / 3)into monsoons, i believe would be beautiful sight to watch!

Hope i have answered all your queries!

EDIT: @RWeHavingFunYet, for more details on Kaas and all updates, one could track another dedicated thread for Kas started by snonymous: Kas / Kas near Satara

Regards
Naveena

Great start.

Simply Lovely and Lively snaps Naveena.

Vinaji,

Thank you very much.

Regards
Naveena

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Naveena: Thanks for the link to snonymous post. One question. How large is the wild flowers area: 5 acres, 15 acres or 50 acres? approximately. Thanks again.

Well, i have absolutely no idea about the area covered with wild flowers in absolute terms . I could say that, a stretch of atleast one & half kms in length was covered with these wild flowers. Width wise, I went up to the edge of the mountain towards the steep valley on the right hand side, approximately which would be around 500 mtrs atleast. On the left hand side though, i felt the edge of the mountain seemed to stretch definitely more than 500 mtrs. Being the plateau that it is and a natural one at that, it's definitely difficult to say that the plateau is a perfect square or a rectangle or even a circle!

In the meantime, more regular visitors or may i say senior members who have visited it many times in the past may try to take up your question.

BTW, I visited it for the 1st time and was completely awestruck, the only thought on my mind was, ', My god, the whole area is covered with such beautiful flowers, how is it even possible?'!!!. Of course, i have to say that, every one only mentions that the plateau is beautiful, flowers are beautiful, colorful, etc etc, I would say apart from all the above adjectives, the early morning view of the plateau was very 'romantic'. I'm a die hard fan of the song 'Dekha ek khwaab toh' from the movie SilSila & even as a teenager wanted to see those rows of tulips(Netherlands) shown in that movie!! Probably Kaas managed to give me the same happiness!!

Totally off topic...but then if we are anyway talking about flowers, we can as well, definitely watch this song, isn't it?. So here is the link: Dekha ek Khwaab - SilSila

RWe

The Kas is a large Plateau. This is one of the important plateau located in Satara district, at an elevation of around 1,213 m.

The rainfall received is between 2,000 and 2,500 mm annually.

The total area is about 1,792 hectares under the Kas plateau,and 1,142 hectares is under Govt.Forest.

Those who are more interested may visit my thread :

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/trav...-again-t37809/
And

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/trav...lowers-t26330/

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vinathorat: Thanks for all that wonderful information. I'll now go and look at those photo links.

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Nabina: Thanks again.

Naveena: You are funny. You cannot compare Kaas with Netherlands . Netherlands is farmed and Kaas is wild. Anything seen in wild has more value and is more rewarding than farmed stuff. Kaas is really Khaas. When you felt happy and romantic in the morning did you sing a song or not?

I did watch the song you posted. I always wanted Amitabh to marry Rekha, and have kids. Instead Amitabh goes and marries a Tillu and they produce a Billu. Also, I wanted Tanuja to marry someone handsome, instead she marries Dibbu and they produce Kajol with a big Alu-bonda nose. .. ..

Thanks for the song. ..

Good one. It really is. No wonder it is one of the proposed UNESCO world heritage sites. Read more at http://www.sakaaltimes.com/sakaaltim...9175028445.htm

Ronak.

What does this mean?



Great thread Naveena, I'm looking forward to more