Surrounding Satara... Kaas, Bamnoli, Tapola on Day 2

Despite sleeping late night yesterday, I somehow managed to woke up early morning. Asked Kaka whether he wants to go to Char Bhinti for sunrise. He denied, so without disturbing the girls I myself went out for a morning walk to Char Bhinti. It's around 3km from our hotel.It's very refreshing to walk in the morning breeze.The fresh air blown away all my lethargy. It was little cloudy down the sky, so couldn't watch sunrise though spent quite a few time above the hill. The panoramic view of Satara town is spectacular from Char Bhinti.

View of Ajinkyatra Fort from Char Bhinti

Satara Town

Char Bhinti, Ajinkyatra Fort & Satara Town in one frame

After spending around one hour, I returned to hotel. Clicked some snaps on the way.

We started at around 9.30 am for the Day 2 itinerary. The route to Kaas is very scenic. Flowers on road side made the route more beautiful.

The Kaas Plateau (aka Kaas Pathar) is situated at the Sahyadri hills near Satara (25km). This plateau is well known for its unique biosphere, high hill plateaus and grasslands. After monsoon season, especially in September end to mid October, the plateau comes to life, with picturesque view of various types flowers that carpet the floor of the plateau.

However, the beauty of Kaas is been little reduced by barricading with wired nets. Though it's done for the good of nature. Previously, there was no parking, no charging in Kaas. But as the spot started attracting tourists, local government made same rules to visit Kaas e.g. one can not park vehicle in Kaas, entry charge, camera charge etc. You have to leave your car at the parking and have to take the bus service to reach Kaas. You can also go by walk.

Due to heavy fog we could not see much of Kaas. We called our drive to bring the cab, we got in and moved forward to Kaas Lake. It was more foggy there. Even the lake is hardly visible.

So without wasting time we moved forward to next destination Bamnoli. Now the road to Bamnoli is little scary. It comes under heavy rain area. The jungle all around is highly deep and dark and trees are covered with moss.

However, once you cross the jungle part, it's spectacular all the way. The gigantic Shiv Sagar Lake and the lash green surrounding provide breathtaking view. We all are speechless for some moments.

Bamnoli is situated 40 kms from Satara town. It is a very small villege lies on the shore of Shiv Sagar lake. Shiv Sagar is the back water of Koyana dam. Bamnoli is famous for various boating options though it's quite costly.

Once you reach Bamnoli, near the ferry ghat, there's counter to book ticket for boating. You'll be floaded with options like Triveni Sangam, Tapola, Vasota Fort,  Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary etc. We opted for Tapola as it is called Mini Kashmir of Maharashtra.

The sailor said that there is nothing special to watch in Tapola and we should opt for Triveni Sangam or any other options, which makes us little disappointed. Anyways, we sailed our boat.

An hour ride took us to Tapola and it's true that there's nothing to watch there in the village though the ride was fantastic. We spent around half an hour in Tapola and get back to Bamnoli.

We're hungry, but didn't find good options. So thought of going back to Satara ASAP and to have food there.

We hopped into a resturant named "Sai Rann" on Rajpath. Kaka and Me tried Emu mutton as recommanded by them. And it's the best mutton I have ever had in Maharashtra. I ate like a horse. It's so delicious and cheap that I can go there again just have Emu mutton.

I was hoping for a good nap. But, Debisree had to back to Mumbai. So...Ba-Bye.