Friday, September 19, 2014

Five day road trip into Western Ghats from Pune - day 3

There are small streams of water, there are waterfalls and then there is the little known Ozarde Falls.

Related Links: 
Day 1
Day 2 
Day 4 and 5 


Day 3: Satara to Koyna Dam, Ozarde waterfalls, and Murud-Dapoli beach
Distance covered: 188 kms

Lovely eyes! A Large Grey Babbler

Leaving Satara early was important as this was the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. We left early enough with an intent to cross Koyna Dam , Koyna river and eventually head out to one of the many beach towns.

The route to Koyna is via Kashil and Umbraj and we reached the same fairly briskly and spent some time at the large dam and reservoir ensconced over Shivsagar Lake. Truly Maharashtra is a water-rich state! A small diversion from Koyna, was the Ozarde waterfall on a map which we wondered whether to go or not. Eventually we decided to see it through, and how lucky were we.

Ozarde waterfall barely finds a mention on internet compared to the more popular Thoseghar; and I hope it continues to stay clean and a virgin territory for most people.

Driving off towards Ozarde, we passed a couple of smaller waterfalls (Ghadav Ram waterfalls and one other); leading us to believe Ozarde would be similar to these. We persevered and finally reached the same, a sign of desolation was the closed eatery outside the same indicating not much business in that area. Still there were a few other people around.

To reach the falls, however one has to go through a small half an hour trek right in the heart of the jungle amidst dense trees and undergrowth. To compound matters, the steps were slippery to say the least and we had to be quite careful while walking. After a zigzag uphill and downhill, during which the stream from the fall flowed alongside us, we reached Ozarde, some of us grumbling whether this was worth the effort.
Trek through the jungle for reaching Ozarde Falls.

And then we finally reached the falls. There are small streams of water, there are waterfalls and then there is the little known Ozarde Falls.We were quite taken aback on seeing the falls, period!!! 
The stunning Ozarde Waterfalls falling from a height of more than 100 meters maybe.


Ozarde waterfalls was the best thing that happened to us in the entire trip. Imagine how one feels on seeing a sheer gigantic drop of maybe 100 feet right next to you. Yes, this was a plunge waterfall with stunning amounts of water falling with a tremendous force and roaring noise.  We had trekked very near to the base of the same. The water hitting the surface with ferocious intensity at such close quarters causes a lot of mist and we got wet happily off the droplets.

Gazing mesmerized at Ozarde Waterfalls and feeling the water droplets of the thudding water force

Eventually we moved on hitting the main road back on our way towards Kherdi and Chiplun where we stopped for lunch. Our original intent of going to Kashid beach, would have been difficult, so we chose to go to Murud-Dapoli instead.

Dapoli is a town adjacent and the corresponding beach is named Murud beach. We reached Dapoli by around 4pm, and got a resort stay which was decent enough amidst dense trees and a direct access to the beach. The beach itself was a quiet one, albeit not very clean. A typical small town beach, with limited number of people most of whom were fishermen; our only wish was that it could have been cleaner.
Pleasant, quaint Murud-Dapoli beach and the violent waves of Arabian Sea

Star Fish

Following the adage of respecting the sea even more so during monsoons, we spent some at the beach till nightfall and moved back to the resort.

Related Links: 
Day 1
Day 2 
Day 4 and 5 

Map for day 3



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