Vandangad Fort Trek Aug_2019

Vandangad is one of the famous fort near Satara city. It is usually named as its pairing fort Chandan i.e. Chandan-Vandan. There is lot confusion about the identity of the fort among local people, trekkers, websites even on Google map. 

How to identify Chandangad - There is a temple of Chandaneshwar and a banyan tree on Chandangad. 

How to identify Vandangad - There is Kalubai temple, Dhanyakothar and Masjid on the fort.

How to Reach From Pune :

It is about 95 km from Pune. Pune-Satara highway- Shirwal -Khambatki Ghat- Surur- Bhuinj- Leave the highway-Take left turn to Karkhana road- Kisanveer Sugar Factory-take left for Kikali Village-Kikali-Warachi Belmachi-Park vehicle.

The road is in good condition, even good for bus and cars. So approx. 2 hours will be required to reach the base village.  

trek route from 'Warachi Belmachi'

Parking - Find open place for the parking in the village warachi Belmachi. Ask local people then park only because there is no official parking.

Food and Water : Small shops are there in Warchi Belmachi to purchase water and snacks. Carry food and water with you because those are not available on the trek or fort.

About the Trek : The trek is easy. Its good for family, kids and senior citizens too. It takes almost 1 hour to reach at the main entrance 'Darwaja' and 90 mins. to reach on the fort i.e. 'Ballekilla'

This trek is not so popular so difficult to find clear trail to follow. Keep eyes on valley between two forts and waterfall path. 

Trek start point form the base village 'Warachi Belmachi'

In summer bikes can be reached up to the temple. 

Chandangad is on left side at the trail. After reaching on the top in the valley of both forts take right for Vandangad. After 60 mins trek from base you will be on the entrance of the fort. This is first phase you reach. 

This is Chandangad, take right turn ( U turn) from here.

Belmachi from the trek route

After 60 mins trek we reached at the Darwaja 

Banavadi village side in the  background

From the Darwaja we reach on the top of the fort in 15 minutes.

 

Mahadev Temple

After 20 mins trek you will reach to the Kalubai temple and Masjid. 

What to See : The fort is big, you need at least 90 minutes to explore the forts. Some residuals are found on the fort. Kalubai temple, Mahadev temple, Masjid, Darga, Dhanya kothar (grain storage) etc. are found.

You can see Chandangad, Vairatgad, Satar-Punehighway, Mahabaleshwar ridge, Kaas plateua ridge etc. from the top.

Trekkers - Sandip Jadhav,Sandeep Chaudhari, Pratham Patil(Jr.), Pradeep Patil, Kumar Khunte and Me ( behind camera)

Me

Chandangad fort Trek Aug_2019

Chandangad Fort trek

Chandan-Vandhan forts are popularly referred together like Tung-Tikona, Lohgad-Visapur etc. Actually these are two separate forts situated on the same ridge hence connected. Both forts trek is possible in one day for experienced trekkers with great stamina.

Chandangad trek is a small trek of little more than one hour. You can return to the parking in 4/5 hours. It is easy for all the ages. Since it is not so popular please visit on Sundays. Popular time to visit is monsoon. Because there are religious places on the fort please respect the faith of the people and behave accordingly. 

How to Reach from Pune: The route on Google map but the map also confused between Chandangad and Vandangad. So better you search for Banavadi village near Chandangad. 

It is about 100 km. from away from Pune. 25 km. from Satara city in Maharashtra. 

Route-1(95km) - These is recommended route. Pune-Bangalore highway-Shirwal-Bhuinj-take left turn-leave the NH48-Proceed to Karkhana road-Bhivadi-Kalagwadi-Belwandi- go further - Kholvadi- you can see wind mills on the hills- stop near Lord Ganesh Temple which is situated in the small pass (Khind)- or go to Banvadi-Praking

Route-2(120 km) -Pune-Saswad-Jejuri-Walhe-Nira-Lonand-Wathar-Banavadi (base Village)-Parking 

Google Map

Parking :

Parking place is free. You can park it at the base villages or near Lord Ganesh Mandir.

                      

Food and Stay :
There is no food facility available on the fort. There are many small villages nearby where homemade food and restaurants are available.

Two routes to trek. we started from Lord Ganesh temple

About Trek:
There is huge confusion about the identification of the forts even in local people. The confusion is which fort is Chandan and which Vandan. So your thoughts clear on which fort you want to trek and ask accordingly to local villagers then park vehicles accordingly.

The trek is simpler compare to Chandan fort trek.  It any take 40/50 mins to reach on the top. There is proper steps made by forest dept. Even some landscaping and beautification has been done too for initial phase. We parked vehicle near Lord Ganesh temple and started trek.

When ascending you can continuously see Vandangad on left side of the trail. After 15-20 minutes, you will reach to a small temple on the route, take right turn, follow the trail. 

Once taking right turn from this temple plain trail is there, taking you the opposite side of the fort.

Then you will meet a trail coming from the Banavadi village. 

This leads to other trek route coming from the Banavadi village. Then take left with steps and ascend. From here broken steps are found, follow it. 

Wind mills opposite hill on the fort

After a trek on 40/50 minutes you will reach a fallen entry of the fort (Darwaja) 

Then in 5 minutes you will reach the Chandaneshwar Mahadev mandir. Someone form local people say, guess the name of the fort nominated on the name of the Lord 'Chandaneshwar'. There is mighty banyan tree situated near the temple. 

Lord Chandaneshwar Mahadev Temple

Huge Banyan tree

Behind the temple the stone structure is built. Its huge but looks unstable which appears to main entrance of the fort. From here vast plateau like area starts. The shape is triangular. You can say you reached on the fort. It takes almost 70/80 minutes to reach. To explore the fort, one hour is enough.

Walking straight there is the 'Darga' (Muslim religious place) situated. 

Take right side trail which will take you to one bastion. Before that some small water bodies and structures. There are many wide mills on the front hills. 

Just go along with the edges of the fort. On the other side you can see Satara highway side. Walking straight will take you from where Vandangad is visible. It is connected with a small pass. both forts are situated on the same ridge, so they are cohesive.  Vairtagad fort also visible on the other side of the highway.

Vairatgad fort from Chandangad 

way to Vandangad view side

vast plateau of the fort

Vandangad view 

From this point go the the left side and you will reach to the Dargaa again. Whole round will take almost an hour. There are no Food and water available on the fort. 

Chandangad view from Banavadi Village

We the members of Trekking Paltan group carried out cleanliness campaign even in rain. We collect  plastic waste thrown by visitors on the fort. 

 We celebrated out friendship day 2019 on Chandangad fort by doing cleanliness. 

We the Trekking Paltan Pune group members from left Sainath Jagdale, Shrirang Gorse, Sandeep Chaudhary, Ankush Dupatne and Myself Dr. Suresh Isave participated.