Mruggad Fort Trek

 

The Shape of the fort is like a peacock hence it would be name as Mrug (Peacock) gad (fort)

We the Trekking Paltan group visited the fort on July 3rd 2022

The fort is about 120 km from Pune. Bheliv is the name of the base village of the fort. The fort is seen from the Lion/Tiger Point Lonavla which is on the Amby valley road. 

Khandala -Khopoli - Imagica - Umbare -Durshet - Padghawali - left turn for Jabhulpada road - along the the river Amba - Mangaon bk - Bheliv 

Amba river

Parking at Bheliv village

Trekking start from this temple.

The total time required to get to the top of the forts is 40 to 50 mins.

The forts is small. There is a water tank, a goddess statue and a cave there on the top.

Try to move forward towards the end of the fort. 

after initial walk of 10 min, jungle patch starts 

Once you reach on open sky you will see a narrow pass

on the top of the pass, the main fort is on the left side and a cave is on the right side

The Steps in the rock takes you to the top

The spectacular view of Lonavla and lion point

Goddess statue

Water tank

Rahul Jadhao, Sainath Jagdale, Shreerang Gorse, Pradeep Patil, Parshuram Bhangre, Anjali & Amol Gore, Sharad Potkule, Kumar Khunte

Seating- Dnyaneshwar Aarne and Akshay Kahde

Return journey

Rajmachi Fort

Rajmachi fort is about 20 km from Khandala- Lonvla.
Acually Rajmachi fort is the pair of two forts i.e. Shrivardhan and Manoranjan !

How to Reach- There are two ways to reach the Rajmachi forts
1. Lonaval- from bus stand to Tungarli Udhewadi is base village 
2. Khnadala - Kunegaon- Delas adventure- Tungarli dam- Rajmachi
3. Karjat-Kondhiwane-Rajmachi

(https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Udhewadi,+Maharashtra/Khandala,+Lonavala,+Maharashtra/@18.8203748,73.3899898,15z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x3be7fe3e8367cdab:0x86720ebe61392bc!2m2!1d73.3942625!2d18.8260071!1m5!1m1!1s0x3be8012af5c2dcbd:0x4e9a732d604a9bd9!2m2!1d73.372!2d18.758)

I have went by Lonavla city. Trail from both side is beautiful.
The road is rough and dusty. Very difficult for car. even no easy on bike. lots of stones and layers of wet or dry soil. Very difficult to manage to control on vehicle. Road will test your driving skills.
better to walk on trail.
Prefer to go via Khandala instead of Lonavala even on bike.

Udhewadi is the base village where water n snack food available on order. 
It is very good Camp site !
Stay facility is available !

Both forts can be done in one day visit ! 
Both requires 30/40 mins each for beginners!

To reach the base is difficult but actual trekking is very easy. It can be done with Family !

From Top you can see Khadala Ghat, Waterfalls, Shirota dam backwater and Karajat area !