Trekking in Western ghats is always bliss. One of the oldest mountain ranges in the world is spread across 160k sq km.

My first monsoon trek in Sahyadris was Rajgad fort. As this was my first trek, I was super excited. Had no clues where we are going and what to expect.

But one thing was certain is it’s going to be extremely scenic during monsoon. Although have done many treks around Maharashtra after this one, first trek is always special.

Rajgad served as the capital of Maratha Empire under the rule of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Monsoon trek gives a heavenly feel as whole of the mountain ranges are covered with green carpet and waterfall spring up due to rain. 

We started the trek from base village Gunjavane. Cool wind, misty weather and a slight drizzle in the air what more one could hope for, during a monsoon trek. The fort can be divided into four. There are the three sub-plateaux (Machee) namely Padmavati Machee, Suvela Machee and Sanjeevani Machee, and the central volcanic plug called Balekilla.

This was not a difficult hike but took some time to reach the summit as being first timer. We stopped mid way to click some pictures of this beautiful place. There were a lot of streams and small waterfalls on the trail route.

We even saw a column of rain at one point, slowly it widened and could feel the drizzle. Entrance of the fort was heavenly.

Slowly we started exploring the fort and reached all the machees one by one. On the way to Nedhe (hole formed naturally) there is a small Ganapati idol carved in the wall. Way upto to the Nedhe hole was rocky and wind speed was very hard. But it was another wonderful place to sit and observe the beauty of this mountain.

There were so many butterflies around. At one point we were surrounded by plenty of them on the way to Suvela machee.

We drank water from the open tank on top. Was little hesitant to drink because it’s open and the tank had stored only the rain water…. But after seeing many drink, I also drank it….. was so tasty and fresh.

This trek was definitely one of the best experience….  It opened me up for more treks to come and wildlife outings. This definitely has to be a trigger to get me close to nature.