kohoj fort

Kohoj Fort:(2 april,2007)
2000 feet high fort is located near manor on manor vada road.going from mumbai-ahmedabad highway,nearly 65kms from borivli,u have to take a right turn from Manor,then again a right after travelling some distance,proceed for couple of kms and as u come close to kohoj,enquire about the starting point of the trek.
there is a walk through thick vegetation for 15 min and then take a right to a ridge(this is a vital turning point of the trek,not to be forgotten while returning).there is a gradual climb for 30min on the ridge which is very tiring and as there is no wind in this patch,it is also dehydrating.
                                                                                       I and nishant had left mumbai at 12pm in the morning and started the trek nearly at 2.30 afternoon in the burning sun.Guide just followed for first 15 min and explaining us the path,he left us on the start of the ridge which i had explained in the previous paragraph.

after climbing the ridge,we took a left turn towards the direction of fort,fort looked nearer but still it was a wrong belief,after couple of hours in the sun we managed to reach the upper plateau,the top was visible to us,in the path we had taken a traverse on the back side,which god only knows was correct or not,and climbed on the plateau in a unconventional way(no path) which was easy though through bushes of cactus and slippery rocks.

                                                      


.On the upper plateau just below the highest point we took pics of surrounding from the back side and from here the human sort of a statue made up of rock is seen at the top.now we traveresed on the front side and after a climb of 5 min,reached a cave containing potable water and from there we entered through the gate at the top.views were really fascinating as it was now evening time,one can see tungareshwar,kaldurg,asherigad,gambhirgad and many other peaks surrounding the fort.there is small temple at the top,not for accomodation and the human statue at the top.View of the deheraja and pinjal waters are mesmerising.

                                                                                     Now we decided as it was high time,we should start our return journey.Quenching our thirst we started our return journey.after 5 min or so,nishant realised that his n73music edition mobile was missing which he had purchased a few days ago.i told him as the mobile was present when we were drinking water in the cave,it must have fallen some where in the path,he went back to check out.again after 5 min he returned with unhappiness on his face,i realised the fact and we both went back towards the cave containing water.i imagined that as nishant had filled the bottles,he might have slipped the cell under water,so i clicked photos with flash with my sony erricson mobile but to no avail,mobile was not there in the water as the bottom of the tank was clearly seen in the pic.
                                                                                         Now we both were in a fix as sun was nearing the horizon and we were still long way to go down and i was inexperienced then.nishant was almost on the verge of crying which was obvious as the 22,000rs worth of mobile is not supposed to get lost so easily.hence for the meantime i for got the sunset and realised that we got to search in the path.I and nishant went different ways,suddenly i came across a small patch of rock from where we had jumped,i realised that this might be the place from where the cell might have popped out,but as it was a big piece it should have had made sound after crashing on the rock as ther was no such sound we heard,but there was a growth of grass near it,i thought if the cell might have fallen on the grass ,it wont make noise.to my remotest of imaginations i put my hand in the grass and to my surprise my imagination was right and i found the cell.i shouted with top of my voice like rejoicing victory to nishant.immediately the sad face of nishant turned into a lilly in bloom.

                                                                                           But our happiness was short lived as the sun was on the verge of setting,i told nishant to run  as fast as possible as we were also without network and guide.in the fainting light,it was easy for nishant to jump as he is athletic,but i fell down couple of times to maintain pace with him.In between we also lost path but some how managed to find the last ridge after cutting through bushes and finally down the ridge.Nishant requested for water but forbid him from drinking,and told him to not to stop unless we find the village.sun had already set.Luckily MOON guided us through the dense undergrowth,we finally saw the light of the village and just with a sigh of relief just took steps towards the light walking on the offbeat path worrying as it is the snakes time now and finally reached the village.
                                                                                      It was one of my adventurous trips.
                                                                                             ~ Jignesh lakhani