Ratangad
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| Amruteshwar temple | |
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| Elevation | 4300 Feet above MSL (Approx) / Height -1297 m |
| Location | Ratan Wadi, Maharashtra, India |
| Range | Western Ghats |
| Type | Hill Fort |
Ratangad (Marathi: रतनगढ़ ) is a fort overlooking the picturesque locale of Bhandardara, one of the oldest artificial catchment area. The fort is about 400 years old.
Ratangad at the top, has a natural rock peak with a cavity in it which is called 'Nedhe' or 'Eye of the Needle'; formed by natural erosion, it is big enough to accommodate a group of 10 people & the view of the entire region from here is absolutely amazing.
Ratan gad was captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosle and was one of his favorites. The base village Ratanwadi has a beautiful Amruteshwar temple which is famous for its carvings. The fort is origin for the river Pravara / Amrutvahini . The Bhandardara dam is built on this river.
Main attraction at Ratanwadi, one can take in the beauty of the Amruteshwar temple dating back to the Hemadipant Era Roughly from the 8th Century.
How to reach Ratangad Fort:
Nearest railway station is Igatpuri. From Igatpuri, we have to go to Shendi village. There is a bus around 5-5:30AM from Igatpuri to Shendi. I'm not sure about other timings. Shendi and Bhandardara are two villages separated by Bhandardara Lake. From Shendi to Bhandardar village, we can go by boat. It takes around 30minutes. From Bhandardara, we have to go by walk for around 45min.-1hour to reach base village, Ratanwadi. Amruteshwar temple at this village is good.
From here, we have to start trek to Ratangad Fort. It takes around 4hrs. in worst case to reach the top of fort. We have two caves on top of hill/fort. Small cave doesn't have any grill to close the opening of cave and it can accommodate around 5 people. Big cave have grill to close the cave in nights and it can accommodate 25 people. Night stay can be done. No fear of animals, except monkeys. Rain water(collected in the tank on hill) is good enough to have mouth-wash and refreshments in the morning.
Suggestion:
Trek to the fort is fine. But there is a high possibility that we miss/couldn't find the way to the top. Steps(in the final stage of trek) to reach top of hill are dangerous. Very careful at this point.
Guides will be available at Shendi village. They can arrange boat to Bhandardara village and they can guide us to the fort. They are very helpful, if you plan to stay in the caves at the top of hill.
Our experience:
From Hyderabad, we reached Igatpuri station by train at 4:30AM. We have mouth-wash and tea in Igatpuri bus-station. We caught the bus to Shendi at 5:30AM. We reached Shendi by 6:45AM. After getting details from a tea shop in Shendi, we arranged a guide there. He arranged the boat to Bhandardara village and came with us to the fort. We had break-fast and bath, and started around 11AM from Shendi in boat. We reached Bhandardara by 12Noon. We reach Ratanwadi village by walk at 1PM. We reached top of fort by 4:30PM (including several rest breaks).
We arranged all things in cave for sleep before sunset. We have chit-chat outside cave in the night. It's a really thrilling experience, with no power, mobile and people around us. We woke up early morning and had camp-fire at 6AM. We started back to Shendi around 8AM from fort.
Details of Ratangad are shown in the gallery - click image to see enlargement
Details of Ratan gad are shown in the gallery - click image to see enlargement.
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