Harishchandra Gad - Want to click Photos? stay here Overnight

Not sure why this place is called "Harishchandra Gad" though ideally this is not a fort considering its location and no records/information around suggest that this place has seen any wars earlier. It does not give any indication of being a watch fort as well. However, I not being an historian will not go much into the details and will keep my curiosity in check.

This place was on our list for quite a few years now. We had seen photos on many travelougues, heard from many who had been there, however, somehow could not make it our destination. This time on the 15th August long weekend we were determined to go on an overmight adventure. We decided to visit "Bhandardara" as well another place quite close from Harishchandra gad.

Our plan:
1. Leave early on Saturday morning. Sight seeing at Bhandardara and stay at a place called Rajur.
2. Leave early on sunday morning for Harishchandra gad and by evening reach Pune.

As simple as the plan looks, it was not to be. We had to face quite a few complications later due to improper information and research from our side.

We reached Bhandardara at around 12:30. Had a pathetic lunch at the MTDC restaurant. In case anyone of you visits Bhandardara, dont even think of this restaurant. Instead a streetside "zhunka bhakar" is better. We had a nice day of sightseeing at Bhandardara though it was raining heavily, we had our times when the skies got cleared intermittently. Bhandardara has a dam and a lake. The lake has a circumference of around 20 kms. It is a pleasure to ride along this route and is just a relish to the eyes and refreshing to the body. Exactly at 10 kms on this route, you find an ancient temple of "Amruteshwar" worth visiting. Some snaps on the route around the lake:

In the evening at around 8:00 PM we headed towards Rajur which was around 25 Kms from Bhandardara. We enquired at Bhandardara and all of them told us that we would easily get a place at Rajur. However the story took a Uturn when we reached there. We could not find a single good place where we could stay. The only government guest house was full as a MLA was to visit there and needed 50 rooms. Not sure what he was supposed to do with the 50 rooms. None of my business and obviously not a topic of my investigation. We had to go around Rajur for a while when luckily we found a hotel where the owner took 150/- for a Hall. We jumped in at the place and also agreed for the amount.

The next day we left early in the morning so that we could reach Harishchandragad as early as possible. From rajur we had to go to a village called "Panchnai" which was the base village for the trek. The route to this village in itself was a pleasure that got us excited. Here are some pictures from the route:

Finally, after a breathtaking ride from Rajur to Panchnai we were at the base village. It took hardly 2 hours climb to reach the top. We had a zhunka bhakar at the top. This was a nice and lovely experience, having nice and hot zhunka bhakar with a waterfall running just besides. Some snapshots:

 Finally our way back to Pune:

To summarise:
Good trek, a bit tough one, not to be trekked during rains if you are an avid photographer. Perfect trek after september until Feb.