On 30th July 2016 for the first time with Sahyadri Outdoor adventure group went for one of the deepest & awesome waterfall rappelling in western ghats that is Kataldhar near lonavla also known as Horse Shoe Waterfall. We left Pune at 7:00 AM & reached the destination Fanasrai village at 10:30 AM after travelling 72 KM distance. It was full rainy day there, while covering last 12 KM from lonavla to Fanasrai need to go via rajmachi trek route. It was disgusting road all of mud, rocks & full of rain water though drivable. In monsoon lots of groups use to do rajmachi trek & suddenly I mate with one of my best buddies on the way from Man Vs Miles i.e. Snehal Dongre & Rohini Kakkad. When we reached at camping place one of the villagers family in stall prepared the breakfast for us which is “Garma Garam Wada Pav & Tea”. There we filled our empty stomach with as many as Wada Pavs.
Then after we all headed towards the rappelling point, to get on the exact foot way need to get back little bit on the road & enter in the forest by taking right turn. Heading on that foot way first need to cross on small water flow but quite slippery these days, beautiful over bridge placed to cross this water flow. Little bit ahead there is awesome place for camping & all; adjacent to that another food stall is there. From there on right side we entered in the forest again & while descending that small hill, which is very much slippery these days so need to be very careful.
After 15 to 20 min descending we reached the point from where we will rappel down. Valley view from there is simply awesome; we all were in full of clouds. Waterfall coming from the top of the hill has direct steep way there to get down; going ahead it will mix up with Ulhas River. We did the rappelling on that steep way of waterfall. Experience of doing such big rappelling was terrifyingly hilarious. From there first participant rappelled down at 12:00 noon & after that one by one everyone was going down, average time to get down & pull rope back is 20 minutes. So we got time to rove around there & have amazing snaps in waterfall, but be very very careful while walking in waterfall because one step failure will cost your life.
We all enjoyed a lot in that waterfall & had group pics there. Till my turn comes to rappel down it was 4:00 PM in afternoon, so I got hungry again. Organizers had taken “Theple, Chatni & Tomato Sauce”. Finally my turn came & after checking my harness is tight enough I started rappelling down the waterfall, at the start it was as usual rappelling, on the midway I took 30 sec rest as it was quite energetic to pull the rope & lift up. There I turned a little bit & locked the wonderful valley view in hanging state. From there I used the hopping steps to get down which I saw in Man Vs Wild. Then at the end I took another 30 sec rest & step down in normal way & reached at the base. I took almost 7 minutes to get down, after releasing the rope heading little bit down by walk we reached the semicircular shape of hill formed due to waterfall. There exactly below the waterfall we had few minutes, while going there please wear the helmets, because you are not aware what may come in waterfall on your head, sometime it may be a small rock or tree branch. After having lots of fun there we headed in left direction of that waterfall & took rest in cave.
From there to get back to the camp need to do the one and half hour jungle trek, which we started at 6:30 PM. At the start going in left direction we reached the place to get down from that hill, from there take left turn through forest. In that forest I saw too many crabs o every single step there was at least 4 to 5 crabs were there so be careful for you as well as for their life. When those crabs were running on ground it was looking cutest, one thing I noticed if they were not able to find the place to hide their self they used to spread their claws in angry look. I don’t know the types of crabs but at least I know the color I found three color crabs there white, brown & orange. Also keep your eye on the way for proper orientation like red ribbons are tided on correct route, small small rock towers are created for right directions, paint markings are drawn on the rocks, on trees for proper directions. If you missed some where search for it.
Finally we reached the rajmachi trek road at 7:30 PM & in next few minutes reached the camp place, where delicious dinner was waiting for all of us. There we had “Garma Garam Bhakri, Aalu, Matki, Papad, Rice, Dal, Achar, Onion”. At 9:00 PM we started back travel to Pune with lots of fun antakshari & all. Finally our trek comes to an end at 10:30 PM. Thank you thank you thank you so much Sahyadri Outdoors for such thrilling event.
Note:
- Photo Credit to Rahul Chandure.
- At rappelling point check harness, helmet & hand gloves properly.
- Be careful while walking in waterfall & in forest.
- Go in full sleeve cloths, also have extra pair of cloths.
Escape Explore Discover 