‘The Voice of the Sea speaks to the Soul’
Kate Chopin
Konkan Drive
Konkan exploration was in my mind for long. Diwali vacations post corona lockdown provided much needed opportunity.
I zeroed in on Dapoli, Shravali village in Chiplun and Koyna.
Dapoli Beach and Surroundings
Drive to Dapoli from Mumbai has two routes one goes from pune highway till midway and other is goa highway. We chose pune highway route. Drive to dapoli takes about 5-6 hours with moderate roads in between. Total drive is about 240 Kms from powai and last 50 kms you need to drive through small roads passing through coconut trees and very less traffic.
Fern is the best property in terms of location and beauty in Dapoli, it is just 5 kms from beach and in on a small hillock. Surrounded by shrubs and trees it provides much needed mental peace. We paid 9000/- plus taxes for a 2-room villa which included breakfast.
Anjarle Beach, Dapoli
You can do cycling inside property and can go to mango orchid on back of property or can take a bull cart which is provided by hotel. You can see few turkey birds kept in mango farm. It’s a good walk/cycling for early morning. Incidentally, we spotted a snake too.
Dapoli is famous for dolphin spotting. We visited Ladghar beach and hired a boat which charged 300/seat, boat hiring is little ahead of shops and you can hire your own boat for Rs. 3000 too. we spotted a pod of dolphin, many seagulls and a cluster of jelly fish. One can do various water sports too at this beach which I found pretty safe., not very scenic but ladghar is the main beach of Dapoli. Drive from Fern to Ladghar is also very scenic, its about 5 kms from resort.
I wanted a secluded beach for next day. Anjarle beach fits in this category, about 25 kms from Dapoli, drive is serene and passes through old konkan villages . Beach is after one old bridge from where you can see lots of small ships anchored, a further drive of 4-5 kms and a small left turn takes you to the beach. Anjarle is rarely visited and so secluded that we were the only family on entire stretch for almost 2 hours, it is long beach without any risk. Rocks on northern side of beach provide a good photo opportunity other than spotting crabs and small fish in water holes. Carry own water and snacks as there is nothing around beach.
Drive from Anjarle to Fern is very isolated and one should start before sunset, you will see just few souls and couple of small loading trucks, no dhaba, no shops. Also download google map as in between there are no signals. Infact, Airtel doesn’t have any signals in entire stretch including in fern.
Take help of locals for directions, as I found google not very useful beyond bridge. You can take your car inside beach but be sure of firmness of sand, I parked my vehicle just at the beginning of beach.
Nandu’s Sanctuary- Shirvali, Chiplun
You might not have heard about this place. It’s a place in village shirvali in Chiplun about 80 kms and 2 hours drive from Dapoli.
Place is run by an environmental enthusiast Nandu Tambe, a young guy in mid 30s. If you want to witness raw nature and encounter few reptiles and lots of beautiful birds, then this is your hide out for 2 days.
It’s homestay run by Tambe family in their big land parcel with 5-6 buffalos and a cosy place for guests to stay. We rented 2 room villa (There is only 1 villa). Nandu and his brother Shrikant arrange lots of activities. We did night trail on foot, fishing, jungle trek, a night safari in car. You can see kingfisher, Eurasian black bird, white cheeked barbet, Treepie, eagle, owl, night jar and other birds.
We went for Leopard sighting too but couldn’t find one, she was supposed to have delivered babies about 5 months back.
In reptiles, we saw 6 snakes in jungle- wolf snake, crate, bronze back tree snake, checked kill back. There are exotic frogs and spiders too including giant wood spider and jumping spider. Spotting a huge scorpion and centipede was quite exciting. There are few colorful varities of frogs too, few bull frogs ( size of about 10 inches ) were also there in trek. Nandu himself takes care of place and activities his knowledge of trees and reptiles is amazing; he is a good photographer too.
Highlight of this stay was visit to Crocodile river. About 10 kms away from this place River vashist is infested with crocodiles. It’s a 2.5 hours boat ride and witnessing crocodiles in their natural habitat is mesmerizing. We encountered 15 crocodiles as close as 4-5 feet away, few were as long as 18 feet and we witnessed few corc kids basking in sun too. There are supposed to thousands of crocs in this river, you might witness lots of bird life (Eagle catching fish from river is just one of those).
River Vashisht will also provide best of mangrove view you will witness in Western India, is dense with floating islands and breating roots coming up by 3-4 feet. This rivers merges with sea on one side and village is decorated with beautiful old styled villas on other side.
If you want to have a offbeat destination for 2-3 days you should definitely consider Nandu’s sanctuary. We paid 3500/per adult per day including all meals and BF and activities. You get tasty home made Konkani and malvan veg food. There is no phone, no Wi-Fi and no connectivity. Road is average and your own SUV is preferred though few cars were there in village.
Baby Crocodile, Vashisht River, Chiplun
Carry sport shoes and full trek pants with full sleeves T shirts for Trek ( No Bright and No white) and Mosquito repellent.
Koyna, Maharashtra
Koyna Dam was built in Mid 70s but is getting famous for bird watching recently. Forest Escapaes is a beautiful property on a small hill. It is situated on SH and just opposite to river and a drive of about 600 mts in kuccha road. It is about 75 Kms from Shirvali village and about 2 hours drive
We spent 4 days in this resort. Property has only 3 villas and we hired pool cottage and pool villa for 2 days each. Both villas have private pool. A tariff of about 14000/- including taxes I found reasonable for the property.
Property is spread in about 6 acres with lots of walk around. Night jungle safari was exciting for kids as we saw a Bison pack. On the top on night safari you will witness best of star gazing, you can actually see Mars and Jupiter with naked eye on a dark night or a waning moon night.
Next day we did a small trek of about 3 hours which started from property, we passed through tall grass and few good valley views, we ended trek at a small cave with a temple inside. A good trickling waterfall made this place very beautiful. It is advisable to go with a guide as few sightings of leopard has been reported in that area. You witness great sunset from this place and good photo opportunity to have few shots.
Clouds at Koyna
Koyna and surroundings are heaven for bird lovers, we were fortunate to witness grandeur of great hornbill too. Another excitement is tracking the Giant Squirrel- state animal on Maharashtra. We found 4- these are in chocolate and cream color and look very beautiful.
Drive to koyna dam is also very beautiful and takes about 30 minutes which passes through dam on one side and forest on other side. Couple of hours at the last of drive is very relaxing as it’s a very quiet place.
The GIANT Squirrel
A BBQ on riverside and BBQ inside your villa can be arranged by property. A guide for all these places is must as generally treks will have tall grass and few hide outs. Again full trek pants and full sleeves T shirt is recommended, carry a torch and good mosquito repellent too.
Map from Powai to Powai
Destination A as Dapoli- 240 Kms/6 Hours
Destination B as Nandu’s sanctuary- 90 Kms/2.5 Hours
Destination C as Koyna-80 Kms/2 Hours
Destination D is Pune and then Mumbai- 360 Kms/7 Hours
Total Drive about- 1000 Kms with Average roads
Map Directions
In the entire trip we saw scorpions, snakes, birds and bull frog and fungoid frog. And following birds- Night Jar, white breasted Kingfisher, Eurasian Black pie, Rafaust treepie, white cheeked barbet, female paradise flycatcher, bee eater, robin, serpent eagle, purple sunbird, red whiskered bulbul, small mini vet, orange mini vet, small hawk cuckoo and great hornbill.
Total drive was about 1000 Kms with moderate roads, beautiful colorful konkan villages, lakes and forest and no signals in most of drive.
