Matheran – bliss amid the Sahyadris

The smallest hill station in India J but definitely significant in stature and reputation, Matheran meaning “Forest on the Forehead “is the only automobile free hill station that I know of; absolutely no honking tourist cabs or vehicles competing with nature that one sees in other hill stations .Developed by the British as usual, in order to beat the heat it is a visual delight to witness the beauty of the Western Ghats.

 As written above, there is lots to see in Matheran but for me I wanted to visit this place in peak monsoon in order to capture the beauty of the Sahyadris from a photographer’s insight. So on one rainy Sunday I left Mumbai and drove towards Matheran on the monsoon filled tarmac roads covering a distance of around 150 Kms

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 The final approaches to Matheran was totally crowded with hundreds of revelers out to enjoy the beauty of this place. I parked the vehicle and came upon this gentleman who agreed to be my guide for the day. The instructions that I gave him were very precise… I wanted to cover more than 60 % of the walk able trails and paths.

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 So we set out and covered the following scenic points :

• Panorama Point
• Louisa Point
• One tree hill point
• Monkey point
• Porcupine point
• Alexander point
• Echo point
• Chowk point
• Garbut point
• Shivaji Ladder
• Governor hill
• Malet spring

 It is said that there are 38 designated points out there. There are a lot of parsi bungalows amidst the green foliage. Some are run down while some are still standing strong with ancient wrought iron gates covered with moss.One needs long strides and a strong will to cover all of them within a designated time period .

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 The entire area of the Matheran is like a flat piece of hill that has various view points on its periphery as mentioned above. I wanted to capture the various views from these points and that was the primary objective of this one day trek. It was a hike of around 12-14 km in all and I finished it by seven in the evening.  The pics depict the views as seen below

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The day was well spent indeed though i had got  drenched to the core. Matheran in a must visit for those living in Mumbai , Pune and the surrounding circle .It is a amazing diversity spread over a small area and offers a delightful experience to all those who visit the place in the monsoons .

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