Date: 13th November, 2011.
It was one of those cold (although not chilly) winter mornings of Pune. We started off at about 8:30 in the morning and after having breakfast at a food joint on M.G. Road, Pune, we set off along Nagar road towards our destination of Nighoj. We had read about it on Google and with GPS enabled on our mobile, we did not have much difficulty in getting to Nighoj. The route is something like this:
Start from Yerwada - State highway (SH) 27 – nagar road. You will find Kaaregaon, Shikrapur, Ranjangaon on your way. Then you must bypass Shirur and shortly after that, turn left onto SH51. On this road, you will find the villages Manjur and Jawalaa and finally you reach Nighoj village. The road to Nighoj is not that bad and also not many vehicles on this road. So it felt good riding our bike on the road. We reached Nighoj at around 12. When we got there, we were initially confused because the local villagers refer to the place as ‘Nighoj Malganga Kund’ and we were not sure what we would find there after hearing the word ‘Kund’. However, once we got there and after initially getting surprised to see the sight of a suspension bridge there, we prepared ourselves to watch something astounding.
As we parked our bike and reached the bridge, we were overwhelmed by the sight that greeted us!!! We saw that the river had literally cut through the rocks and created a gorge’ous’ path for itself by creating and further cutting the pot holes. That confirmed the fact that this is Asia’s largest pot holes site. We crossed the bridge and started to examine the site as if we were some historians but the sight was just so breath taking that in spite of the Sun overhead, we had spend an hour there but never realized how the time went by! We had finished one complete circle around the site and then decided to visit the temple nearby.
After taking rest for a few minutes in the ‘samaaj hall’, we started our road journey to Taakli Dhokeshwar, which we learnt was about 20 kms from Nighoj. The route was something like this from Nighoj – Head straight back on the road you came and at major cross roads you come across, where the right turn takes you to Parner, left continues on SH51, you need to head straight to Paadali Darya – Kaanhur ghat and plateau – SH50 – NH222 – take left at NH crossing and after just about 2 kms, you need to take the internal road to the Taakli.
The Kaanhur ghat that we drove on is something that will take you by surprise. We had not anticipated that kind of ghat section and it was a good bike-riding test for me as I tried to take the vehicle up the ghats upto Taakli. The road after the NH crossing is also pretty good and you can get to the Taakli pretty easily since there are not much crossings and so without much help, you can get to Taakli Dhokeshwar. After parking the bike, you need to climb about 20-25 steps and you can see the 5th century caves and carvings for which you get there. The main cave temple, located another about 10 steps higher, has good strong 2 pillars at the entrance with carvings of Gods guarding the entrance like is usually the scene even today. There is a Shiva Linga inside the cave temple in the ‘Gabhara’ and the ‘Sabha Mandapa’ is aptly supported by some more large pillars with great carvings in stone. You can find numerous statues there of Gods and Godesses. Outside the main cave temple, there is a small well where you can also spot an ancient method of water collection. Also there is another cave located a little higher with stone-carved steps.
By the time, we were about to leave, it was almost sunset. We were able to catch great glimpses of the Sunset from the height of the Taakli as well as on our way back. You can come back via the ‘Ralegan Siddhi’ village that is famous, courtesy Anna Hazare. We then ended the day with great views of the Moon rise and finally had a great dinner at one of the Dhabas on the highway.
We had travelled around 270kms on bike that day and it was a fun, excitement and adventure filled trip. Indeed these are great places to visit for a 1-day return trip near Pune and if you wish to get away from the hustle of the city crowds, then definitely this should figure high on your list of places to watch!!!
It was one of those cold (although not chilly) winter mornings of Pune. We started off at about 8:30 in the morning and after having breakfast at a food joint on M.G. Road, Pune, we set off along Nagar road towards our destination of Nighoj. We had read about it on Google and with GPS enabled on our mobile, we did not have much difficulty in getting to Nighoj. The route is something like this:
Start from Yerwada - State highway (SH) 27 – nagar road. You will find Kaaregaon, Shikrapur, Ranjangaon on your way. Then you must bypass Shirur and shortly after that, turn left onto SH51. On this road, you will find the villages Manjur and Jawalaa and finally you reach Nighoj village. The road to Nighoj is not that bad and also not many vehicles on this road. So it felt good riding our bike on the road. We reached Nighoj at around 12. When we got there, we were initially confused because the local villagers refer to the place as ‘Nighoj Malganga Kund’ and we were not sure what we would find there after hearing the word ‘Kund’. However, once we got there and after initially getting surprised to see the sight of a suspension bridge there, we prepared ourselves to watch something astounding.
As we parked our bike and reached the bridge, we were overwhelmed by the sight that greeted us!!! We saw that the river had literally cut through the rocks and created a gorge’ous’ path for itself by creating and further cutting the pot holes. That confirmed the fact that this is Asia’s largest pot holes site. We crossed the bridge and started to examine the site as if we were some historians but the sight was just so breath taking that in spite of the Sun overhead, we had spend an hour there but never realized how the time went by! We had finished one complete circle around the site and then decided to visit the temple nearby.
After taking rest for a few minutes in the ‘samaaj hall’, we started our road journey to Taakli Dhokeshwar, which we learnt was about 20 kms from Nighoj. The route was something like this from Nighoj – Head straight back on the road you came and at major cross roads you come across, where the right turn takes you to Parner, left continues on SH51, you need to head straight to Paadali Darya – Kaanhur ghat and plateau – SH50 – NH222 – take left at NH crossing and after just about 2 kms, you need to take the internal road to the Taakli.
The Kaanhur ghat that we drove on is something that will take you by surprise. We had not anticipated that kind of ghat section and it was a good bike-riding test for me as I tried to take the vehicle up the ghats upto Taakli. The road after the NH crossing is also pretty good and you can get to the Taakli pretty easily since there are not much crossings and so without much help, you can get to Taakli Dhokeshwar. After parking the bike, you need to climb about 20-25 steps and you can see the 5th century caves and carvings for which you get there. The main cave temple, located another about 10 steps higher, has good strong 2 pillars at the entrance with carvings of Gods guarding the entrance like is usually the scene even today. There is a Shiva Linga inside the cave temple in the ‘Gabhara’ and the ‘Sabha Mandapa’ is aptly supported by some more large pillars with great carvings in stone. You can find numerous statues there of Gods and Godesses. Outside the main cave temple, there is a small well where you can also spot an ancient method of water collection. Also there is another cave located a little higher with stone-carved steps.
By the time, we were about to leave, it was almost sunset. We were able to catch great glimpses of the Sunset from the height of the Taakli as well as on our way back. You can come back via the ‘Ralegan Siddhi’ village that is famous, courtesy Anna Hazare. We then ended the day with great views of the Moon rise and finally had a great dinner at one of the Dhabas on the highway.
We had travelled around 270kms on bike that day and it was a fun, excitement and adventure filled trip. Indeed these are great places to visit for a 1-day return trip near Pune and if you wish to get away from the hustle of the city crowds, then definitely this should figure high on your list of places to watch!!!
