TheFreeBird
A few years ago if someone asked me Niraj what is the most confusing trail to any fort I would have easily answered Manikgad trek from Vadgaon. I had done it some 8 years back and taken some 5 hours to reach the Manikgad top after getting lost for many hours trying to identify the trail. Cut to 2022 the Manikgad trail has got more doable thanks to a road till Vashivali Thakurwadi. In this Manikgad trek blog you will see all the Manikgad routes & my view on how you should attempt the trek. More adventures like this one at the end of the post.
How to Reach Manikgad fort from Mumbai & Pune ?
Panvel & Karjat Railway station are the nearest railway station for Manikgad from Mumbai & pune side respectively. Vashivali & Vadgaon are the two base villages for Manikgad trek. They can be reached as follows
Manikgad from Pune
Karjat is the nearest railway station form Pune. And from there you can get buses/ EECO cab for Vadgaon & Vashivali. Renting an entire Cab/ EECO can take about Rs 400 for drop
Manikgad from Mumbai
Panvel is the nearest railway station from Mumbai. From here you can walk to the Panvel ST station to get direct bus to Vashivali ( Panvel – Vashivali buses are frequent ). Or you can walk to the Panvel Rickshaw EECO stand to get shared rickshaw (Rs 50 per head). From EECO stand there are two options
Route1: Take EECO to Mohopada, Rasayani ( via Dandphata ) > Take small auto to Vashivali
Route2: Take EECO to Mohopada Rasayani ( via Savla ) get down at Parade Corner > Take small auto to Vashivali
Vadgaon & Vashivali are the two base villages
I would prefer that you take your vehicle all the way to Thakurwadi. Pay some more to the EECO taxi and ask him to drop to Thakurwadi. Else If you reach Vashivali just walk to Thakurwadi through the village or take the green road mentioned in the above map.
I dont recommend the Vadgoan route to beginners as i had lost going through that way some 8 years ago. This Manikgad Trek blog would describe the Manikgad trek via Vashivali Thakurwadi
Khane me kya hai ?
Vashivali has shops/ hotels on the highway. Else where on the route there are no hotels neither in thakurwadi not Dhangar wadi. So its better that you carry your food. Also the water is available in the water tanks near the Shiv Mandir on the fort which is cleaned by the villagers.
Bro Tip: You can request with the locals in Thakurwadi for food on your way to the fort & can have it on the way back.
Is guide needed for Manikgad trek ?
I mostly dont suggest a guide / vatadya for any trek. But this is one confusing trail with many tracks . Hence i would suggest for a beginner you should take a vatadya from Thakurwadi or Dhangarwadi. For experienced people my Manikgad trek blog has enough data for you to do it yourself
The most common question that i get asked is I want to travel a lot but I dont have leaves. Should I quit my job ? I have always suggested to not quit your job unless you have another source of income. In search of this source of income I tried freelancing , trek leading, vlogging and I realised nothing works in the long term. After trying many different thinkgs finally I came across trading
Trading for getting freedom & income is perfect for a person with traveller mindset. You can trade from anywhere around the world be it some off the grid village in Himachal or Meghalaya, be it some island in Andaman. All you need is an internet connection and a trading account. You can earn by trading for 1-2 hrs a day and would have freedom to do anything in the free time.Or you might have just earned enough in a day to take the month off travelling around the world. If you are able to learn this then it has potential to make all your dreams come true. I would suggest you take it up as a side project for 6 months to see if you have patience & intellect to master it.
Manikgad trek blog : TheFreeBird’s story
Lets starts with TheFreeBird’s journey. I have done this trek in summer as well as monsoon. Let me tell you the summer trek for Manikgad requires extreme endurance. Though there are trees through out it gets extremely hot , plus a chance of getting lost is just too much for a beginner to attempt this under a hot sun. Monsoon paints a different picture . It becomes easier but still remains a lengthy trek
We took our bikes till Thakurwadi where four wheelers can be parked. On enquiry we found that bikes can reach till Dhangarwadi. Manikgad trek began from Dhangarwadi. Till here it was like an exercise for our bikes.
In Manikgad trek we have to walk to the fort and around the main fort in an anti clockwise direction( check trek maps above). The easy way is to walk keeping the main fort always on the left side. From the Dhangar wadi its a straight walk over a huge plateau till you reach the Hanuman Mandir . Till you reach the temple make sure to take the flat trails. There are many cattle trails as well the trails to different villages which will get you lost in no time. Avoid those trails and try to stick to trails which will keep you near the fort rather than take you away. Even I was lost for some time when i mixed up few trails which got me excited.
Once you enter the forest the trail gets darker and you will spot monkeys & birds. In monsoon you will get to see many nature delights.
There are many water streams in monsoon and one place above shows a huge old tree with a water stream where you can take your first break . In about an hour of walking we reached the Hanuman mandir. It was time for some well deserved break as we sat there for while enjoying the birds chirping on the trees
The walk till Hanuman mandir is mostly flat and the climb starts after this. Bro Tip: Remember to always walk with the fort on the immediate left . From the temple going a little ahead we reach the exact backside of the fort & going a bit ahead we get a left diversion ( diversion location) which is the start of the climb . Make sure to not miss this diversion else you will go on a wild goose chase.
When the climb starts you start to go around the entire fort – circumambulation – parikrama – pradakshina. For many forts like Raigad & Rajgad trekkers plan special treks to do a fort pradakshina. At Manikgad the normal trek route itself is a pradakshina. Ek Ticket me Double Paisa Vasool
In no time you go from backside (south side) of the fort to the North Side of the fort & from here climb a bit more to reach the remains of the Manikgad entrance . Bro Tip: After you complete the circle around the fort to reach the North side there is a diversion where a route goes down to waterfall. Dont take it and take the left route to climb higher to the entrance
On reaching the fort I found that there are barely any remains on the fort. However from my last visit in 2014 to this one in 2022 i could say there are better sign boards and efforts have been taken to preserve the remains & keep the tanks clean. We explored the fort in about half an hour. Here are few of the remains at Manikgad.
Being September we were lucky to have the entire fort decorated with yellow Sonki flowers & other purple flowers. There are few remains of another entrance to the fort & also remains of a palace.
At the top there are no big trees . So its just you in the open . Luckily that day it was cloudy & not hot at the top. Unluckily the cloudy weather prevented a clear view of forts near by.
I could spot Kalavantin , Prabalgad, Irshalgad ,Matheran’s Garbett plateau, Sondai , Bhimashankar, Padargad, Kothaligad, Songiri & Rajmachi on one side. On the other side i could spot Sankshi & Karnala fort
Well i was sitting here enjoying the wind in my hair & was trying to get a good video of the Sonki flowers. This is what i saw
After exploring for an hour we finally decided to have lunch. After lunch the cool monsoon weather was makeing us very sleepy. We enjoyed the soothing breeze before exploring the remaining part of fort which had the Shiva temple, 5-6 tanks & a buruj.
After going around the fort for an hour we headed down towards a bike talking about how this trek used to be very confusing earlier. But the new road has just made it easy. Reached the bike in an hour & headed home.
Bye !
That’s it for the Manikgad fort trek blog.
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I've written blogs covering numerous Sahyadri treks, all accessible in the section below. Additionally, I create ambient Sahyadri videos on YouTube, featuring solely natural sounds such as birdsong, wind rustling through the trees, and the soothing patter of rain—the elements of nature that I hold dear.
SAHYADRI TREKS NEAR
