Chikaldhara - Sanchi Travelling to western Maharashtra was on the cards since some time. But where to was the question. Finally i managed ...

R3x · 07-02-09, 12:06 AM

Travelling to western Maharashtra was on the cards since some time. But where to was the question. Finally i managed to figure out one location - Chikaldhara - in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. Very little (or for that matter "no") first hand information was available on this place (this proved to become a bone of contention later in the trip). Google searches revealed some basic information, which i used to build a trip itinerary. Sanchi being somewhat close to chikaldhara (well.. Ahem.. about 300 kms..

), there was hardly any hesitation to include it. Well.. there was one more destination - Mandu - on the way back which i had to cover, but i had to cut short the trip by a day, which meant "skip Mandu".

A friend had lent me his Canon S3IS, which i felt, due to its super zoom, could be used to shoot the wildlife at the Jungle Safari at Chikaldhara. But this is a pretty huge camera as compared to my cheesy A590IS, so i was too lazy to scout for the camera everytime i felt like shooting something while i was riding towards a destination. That is precisely why there is not much variation in the pictures.

Day 1: Where's my bed?
Started from home at 5:45 AM. Hit NH3. The route was going to be:
Mumbai-Nashik-Chandwad-Manmad-Nandgaon-Chalisgaon-Pachora-Pahur-Jamner-Bodvad-Burhanpur-Khaknar-Raitalai/Dedtalai-Harisal-Semadoh-Chikaldhara. Approx 640 kms
This was an interior route. The other possible route was via the NH3 upto Dhule, and then go via Jalgaon etc. While diverting from NH3 at Chandwad, i thought that this might be a bad idea to take the internal route. Thankfully it wasn't. The route was traffic free and decent roads, much better than the NH3 i was going to encounter on day 5 of this tour.

The plan was to reach Semadoh by 6:30 PM (as this is a jungle area, night or even evening riding was not an option), where i would stay at night. Then go out for a Jungle Safari early morning the next day, subsequent to which i would move on to Chikaldhara. That was not to be. It was going to be a nightmare!

I reached Semadoh at 7:30 PM. To my horror i found out that this being a area protected by the Forest Dept., there are no private lodges around here! And staying in govt. rest houses requires that you book your place in advance. The option that i could now see was to travel to the nearest town which had private lodgings. The three options left were Harisal (25 kms), Chikaldhara (28 kms) or Paratwada (50 kms), not to say that you've got to pass through ghat roads winding through dense forests to reach all the three. One more thing i did not notice due to the rush to reach at 6:30 was that my fuel tank had run almost empty, with not more than 50 kms worth of fuel left (However fuel was not a hurdle, you get fuel for "black" in bisleri bottles). Well.. just another icing on the cake was... the gates to Semadoh entry post close. So no one can exit Semadoh (atleast back towards Harisal) until it opens for short period after 2 hours (i later understood that they follow this procedure every two hours after 8PM).

After some failed attempts at the doors of the (probable) supervisors of the forest lodges with a local guy, a chai wala finally offered a khatia near his tapri. So this night was going to be a night under the open sky. I hadn't imagined something like this could happen until i deliberately wanted it to (like in case i carry a tent etc). The chai wala's business is bustling during the 2 hour gate closures, so everyone is waiting for the gate to open and having tea and smokes. Its 11PM now and one of his customers, a night watchman, notices me, we get talking and offers me his place to stay at night.. God Bless the chai wala and the night watchman..

)

Day 2: Exploring Chikaldhara
The morning started at 8AM, which effectively meant that i'd missed the 6 AM jungle safari. "Nevermind", i thought. Chikaldhara had a wildlife sanctuary i had read about on the internet. So as per the fallback plan, it could be an evening/afternoon safari at the Chikaldhara Wildlife Sanctuary. The bad news was to break later that the sanctuary had been closed for visitors due to the theft of a tiger skin from a nearby museum. So this day was to be spent in resting and visiting the nearby "points". For a safari, i'd have to ride back to Semadoh early morning at 5 AM, which i'd simply ruled out. Additionally the other fact about the safari is that the forest dept runs a mini bus for the safari, which requires atleast 18 people to start, something improbable in this off-season. When i checked into the hotel at Chikaldhara, there was a power outage. So i did not have a way to find out that the Tubelight and the TV would not work (only in the evening when i return i would know... too late to fight). Another tip for those travelling to chikaldhara - if you read somewhere that there is a petrol pump at Chikaldhara, there is. But when i'd been there it did not have any petrol! Paratwada (about 30 kms from Chikaldhara) is where you'll find the nearest petrol pump.

So this day ended with a run to Paratwada to refuel petrol, visiting the various points and the botanical garden (which is a joke in the name of Botany). Next day was going to be long ride to Bhopal, from where Sanchi is about 45 kms.

Note: If you think all my summary about Semadoh and Chikaldhara was derogatory, it really wasn't. These are very nice hill stations, with very good climate. The wildlife sanctuaries are known to have sighting of tigers, bisons, rare birds, flora and fauna etc. If you have a 4-wheeler, you could take it into the forest for the jungle safari. I only did not have enough first hand information to plan it well. You need to keep in mind that, like you have "Virgin Beaches".... this is a "Virgin Hill Station", so what facilities you get may be minimum, but the experience is worth the visit.

Day 3: A time to ride, a time to kill
The plan was to ride to Bhopal, where i'd stay put, then visit Sanchi.
The route to be taken was:
Chikaldhara-Paratwada-Betul-Obaidullahganj-Bhopal. Approx 300kms
This was a late morning again. I reached Bhopal by 3:30PM. which meant there was no point in visiting Sanchi today, as by the time i would make it, it would be closed for visitors. So caught up with "Luck by Chance" in the evening to kill time.

Day 4: Sanchi
I reached Sanchi by 9:00 AM, so that i could make it to Mandu on time to shoot atleast the couple of monuments there. Sanchi was just mindblowing. In spite of this being a 3rd Century BC structure, the restoration has been top class.

Though i was running short on time, i headed towards the Udaigiri caves. But all the caves seemed to be closed. Except, a guard came out of nowhere to show me cave no. 18, and also narrate some history while doing so.

Rode back to the hotel in Bhopal subsequently, and then towards Mandu.
The route to be taken was:
Bhopal-Dewas-Indore-Mhow-Manpur-Gujri-Mandu (Approx 270 kms)
Most of this section is undergoing 4-laning, some minor sections having already completed. However, the road gets very bad since Mhow (probably upto Sendhwa). It was as bad as it could get, which made me really impatient and i cancelled the Mandu halt, even though i would have reached there by 7:15 PM. Took a night halt a few kms at a relatively bigger town after Gujri.

Day 5: Home sweet home
As usual the day started later than expected. Hit the road at 8:30 am. The route was going to be Gujri-Sendhwa-Dhule-Malegaon-Nashik-Mumbai. The road was bad, with 4 laning work still going on. This was going to be like this till Dhule. Dhule to Ojhar (Nashik) was absolute maska... the road you always dream of. The tarmac almost fresh. Opposite to what was the experience till now. If this is a trailer of what is to be expected on the rest of the NH3, then you can safely assume that your IBA certifications are at the threat of lesser significance in the near future!

Bhopal to Mumbai was a little more than 520 kms. Was home at 6:30 PM, trying to bring some sensation back to my backside!

Total distance covered was 1976 kms.. missed it by 24 kms!!

More pictures found here

darkside_of_d_sun · 07-02-09, 12:56 AM

Fantastic log, it gives you a high when you ride to these "virgin" places where no one you know have ever been on a motorcycle.

Time for the pictures then eh!

Cheers,
Shamik

anupmathur · 07-02-09, 06:56 AM

A little Voyage of Discovery! Now it'll be much easier for the ones who go after reading this!

Very well written! But where are the pics?

R3x · 07-02-09, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anupmathur

But where are the pics?

Pictures now updated.

anupmathur · 07-02-09, 05:55 PM

Excellent pics!
Just saw them on Picasa.

Yogesh Sarkar · 07-02-09, 06:22 PM

That's quite a trip you had, too bad there was little first hand information available. However when you look back on this trip few months from now, I am sure it will bring a smile on your face.

Oh yes, beautiful photographs

pulsarider · 07-02-09, 09:49 PM

nice log R3x... jungle safari kaisa miss kiya re... u shud have tried it next morning ...
itna lamba jaake aisa kaisa kar sakta hai man...

R3x · 08-02-09, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsarider

nice log R3x... jungle safari kaisa miss kiya re... u shud have tried it next morning ...
itna lamba jaake aisa kaisa kar sakta hai man...

Yaar... i know... this is sad. But i was assuming that Chikaldhara Wildlife Sanctuary would be open. The other plan was to come back to Semadoh next morning (of day 3) for the safari. But that meant saare plans ka uthal puthal, and to top it, i wasn't even sure that the safari would happen at all. The chai wala where i stayed the first night said that since this is off-season, he hardly sees the bus (Forest dept doesn't take a jeep for the safari) at all (which starts bang in front of his chai stall). Moreover, they dont start the safari till they've got 20 passengers. Now thats a difficult number to achieve considering the fact that if you have a 4-wheeler you can take it in for the safari. That was a real turn-off. Last time when i was at Malvan, i had to hang around for 3 days to get to the Sindhudurg fort via the boat due to a similar situation.

Salil · 08-02-09, 11:16 PM

Wonderful log. Feels good to actually visit a place and put information about the place on the Internet, rather than doing it the other way round.
That Sanchi structure restoration looks immaculate!

hiambuj · 09-02-09, 08:56 AM

Too good of a travelogue !! LIKED it very much !!

07-02-09, 12:06 AM	#1
R3x Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 254	Chikaldhara - Sanchi Travelling to western Maharashtra was on the cards since some time. But where to was the question. Finally i managed to figure out one location - Chikaldhara - in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. Very little (or for that matter "no") first hand information was available on this place (this proved to become a bone of contention later in the trip). Google searches revealed some basic information, which i used to build a trip itinerary. Sanchi being somewhat close to chikaldhara (well.. Ahem.. about 300 kms.. ), there was hardly any hesitation to include it. Well.. there was one more destination - Mandu - on the way back which i had to cover, but i had to cut short the trip by a day, which meant "skip Mandu". A friend had lent me his Canon S3IS, which i felt, due to its super zoom, could be used to shoot the wildlife at the Jungle Safari at Chikaldhara. But this is a pretty huge camera as compared to my cheesy A590IS, so i was too lazy to scout for the camera everytime i felt like shooting something while i was riding towards a destination. That is precisely why there is not much variation in the pictures. Day 1: Where's my bed? Started from home at 5:45 AM. Hit NH3. The route was going to be: Mumbai-Nashik-Chandwad-Manmad-Nandgaon-Chalisgaon-Pachora-Pahur-Jamner-Bodvad-Burhanpur-Khaknar-Raitalai/Dedtalai-Harisal-Semadoh-Chikaldhara. Approx 640 kms This was an interior route. The other possible route was via the NH3 upto Dhule, and then go via Jalgaon etc. While diverting from NH3 at Chandwad, i thought that this might be a bad idea to take the internal route. Thankfully it wasn't. The route was traffic free and decent roads, much better than the NH3 i was going to encounter on day 5 of this tour. The plan was to reach Semadoh by 6:30 PM (as this is a jungle area, night or even evening riding was not an option), where i would stay at night. Then go out for a Jungle Safari early morning the next day, subsequent to which i would move on to Chikaldhara. That was not to be. It was going to be a nightmare! I reached Semadoh at 7:30 PM. To my horror i found out that this being a area protected by the Forest Dept., there are no private lodges around here! And staying in govt. rest houses requires that you book your place in advance. The option that i could now see was to travel to the nearest town which had private lodgings. The three options left were Harisal (25 kms), Chikaldhara (28 kms) or Paratwada (50 kms), not to say that you've got to pass through ghat roads winding through dense forests to reach all the three. One more thing i did not notice due to the rush to reach at 6:30 was that my fuel tank had run almost empty, with not more than 50 kms worth of fuel left (However fuel was not a hurdle, you get fuel for "black" in bisleri bottles). Well.. just another icing on the cake was... the gates to Semadoh entry post close. So no one can exit Semadoh (atleast back towards Harisal) until it opens for short period after 2 hours (i later understood that they follow this procedure every two hours after 8PM). After some failed attempts at the doors of the (probable) supervisors of the forest lodges with a local guy, a chai wala finally offered a khatia near his tapri. So this night was going to be a night under the open sky. I hadn't imagined something like this could happen until i deliberately wanted it to (like in case i carry a tent etc). The chai wala's business is bustling during the 2 hour gate closures, so everyone is waiting for the gate to open and having tea and smokes. Its 11PM now and one of his customers, a night watchman, notices me, we get talking and offers me his place to stay at night.. God Bless the chai wala and the night watchman.. ) Day 2: Exploring Chikaldhara The morning started at 8AM, which effectively meant that i'd missed the 6 AM jungle safari. "Nevermind", i thought. Chikaldhara had a wildlife sanctuary i had read about on the internet. So as per the fallback plan, it could be an evening/afternoon safari at the Chikaldhara Wildlife Sanctuary. The bad news was to break later that the sanctuary had been closed for visitors due to the theft of a tiger skin from a nearby museum. So this day was to be spent in resting and visiting the nearby "points". For a safari, i'd have to ride back to Semadoh early morning at 5 AM, which i'd simply ruled out. Additionally the other fact about the safari is that the forest dept runs a mini bus for the safari, which requires atleast 18 people to start, something improbable in this off-season. When i checked into the hotel at Chikaldhara, there was a power outage. So i did not have a way to find out that the Tubelight and the TV would not work (only in the evening when i return i would know... too late to fight). Another tip for those travelling to chikaldhara - if you read somewhere that there is a petrol pump at Chikaldhara, there is. But when i'd been there it did not have any petrol! Paratwada (about 30 kms from Chikaldhara) is where you'll find the nearest petrol pump. So this day ended with a run to Paratwada to refuel petrol, visiting the various points and the botanical garden (which is a joke in the name of Botany). Next day was going to be long ride to Bhopal, from where Sanchi is about 45 kms. Note: If you think all my summary about Semadoh and Chikaldhara was derogatory, it really wasn't. These are very nice hill stations, with very good climate. The wildlife sanctuaries are known to have sighting of tigers, bisons, rare birds, flora and fauna etc. If you have a 4-wheeler, you could take it into the forest for the jungle safari. I only did not have enough first hand information to plan it well. You need to keep in mind that, like you have "Virgin Beaches".... this is a "Virgin Hill Station", so what facilities you get may be minimum, but the experience is worth the visit. Day 3: A time to ride, a time to kill The plan was to ride to Bhopal, where i'd stay put, then visit Sanchi. The route to be taken was: Chikaldhara-Paratwada-Betul-Obaidullahganj-Bhopal. Approx 300kms This was a late morning again. I reached Bhopal by 3:30PM. which meant there was no point in visiting Sanchi today, as by the time i would make it, it would be closed for visitors. So caught up with "Luck by Chance" in the evening to kill time. Day 4: Sanchi I reached Sanchi by 9:00 AM, so that i could make it to Mandu on time to shoot atleast the couple of monuments there. Sanchi was just mindblowing. In spite of this being a 3rd Century BC structure, the restoration has been top class. Though i was running short on time, i headed towards the Udaigiri caves. But all the caves seemed to be closed. Except, a guard came out of nowhere to show me cave no. 18, and also narrate some history while doing so. Rode back to the hotel in Bhopal subsequently, and then towards Mandu. The route to be taken was: Bhopal-Dewas-Indore-Mhow-Manpur-Gujri-Mandu (Approx 270 kms) Most of this section is undergoing 4-laning, some minor sections having already completed. However, the road gets very bad since Mhow (probably upto Sendhwa). It was as bad as it could get, which made me really impatient and i cancelled the Mandu halt, even though i would have reached there by 7:15 PM. Took a night halt a few kms at a relatively bigger town after Gujri. Day 5: Home sweet home As usual the day started later than expected. Hit the road at 8:30 am. The route was going to be Gujri-Sendhwa-Dhule-Malegaon-Nashik-Mumbai. The road was bad, with 4 laning work still going on. This was going to be like this till Dhule. Dhule to Ojhar (Nashik) was absolute maska... the road you always dream of. The tarmac almost fresh. Opposite to what was the experience till now. If this is a trailer of what is to be expected on the rest of the NH3, then you can safely assume that your IBA certifications are at the threat of lesser significance in the near future! Bhopal to Mumbai was a little more than 520 kms. Was home at 6:30 PM, trying to bring some sensation back to my backside! Total distance covered was 1976 kms.. missed it by 24 kms!! More pictures found here __________________ SilverXtreme.org (will be back soon...) Last edited by R3x; 07-02-09 at 03:03 PM.

07-02-09, 12:56 AM	#2
darkside_of_d_sun _l_ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Notun Dilli Posts: 3,280	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi Fantastic log, it gives you a high when you ride to these "virgin" places where no one you know have ever been on a motorcycle. Time for the pictures then eh! Cheers, Shamik __________________ Go Snow! As I did

07-02-09, 06:56 AM	#3
anupmathur Moderator Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New Delhi Posts: 14,166	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi A little Voyage of Discovery! Now it'll be much easier for the ones who go after reading this! Very well written! But where are the pics?

07-02-09, 05:55 PM	#5
anupmathur Moderator Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New Delhi Posts: 14,166	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi Excellent pics! Just saw them on Picasa.

07-02-09, 06:22 PM	#6
Yogesh Sarkar Administrator Join Date: May 2006 Location: New Delhi, India Posts: 22,300	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi That's quite a trip you had, too bad there was little first hand information available. However when you look back on this trip few months from now, I am sure it will bring a smile on your face. Oh yes, beautiful photographs __________________ BCMTouring: FAQ \| T-Shirts \| Stickers (back in stock) My: Blog \| Travelogues \| Twitter

07-02-09, 09:49 PM	#7
pulsarider Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,199	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi nice log R3x... jungle safari kaisa miss kiya re... u shud have tried it next morning ... itna lamba jaake aisa kaisa kar sakta hai man... __________________ Life is Beautiful* *conditions apply

08-02-09, 11:16 PM	#9
Salil Moderator Join Date: May 2006 Location: Noida, Delhi - NCR Posts: 2,558	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi Wonderful log. Feels good to actually visit a place and put information about the place on the Internet, rather than doing it the other way round. That Sanchi structure restoration looks immaculate! __________________ My Wanderings: http://himalayanodysseys.blogspot.com/ Through my lens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salilu/

09-02-09, 08:56 AM	#10
hiambuj The Traveller Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Delhi Posts: 12,093	Re: Chikaldhara - Sanchi Too good of a travelogue !! LIKED it very much !! __________________ Trek to heaven