Trek to the Dense and Beautiful Andarbhan Forest

Well, this June July everything in India has to revolve around Cricket, and we all love it so much!!! 

Even our journey to the jungles of Pimpri, Pune were not alien to the India Afghanistan World Cup match 

as we prepared to leave for this amazing excursion of the forests of Andarbhan with Trek Mates India. 

India decided to give a nail biting finish to this easy looking match, wherein a low scoring match turned 

into a thrilling last over finish, and everyone was glued into their phones watching Hotstar, but thanks to 

the different speeds of the phones and the various mobile data and network [;ans.. there was like a 

mexican wave effect as some saw the Afghanistan wickets falling much before the other and the cheers 

following this effect created an amazing vibe across the waiting crowds. Finally we won this thrilling match 

as Shami Hat-tricked the Afghans.

Then began our journey from Dadar in a pretty cool mini van (A Tata Winger) wherein 10 of us quickly 

loaded ourselves so that we could try and get some sleep before the bad roads leading to the forest 

arrive and give us a bumpy ride. The night went slow as we slept, woke up and slept again excitedly 

waiting to reach the base village to start our journey. 

Finally at 5 a.m in the morning, Mayur (Our Guide from Trek Mates India) announced that we have 

reached the base camp and we could freshen ourselves in the newly made loos there and wait for the

yummylicious and piping hot Kanda Poha, a typical Maharashtrian breakfast to get ready along with 

some garma garam masala chai. As we rested chilled and relaxed around this house of the locals, 

some other groups also started gathering and it slowly started becoming a pretty big crowd of around 

60-70 people gathering around.

As soon as there was a spot of morning light, Mayur instructed us to get ready and start moving quickly 

so that we get the first movers advantage as a group while moving ahead in the trail.

In the treks that I have gone earlier with other groups and destinations, there is always a climb to 

start the trek, which kind of warms you up for the rest of the day, but this Andarbhan was more of a forest 

Trail then a Trek, as most of the day we were walking on plains. So as we started walking across the village

 fields into the forest, all of us started admiring this dense dense forests with Banyan trees all around 

the place making these forests so dark that we could literally feel as if someone above there was shadowing

us as we walk.

We then understood why the forests are called AndarBhan (Andar means Darkness and Bhan means Forests.. 

The Dark Forests) ... There was a drop of temperature and we were all secretly hoping for it to rain so that we 

could really enjoy this trail even more. We kept moving in and out of the forests and after a while we all were 

mesmerised by the views we saw... So the Andarbhan Forests are at an altitude of around 2100 Feet 

above sea level and thus you get a beautiful view of the valleys of the Sahayadri mountains from some view 

points across this 15-16 kms long trail. And when these views open up so do the jaws of all of us who are 

walking on trail, as the views are simply breath taking (As u can see from the pictures). There are waterfalls 

that one can see from far, and the clouds are rising from below the ground and across the mountains and 

sometimes we are even literally walking into the clouds which cause these amazing rains across the country 

in the months of June to August in India.

In one of the pictures you will see that there was this one bare Tree standing tall and all alone, and it 

was very strange since the all the trees were like sprawling their green branches all around , but this tree 

was very very bare and looked a little eeerie. Even Mayur told us that he has come on a trek several times 

but never has seen flowers or even leaves on top of this tree.

As we kept walking we started interacting with each other and that is somehow the best part about 

such trips, where total strangers also connect on something and start talking, laughing and enjoying 

the Mother Earth in its true delight... The plains were so dense and beautiful.. It made me feel  that 

 I was in the world of Mowgli.. Some people even sat and clicked photos on top of branches and it was 

all so much fun. 

After walking for about an hour or so we all sat down on a river bed.. which would have normally 

been overflowing with water had it rained a bit more, but that gave us the advantage of sitting on this river

base and experience the soul of this forest... Literally for around 5 minutes no-one in the group spoke and 

we were all just admiring the quite and the natural sounds of the birds and the wind and feel this forest 

breathing and making us experience its Soul..... How I would love to try and shut my eyes and feel these 

moments again.... Just beautifully satisfying moment this was.

We unwillingly got up to continue the trail and took another quick snack break under the tree 

shades and laughed about how gujjus like me always carry Theplas wherever we go and clicked 

some nice picturesque photos of the fauna across us. We then reached our lunch spot at around 

11 am and we were all very glad and happy that we were moving before time rather than being late 

in schedule ad the rain Gods were not blessing us with a rainy day and thus the sun was getting 

warmer and warmer by the hour, which makes the trail a little bit more challenging. 

Our Lunch was at a local village persons house, where they were preparing nice hot roti and dal and sabzi 

with pickle and we even got to taste and eat some raw jackfruits which was very sweet and yummy. 

We ate like hungry soldiers coming from war and quickly wrapped up and refilled our bottles of water. 

Water is one of the most important things to carry for treks as our bodies gt fatigued easily with many 

hours of walking so its advised everyone should have at least 2 litres of water for personal consumption 

and refill the bottles of water whenever possible.... some trekkers even use the fresh stream water or 

well water to refill their bottles but we were pretty fussy and paid for a couple of bottles of mineral water 

which we got at the villagers house.

Off we went in the group again after we said out thank yous and goodbye to the friendly and lovely locals there...

The heat was higher then what we were prepared fro and Mayur told us about the steep descend that we 

should be prepared for which we last another 2 to 3 hours till the end of our trail. We all struggled a little trying

to maneuver the steep slopes of the descent which you might be able to see in some of the photos where were 

were all negotiating the many stone ridges to make way for our huge feet to fall and start  rolling downwards. 

There were some really experts or confident trekkers who ran their way down through these tough terrains but 

we were all being very cautious and would instantly shut out to Mayur using the codes "aye-oh" to which he 

would reply "Oh-Aye" and we would know that he is around and nearby and we would feel more confident and 

sure of the route that we were taking. 

The Andarbhan routes are actually difficult to remember and thus one needs a trusted guide who is confident 

to note the various marking done across the trail like a cross or a an arrow on a cornerstone indicating the 

direction to be followed further. We kept on descending and descending and it felt like a never ending jungle 

and we were all beginning to tire a lot more now... so we took small little breaks and kept re-hydrating 

ourselves from time to time and munching on our protein energy bars and dry fruits to keep our energy and stamina high to complete the descend.   

Finally after descending for almost 3 hours we came across some roads which led us back to our bus and

boy were all really tired from the days hard work and exploration.. We all quickly sat in the min van 

thinking we are heading back home, but Mayur told us that we will be stopping by at another local villager 

to freshen up and grab some snacks,.. That was a real relief as we all changes into fresh clothes and has a 

nice evening snack of Misal Pao .... Another local maharashtrian delight and this was spicy like fire... 

but with our tiredness we ate it with equal gusto and happiness.

We all bid farewell to the locals and got back on to the mini van for our journeys back home.... As we 

passed by the forests and back on the roads, our phones started blinking and ringing with messages and 

phone calls from our loved ones, who were checking if we are all safe and enquired on our excursions. 

Somehow we very quickly forgot the peace and quiet of the forests as were distracted into our worlds of technology, 

family and friends... It was only when I was showing the photos later in the evening to my family did I realize that 

this was such a beautiful journey which got over too quickly and I once again began to thrive to get back 

into the Jungle and explore such more beautiful places in my life.... 

Andarbhan.. your name might have a dark meaning to it.. but it brought so much of sunshine in our lives, 

we thank you for that.... Chao.. Untill We meet Next... 

OUR GROUP