Vasota Fort Trek in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve

After three weeks in Ahmednagar, we came to Kasturi’s hometown Satara earlier this week. As we were looking at options for a day hike, Vasota Fort was on the top of the list. Kasturi always wanted to go there, and after Kalsubai, a day trip to Vasota Fort seemed doable with Kavya. 

Vasota Fort (elevation 3600 ft / 1100 m) is in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and is part of Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. It is a moderate hike at 6 km out and back with about 500 m vertical, but the ferry ride to the trailhead makes it unique. Vasota fort was built in the 12th century by Bhoja II of the Shilahara dynasty. It is also known as Vyaghraghad (Vyaghra meaning Tiger). 

We decided to make a day trip to Vasota fort on November 16 and hired Omkar, a family friend, as our driver for the day. Earlier in the year, he had completed Narmada Parikrama – a 3000 km circumambulation of the Narmada River in 30 days. I was looking forward to chatting with Omkar and hearing about his experience.

Bamnoli

We left Satara at 6:30 am and made our way to Bamnoli. Bamnoli is one of the several villages along the Koyna Reservoir-Shivsagar Lake and is about 40 km from Satara. 

On our drive to Bamnoli, we saw signs for Kedareshwar Boat Club (near Munawale), and it claimed to offer the shortest boat ride to Vasota Fort. But, we didn’t know much about it, so we continued to Bamnoli as it has long been the base village to get to Vasota Fort. We arrived around 8 am, just as the Bhairavnath Boat Club office was about to open. 

Ferry Ride

It costs INR 3700 (~ CAD 63) for the ferry ride to Vasota and back. Omkar was going to join us on the trek, so it was just four of us. Considering the cost, the guy at the boat club suggested that we wait for more people to arrive to share the cost. The ferry can take a total of 12 people. 

We had a leisurely breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Unfortunately, even after an hour, we didn’t have company, so we went ahead and booked the ferry for Vasota. Madhavrao Jadhav was our ferryman, and he was also our guide for the trek. Although we didn’t need a guide, we didn’t have an option. 

Two guys who worked at the Range Forest Office at the trailhead for Vasota Fort joined us. As part of their job, they get a free ride on the ferry.

It was a noisy but still enjoyable (not for Kavya) one-hour ride to Vasota boat station. 

Hike to Vasota Fort

We checked in at the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve forest office and paid INR 570 (~CAD 10) that included our entry fee (INR 30/person), boat parking (INR 150), guide fee (INR 200) and Tiger Foundation fee (INR 100).

One ranger checked our bags and noted the number of Plastic/Nalgene bottles we were carrying. We paid INR 500 as a deposit and would get it back once all the bottles were accounted for on our return. 

The hike to Vasota Fort starts just beyond the forest office. Our guide suggested staying on the trail to ensure we don’t get any Leech on ourselves. The first km of the trail is relatively flat, and there are two water sources in this section. 

After the second stream, the trail starts to climb gently. The trail is well maintained and clean, which unfortunately is a rarity on popular Sahyadri treks these days. I hope other parks/sanctuaries in Maharashtra adopt the practice of checking plastic bottles/packages and ensuring that the trails remain trash-free. I won’t even mind the mandatory guide fee if the guide can keep the hikers in check and impart some civic sense. 

We passed two trail signs for Nageshwar Sulka (cone-shaped peak) around 2.6 km (as per GAIA) from the trail junction. Omkar and I had talked about potentially going to this point if we had time. But, our guide said that the trail was closed due to a recent landslide. 

Soon, we were at the last section of the trail, which was in the open. We had a clear view of the forest and the Koyna Reservoir-Shivsagar Lake. It was amazing to look back at the terrain we had covered so far. 

(New) Vasota Fort

After hiking steadily for an hour and twenty minutes, we arrived at the fort’s Maruti Temple. 

We continued our hike to the North end of the fort, passing another temple and arriving at a beautiful lookout. From here, we had a clear view of Nageshwar Sulka and Choravne village to our West and the forest we had hiked through to our East. 

Then we retraced our steps and made our way to the South end (also named Babu Kada) of the Vasota fort. The view from here was equally impressive. Just as we were admiring the landscape, our guide mentioned that we were on the New Vasota Fort and the Old Vasota Fort was atop the mountain in front of us. Unfortunately, the trail to Old Vasota Fort is now closed. 

Kavya was hungry by now, and we found a shaded spot for our lunch break. A few more groups arrived at the fort as we were having lunch. Our guide said that there are 100+ boats docked at the Vasota boat station on a busy day. Given our experience at Kalsubai, we had chosen a weekday to do this hike to avoid the crowd. 

Back to Bamnoli

After a 30-minute lunch break, we started our descent. 

It took us just over an hour to get back to the forest office. 

After collecting our deposit, I stepped in to see the exhibits about wildlife in this region. One of the charts highlighted eighteen different types of snakes. Thankfully, we only saw some monkeys and didn’t come across any snakes.

On our ride back, it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get back to Bamnoli. 

It was only 4 pm, but we were hungry after the hike and decided to have an early dinner at the restaurant next to the boat club office. The food was delicious.

It was 7 pm by the time we got back to Satara. In the last 12 hours, we had driven for about three hours, had a two-hour ferry ride, hiked for close to four hours with amazing views and spent the remaining time in a beautiful village – Bamnoli. It was one of the best days of our India trip so far. 

Vasota in 1985

Aloke Surin commented on this post and shared his experience about doing this hike back in 1985. He was kind enough to share the photos from his trip and allow me to share them here. Enjoy!

Omkar and Narmada Parikrama

Omkar did this Parikrama for religious/spiritual reasons. He walked for 10-15 km a day for the first few days and slowly ramped up the distance over three months. Towards the end, he did 50+ km a day. Omkar shared some fantastic stories about this unique journey. If you are interested in knowing more about Narmada Parikrama, read this post by Jubin Mehta.

“Walking along the banks is such a powerful experience that words often fall short. It is like the tao. The moment one tries to communicate the essence, it is lost.“

– Jubin Mehta

Resources:

Vasota Fort Info: Wikipedia | Pune Trekkers

GPX: GAIA Maps

Weather: Yr.No | India Meteorological Department

Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not Affiliate Links.

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