TAKMAK FORT 19 Sept 2009

TAKMAK FORT

Height:- 2000 feets approx

Base Village:- Sakwar

Minimum Duration:- 1 day

Region:- Virar

Region/ Nearest Station, Route:- Virar / Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway.

Water Availability:- Water is available at Base village(Sakwar) and on the fort (Natural tank water)

Best time to Visit:- Winter & Mansoon

Hi Friends Iam back again with my blog this time its about a fort where not much of trekkers visit the Takmak Fort which is about 24kms to the south-east of Mahim in Thane District and stands on a very steep hill approx 2000 feets in height, in a rough wooden country also a little to the northeast of Tansa and Vaitarna rivers. Its fortified on the summit of hill, 400 yards in length by about 100 yards in breath. Takmak Fort is a small hill fort enclosed with works in the only two places where it is accessible. Of the works all that remain are two small gateways with a low ruined retaining wall on each side. Its an easy but steep track through thick forest, reaching two flat tops with little strengthening. Nearby are two separate square rocky pinnacles, called Lingi, which are also approachable. Its situated on the Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway.

It was a scheduled trek of Girivihang Trekkers on Sunday, 20th September 2009. Leader for this trek Kunal Shinde backed out and could not meet due to his marriage preparations. So the Co-leader Nilesh Angane was incharge. I had confirmed about my presence on this trek as I was not done this trek before as its a rare trek not much visited by trekkers.

The meeting point was decided at 7am on Virar stn. A private mini school bus was arranged outside the Virar stn(East). We took parcel of Vada-Pav & Samosa-Pav for all the participants. We pushed off through the narrow lanes of Virar east then we headed to the Western Express Highway or the Mumbai – Ahmedabad Highway and took left towards Ahmedabad we passed through 1-Toll Naka and after a short while we took a ‘U’-Turn from the highway to Sakwar Village. There was a small tar road heading to the village which was not much far from the highway as the sound of vehicles and horns could be heard. We parked our Mini Bus and took directions from the local villagers and also took one local boy from the village with us to be on a safer side.

After walking through the paddy fields we reached a flat place where we had our packed snacks(Vada-Pav & Samosa-Pav) we took from Virar stn. Then we circled for the usual introduction round where initially Nilesh Angne gave general information about the trek and then every one introduced themselves. The list of participants were :-

1. Nilesh Angne
2. Milind Raut
3. Suhas Shinde
4. Chaayesh …. Its Me.
5. Arvinda Athawale
6. Amol Kadam
7. Dinesh Kadam
8. Sarvesh Bhosle
9. Prashant Bhosle
10. Rashmi Bhosle
11. Priyanka Bhosle
12. Harshad Bhosle
13. Shalaka Vernekar
14. Chaitanya Parab
15. Sushil Dhabane
16. Shital Made

Without wasting time we headed to the forest taking the grassy route through the paddy fields and bushes at 9:15am. Initially the climate was pleasant but very humid. We knew it wouldn’t be easy in this climate, but we did not had any option. As we started ascending along with the sun making the climate hotter it was getting more difficult for us. Everyone started drinking water due to dehydration. It was a very Hot & Humid day which was making the trek tiring. We took regular halt so that the new comers could be along with the whole group. As passed through the thick bushes we saw the first glimpse of the Takmak Fort very clearly. I couldn’t resist myself and clicked to my content. As we were passing through the forest we came across lot Flaura & Fauna. In the beginning one of us spotted a small snake resting on a giant leaf, then we came across big spiders resting in there web which was woven between the trees, also caterpillars eating to there fullest content on the leaf and many insects and could hear man different sounds of birds, but the we had to face a lot of problems from a strange insect which had a 2’inch long sting and were in huge numbers who were murmuring around us and did not allow us to be stationery. I have clicked all possible photos which can be seen using the link available at the bottom of the blog.

As we reached the midway many of us were very tired due to dehydration. Some of them started talking among themselves that they will take halt and not proceed to the top. As we crossed few small rock patches. All the girls and many of them decided they will take rest on a small shady path. I insisted but they were determined that it was not possible for them to make it in the top due to dehydration and there was no water with them. So only 7 of us collected the empty bottles from them and after taking some rest proceeded ahead and within 20 mins we were on the top. As mentioned earlier the summit in the hill was spacious and tanks of water were full. We drunk lot of water and filled all the bottles for our other buddies who were desperately waiting for it. We took a stroll around the summit and saw the nearby twin square rocky pinnacles, called Lingi.

As the rest of the thirsty buddies were waiting down below for water we descended fast but taking care of the sccree and narrow route. One should be more careful while descending. I could not resist the beautiful carpet view of the Karvi(A unique species of wild flowers which blossoms every 7 years seen in Sahayadri ranges) and yellow wild flowers and clicked many snaps also there were many big banana trees spread all over. Soon we reached the spot where our rest of the buddies were waiting for us to quench there dry throats. We distributed water and they had to there fullest content. We decided to have our lunch at the same spot and clicked group photos and decided to descend back. The sun now was on top of us and we all were drenched in sweat. We took regular breaks as one of the girl with us had tore her footwear. After 2 hrs we again were able to see the paddy fields before the Sakwar village some energy made us walk faster and finally reached our Mini Bus parked in the village. We took our seats and vvrrroomed through the highway enjoying the really required cool breeze through the windows. We searched a hotel at near Virar stn had tea & snacks chatting with each other ending another memorable trek.

Picture are worth a thousand words; rather than putting adding thousands of words its better that you share our experience at Takmak Fort through the links of picture albums given below :-

http://picasaweb.google.com/chaayesh/TakmakFort20092009