KULANG FORT (4822 ft ASL): Once in a life time trek

This fort stands tall along with the other two forts Alang and Madan Gad and the trek to Kulang when combined with these forts becomes the most difficult trek in the Sahyadris. But when you do all the forts together you hardly get time to see the forts at leisure. So when I heard of YHAI, Mumbai Unit planning a trek to Kulang, I didn’t want to miss the golden opportunity of trek to Kulang Fort.

Madan Gad and Kulang

Kulang

But before the trek, I looked up the internet for some brief information about the fort but was disappointed that there was no information about the History of this fort. It was mentioned that this fort was captured by the Peshwas from the Mughals and then the British captured it from Marathas. The British after capturing the fort destroyed the entrance and fortifications of this fort in order to prevent fresh attacks from Marathas. The staircase which leads to the fort has thus been destroyed by the cannons from the British Army.

The long weekend was a nice opportunity to visit the fort and the weekend of 25th December, 2009 provided ample time to visit the fort at leisure. We were under the leadership of Mr. Satish Rajput who had just completed an expedition in Himalayas in the Chandrabhaga ranges (CB-14).

The group was small (in nos.) and young. It was a perfect group for an overnite trek. We left Mumbai by Kasara local at 11.20 p.m. from CST and our fellow trekkers climbed in the compartment at various stations. By the time we reached Kasara at 2 a.m. we were a group of 8 trekkers. But we were received a rude shock at Kasara Station, where the railway officials told us that due to some technical faults all the trains to Nashik are delayed and the next trains for Nashik will reach Kasara only after 6 a.m., so we were left stranded at Kasara for next 4 hours or more and were not able to reach Igatpuri as planned.

After catching up on sleep for couple of hours, we decided to search for alternate mode of transport to Igatpuri. To our luck we found a vegetable truck, which was leaving for the weekly market at Ghoti. We all hopped into the truck to reach Igatpuri around 7 a.m.

We made inquiries for reaching Kulangwadi, which was the Base village for Kulang when our leader visited the fort 4 years back. But ST officials told us to catch the bus to Ambewadi. At the given time, the bus to Ambewadi arrived and we set off on our last mode of transport.

We reached Ambewadi around 9.30 a.m. on 25th December, 2009. Inspite of all the delays we started our trek around the same time as was predicted by our leader. Since the route was different, we took the services of the villager Mr. Raju Thavle. He was a quite fellow and in a world of his own and would give a smile on some of jokes which we cracked amongst us. We had to walk a lot till the actual climb started. It was a zig – zag route which lead us to the last frontier of the trek.

The climb was a mixture of earth and rock and the last part was a rocky climb with steps carved in the rock. The climb was around 50 degree incline. In case you loose your balance you have a valley behind you and we all were feeling the dangers of climbing but I thought it would be pretty difficult climbing down. But I didn’t have to bother about it now, may be tomorrow I need to place my steps carefully.

The Steps leading to Fort

But now that we have walked up the last climb, we were at the top of the fort. It was pretty flat compared to lots of other forts in Maharashtra and first thing you notice when you reach Kulang was the water tanks. There are many water tanks on the fort and all filled up to the brim even in the month of December. It was around 2.30 p.m. when we reached the fort. A 5-hour walk to the fort was exhausting and few of us immediately dozed off to catch up on last nights sleep.

When we reached the fort, the fort was pretty empty. Also this was for the first time that we had enough time to roam around the fort and enjoy the beauty around the fort. The only thing, which disappointed us, was the state in which the fort was. It was like after the British Army destroyed the fort, we (Indian and Maharashtra Government) did not bother to look at the maintenance part of the fort. The fortifications are standing due to the excellent construction quality of our ancestors.

On a view around the fort we saw two structures completely demolished whats left of the structures was the plinth or the foundation. Besides these structures there were around 10-12 water tanks, which used to provide water to the residents of the fort and now for the trekkers and nature lovers.

The Water Tanks on Kulang

We spent most of time clicking photographs of Alang and Madan forts, which were adjoining to Kulang. At a further distance, we could see the tallest peak in Sahyadris, the Kalsubai.

Kalsubai (top photo), Alang and Madan (Down photo)

We didn’t realize how fast the time flew and it was time for the sun to light up the other side of earth, which reminded us to unpack our bags to cook food. The make-shift cooks along with two girls from our group took the centre stage around the kitchen which comprised of just 3 rocks.

After having dinner we listened to the heavenly classical music under the stary sky till we could listen no more. We drew back to the caves for rest.

Sunrise At Kulang

We got up early in morning at 6 a.m. and immediately opened the shutterbugs for capturing the sunrise. Then we had upma, tea & biscuits for breakfast. By now 2-3 trek groups started coming in and we were making way for them by leaving early morning at 9.30 a.m.

On the way Down to Ambewadi

Now the dangers of climbing down started to haunt us. But left with no alternatives we had to climb down to Ambewadi to catch the bus to Ghoti/Igatpuri. The group while climbing down was extra cautious. But it was a breath taking view of the valley and inspite of the perils of climbing down I still managed to take some snaps. On our way down we took a couple of halts to refresh ourselves. We reached Ambewadi at 1.30 p.m. that was 1 hour less than what we climbed. Since it was time to catch the bus to Ghoti we all decided to skip on the lunch of pithle-bhakri at the village. But I had made plans to visit Alang next year and to satisfy my taste buds with some pithle-bhakri at Ambewadi.