Road trip Mumbai – Konkan – Goa Via Coastal Road

Places we visit on the trip

1. Parshuram Temple
2. Jaigad fort
3. Ganpati Pule
4. Aare Ware Beach
5. Ratnagiri
6. Thiba Palace
7. Ratandurga
8. Aquarium
9. Lokmanya Tilak House
10. Kunkeshwar
11. Sindhudurga Fort
12. Tarkarli
13. Devbagh Beach
14. Tsunami Island
15. Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary
16. Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary
17. Kolam
18. Amboli
19. Raatris Khel Chaale Set
20. Panchgani
21. Strawberry farm at Panchgani
22. Mahabaleshwar
23. Pratapgad

In the month of March, our friends decided to go Goa this May. I made a plan for 9 days Road Trip to Goa via Konkan by Coastal Road. We all were excited about the trip. But unfortunately, on the trip day, only 2 members remain me and my friend Vinayak. We both decided not to cancel our trip. And as per plan, we started our Road Trip on 14th May 2016. I left from Virar at 4.15 am with my Desert Storm 500 and picked up Vinayak from Mira Road.
Our trip going to cover all

• 8 Districts of western Maharashtra,
• 3 States and
• 1900 Km.

We left from Mira Road at 5.00 am and reached to Vadkhal at 7.00 am. From Vadkhal we directly halt at Parshuram Temple. And then we start travel to costal road our 2nd destination was Jaigad fort we traveled by jetty fro Jaigad Fort. Fort is small but view from topmost place of fort is awesome. You can see only sea from Fort. From Jaigad we travel towards Ganpati Pule. I wanted to see sunset from Aare Ware Beach. But we are late because of traffic at Indapur. We schedule to reached at 5 pm at Ganpati Pule. But we are 2 hrs. Late. We left from Ganpati Pule to Ratnagiri. The Aare Ware Beach is on the way to us. But because of night we even not able to see the beautiful beach. At 1st night we stayed at Vinayak’s uncle’s home.
I can’t describe our 9 days journey in words so this is summery.
2nd day we visited some famous places in Ratnagiri. Like Thiba Palace, Ratandurga, Aquarium, Lokmanya Tilak House and Kunkeshwar on the way. We skipped Devgad Fort. All the places are beautiful. As per plan same day evening, we have to reach Tarkarli.
A road from Ratnagiri to Tarkarli is awesome, every rider should try this road. No single pothole on road. Ghats, Straight roads, Beachside roads, Forests very interesting and natural views. We shoot some videos from mobile because we Don’t have GoPro. We are like “ek GoPro hona chaahiye tha yaar”.
We planed for Scuba Diving next morning at Tarkarli but it was raining at night so clarity of seeing was very bad. We are not able to do Scuba Diving. But we visited Sindhudurga Fort, Tarkarli and Devbagh Beach and Tsunami Island, it was made by the tsunami.
Then we went to my native. So many mangoes waiting for us. We took rest for one day and the next day left for Goa.
In Goa, we don’t want to visit routine goa, that beaches and all. Every year I visit one Tiger Reserve. I thought this year I can’t see any Wild Cat. I checked a Goa map and I saw there are 3 to 4 wildlife sanctuaries in Goa. But rare to find any wildlife animals. I heard that people spotted Black Panthers in Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary.
We visited Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary and Zoo. And guess what, I clicked some of my best shots of Tiger and Leopard. Obviously, they are in a cage. But I got some good photographs. There are so many animals they kept in the zoo.
Then we went to Kolam by jungle roads, we feel like we are traveling in safari. We booked our room 15 km. Away from Dudhsagar Waterfall. The main attraction of our tour is on the next day. Elephant Ride, in the morning we went for an elephant ride, our elephant was taking shower in the river. Her Mahut allows us to wash her. Shower from elephant was a lifetime experience. We played for around 45 min. With that elephant. And then she leaves.
Unfortunate we don’t have the cash to pay to rent of room and dinner. And that owner doesn’t have swap machine. There was only one ATM in that village and it was also not working. We got scared now what we could do. But that owner was really a nice person, he told us “Its ok man pay me next time, u guys carry on our journey” oh we got relief. Then we took his bank details and Vinayak called his brother at Mumbai and told him to transfer money to that uncle’s account.
Then we went to Amboli. Before Amboli we decided to visit one Marathi Serial’s Set “Raatris Khel Chaale” we met our favorite actors took some photographs, selfies and start ascending to Amboli Ghat. Forest of Amboli is really good. We reached on top and book our room. We checked weather status on mobile, it was 19 degree in May. We visited some points and I was trying to click photographs of Fireflies. Got some but not perfect.
Early morning we left from Amboli to Panchgani. Our friend has a Strawberry farm at Panchgani. We spent 2 nights at his house. Visited Mahabaleshwar, Pratapgad and some other points. On the 9th day, we reached our home.