Sep 23, 2009 01:13 PM
11359 Views
(Updated Sep 12, 2011 03:45 PM)
Kaas Plateau is Western India's Valley of Flowers(although the flowering occurs on the plateau). There are 4 such Valley of Flowers - Nilgiris in the South where the flowers bloom blue across the hills once in 12 years, Yumthang Valley's multi-colored Rhododendrons in the Eastern Himalayas that I visited in 2007, the famous Valley of Flowers in the Garhwal region in the North of India and Kaas in the Western region.
The next task after identifying a trip or trek is to identify the people you can travel with. There are all sorts- ones who would reject a trip saying why travel hundreds of kms to see a bunch of flowers to the ones who might ask "wahan hotel hai kya"? Anyways, I got lucky as an old hostel mate and his spouse, who had been intending to see the same place agreed to go along.
We left on the 20th of Sept, 2009, 7 a.m. sharp, on our bikes. The road to Kaas Plateau is a dream, being part of the golden quadrilateral highways. From Pune you have to take the left turn under the Wakad flyover to catch the NH4. The weather was crisp and sunny, bikes roaring a sweet hum and the traffic a decent one. The undulating hills, the shades of green, the snaking highway and the fields on both sides never cease to amaze me. Biking in between 2 hills, suddenly passing over a bridge under which the river waters glisten in the sun, having the early bird glide right infront of your bike as you cruise along is the thrill, a few realise. My friend tried to stay along with me but after about 30 mins decided to go full throttle. He was on a 220cc Pulsar and I was on a 100cc Victor. So while I cruised at 60 kms he decided to hit 120. From Pune the NH4 follows a straight route to Satara. In between there are 3 toll plazas and one tunnel. The last toll(which is shut) is before a hill. While going to Satara, one has to cover a ghat that snakes over the hill. While coming back there is a tunnel through the hill. We made only 2 stops before we had covered about 130 kms and reached a fork. The straight road was onto a flyover and the one going below said Satara. You can either go straight over the flyover and after about a few kms more on the NH4 take a right turn for Satara or you can go under the flyover and take a right turn for Satara and Kaas. Confused between what the locals said and what my friend had plotted on his technical map, I did neither. I went down the road which led to the tunnel and then my friend called and said we have to go straight. So basically we went the way the flyover would have taken us. Turning right on NH4 after a few kms we entered Satara. Some more straight driving took us to Shivaji Chowk, where you would see Rajadhatri hotel right infront of you and a BP Petrol station on the the right hand side of the road. Take a right turn at the roundabout(with the petrol station now behind) and continue straight through some narrow winding city outskirt road till you again reach a fork. The straight road goes under a tunnel and the one to the right climbs up a small ghat. Taking the right on the ghat, its 25 kms through fascinating scenery to Kaas.
We made a stop halfway as there was a pool of cars with avid photographers clicking blooming yellow flowers which covered the side of the hill, It was sheer drop beyong that. On the right below could be seen the town of Satara though the morning mist and the left showed the shimmering waters of the Kaas lake. After some photography we continued along. Going ahead a few kms you would see a Herbal treatment centre on the right, which also has a restro, for all those who might feel hungry. There are 2 fantastic table top hills on the route and the road drops into a valley before goin up again, this time finally to the Kaas plateau. We reached by 11 a.m.
The entire plateau and the hills surrounding it are covered in flowers of shades purple, violet, blue, white and yellow. The height of the flowering shrubs is about a feet max. off the ground. The flowers are small, unique variety which I haven't seen before. You would see carpets of violet, purple, white around you and people with huge cameras, tripods, SLRs, D-SLRs and some like me with small 3.2 mp cams stooping over the carpets. There are small streams in between. What I liked about most people is that they understood enough not to harm the plants. But there were the picknicking types too, some of whom had their kids running over the flowers, or some lying right on top of the shrubs with poses that would make Donald duck laugh.
We spent about an hour there with me spending close to a 20 mins trying to get a snapshot of a honey bee collecting honey. After a few failed attempts I managed to get 2 very good shots with the bee all ecstatic having been shot to fame.
The road ahead drops into the valley and the large Kaas lake. There is a small setup of a rotten old building, tank and a cooking place on the side of the road which leads upto the lake. We spent another hour there looking at the trees with stilts, some of which walked inside the lake. The small crowd of families got dispersed with an odd rain shower, only to be replaced soon with a bus load of people from one of the tourist buses which had come there. Going ahead one might reach to the huge Shivajisagar lake. We decided to turn back. We met another rain shower in between and reached Satara by 2 pm. After a sumptous lunch and refilling petrol the road back was a zoom.
Reaching home we saw and then shared the treasure trove of pictures that we had got and relished in the feeling that comes after a good trip to people who love and desire more than a weekend movie:-)
P.S.: the flowers bloom only between August and October mid
A sad update: Went back on Sept 11th 2011. It seems due to people misusing the place, plucking flowers, the area has been declared World heritage site by UN and the forest department has cordoned it off. They have actually put up a tape along the entire area where the flowers grow so no one can enter. Nothing sad about it being World Heritage site(actually it's great) but I didnt understand why the Forest guards will allow no one to park their cars around the place. Parking allowed is about 1 km away. To visit it then in Aug and Sept is useless since it rains and unless one wants to walk in rains for a km, its out of bounds. Couldn't see anything but the flowers along the road.I hope the Forest department has an idea how to create paths and allow tourists to go inside the flower areas. Otherwise its Paradise Lost!
