Lets head for the forest!. Review on Matheran

Matheran at an altitude of just 800mts above sea level is in the true sense just a ''hill'' as compared to Mahableshwar . But between the two I prefer Matheran. Its USP is the fact that beyond a point no vehicles allowed...one has to be on foot, horseback, or hand-pulled rickshaws. Thus the air is squeaky clean, though the red mud tracks do throw up a lot of dust especially by some fast horse riding.

The first time I went to Matheran was by train from VT (now CST) upto Neral. Then from thereon in the toy train. At first the toytrain is great fun as it chugs along a narrow gauge but after an hour one gets weary. The entire journey from Neral onwards took more than 2 hours which was a waste of time. Hence on my next visit we went by tourist taxi driven on a wing and prayer. So rashly driven that one is forced to invoke all Gods names and say all the prayers in that 30minute rollercoaster ride. Hence the next time around we drove to Matheran in our own vehicle. So having said this, let me assure you that your own vehicle is the best mode of transport to reach Matheran, though with a large group of friends the toy train would be more fun.

The furthest we can take the car is upto Dasturi. There is a huge carpark there and besides paying to park there you even have to pay some sort of a tax! From there again I have tried all the modes of transport- the hand pulled rickshaw (which I abandoned halfway as I felt too sorry for the emaciated man tugging it) on horseback and on foot. The walk was by far the most enjoyable.

The first visit to Matheran we stayed at a company guest house in Redwoods. It was simply fantastic. This area is away from the main market place and quite far out but that was the fun of it all. Away from the hustle and bustle of the thronging crowds made the stay that much more enjoyable.

The only ‘entertainment’ if one can call it that is to set out for long treks to the various points. Simply fantastic! Anytime of the day walking through the woods and sometimes through the low clouds makes it an unforgettable experience! There are many vantage points with breathtakingly beautiful view of the lush valley. The sunrise point-Panorama truly offers a panoramic view as the sun bursts through a mist of clouds. On the other hand is the sunset point Porcupine which has its own beauty at dusk. The Echo point is a big favourite with the tourists-all shouting themselves hoarse to hear the echo. Quite a din in an otherwise quiet surrounding! And of course there are many points named after the British…George, Edward, Barry, Hart and Louisa…all worth visiting, (especially Mount Barry the highest point) though sometimes you feel you have seen it all from some other point!

Then of course is the Charlotte Lake a favourite hangout for most youngsters which has a dam and a temple. Not one of my favourites though, due to it being extremely commercialized as compared to all else in Matheran.

The next time we stayed at Lords Hotel which is just outside the market area.It was a high-priced place with awesome food and awful facilities. The room we were given was so antiquated that every time the monkeys jumped on the roof we were sure it would cave in. But the 4 course meals more than made up for the monkey menace. Though there was a swimming pool, the water even at midday was far too cold for a swim. Hence all that one enjoyed at the pool was the one-night poolside barbeque.

After that my next visit to Matheran was after a gap of many years and once again we decided to stay at the Lords Hotel expecting facilities to have improved over a period of time. We were sorely disappointed and in fact the hotel had even a more dilapidated look and hence we cut short our stay and left after 2 days. Still we managed to go for a tour of almost all points on horseback (a package deal of sorts was offered by the horseman as we were hiring 4 horses!) There are many good hotels offering a wide variety of vegetarian food, but for the die hard nonvegetarians, eating out is a tad problematic.

There just isn’t enough choice nor is the nonveg food tasty. But the Gujarati thalis can give any place in Mumbai a run for its money.

Having said all so much, I am once again gearing up for one more trip to the “head of forest”-which is what Matheran means.