Drove up to Mahabaleshwar to pit the Thar against the twisties between Poladpur - Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani - Wai on the other side.
A look see to Tapola, about 30 km from Mahabaleshwar, took me through twisties over narrow and patchy roads.
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Tapola is a quiet place as compared to Mahabaleshwar. Facilities too are basic here. The tourist attraction here is the boat club that offers motor boats and water scooters on the huge Sivajisagar lake. Frankly I wasn’t impressed.
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| Tapola - Boat Club |
What caught my attention was a small village right on the bank of the lake that offered a stay in tents, local cuisine and kayaking.
Mahabaleshwar Agro Village (GPS 17.774547, 73.719608) has tents with attached washrooms and a common dining area. The tents are set up under asbestos sheets. The beading in the tents isn’t great. While the stay is rough, the location and food is super. Really enjoyed the rice bakhri and the chicken masala cooked using firewood.
What really got me going was the kayak’s. It was super fun paddling up and down the section around the site. Tried to kayak to the other side of the lake early in the morning the next day, but somewhere in the middle, the deep green waters got the better of me!
Stopped at Panchgani to pick up some fresh strawberries.
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| Farm Fresh Strawberries! |
The Panchgani-Wai section is smooth as compared to the Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar section. The NH17 section too fares poorly as compared to the fast Mumbai Pune expressway. But then doing the complete circuit adds to the fun. The Thar was amazing through the drive.
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| Mancha Break, Uttam Break! |
