It was 4th of July when we suddenly came up with the trip plan but the place was undecided since we had covered all most all the places in Uttara Kannada district and it was raining all the time we had to plan a trip to a place which had some beautiful waterfalls and some good rains to enjoy with...Then we started listing out places and we finalized to visit Amboli, and to our surprise everyone was free the next day itself, so without much delay we kept the plan to be scheduled next day itself.
(A small tributary of Terekhol river on Belgaum - Vengurla road)
(Typical Kokan Roads, wet as usual)
(A view of Belgaum - Vengurla road in Amboli ghats)
Route : Dharwar - Belgaum(NH 4) - Sawantwadi - Vengurla
Since it was raining heavily herein Hubli we expected it to be heavier in Sindhudurg, (and the expectation was true later) we had prepare our rain gears with full rain suits and protection for our electronic gadgets and bags as well..
Heading out of Dharwar:
We left of from our places at 6 30 AM and while on our way to Belgaum we had our breakfast at a hotel in Jubilee Circle..We reached at Narendra bypass at around 7 30 AM..And we grouped ourselves and left towards Belgaum.
Dharwar - Belgaum
It was a soothing high speed run, hitting 120+ kmph almost all the time..well Hubli and Belgaum never feel like two different cities...You feel the same being in two cities...I had surfed this road many times before..So as the saying goes "On known roads distance cut down fast",we covered 75 km in flat 45 minutes..we reached Belgaum city at around 9 AM we waited for a while to check out the roads and refuel few bikes and took some pics on the Club road..It is one of the beautiful road in belgaum covered with lush green and high trees, and monsoons had made it more magical.
Belgaum - Chandagad - Amboli
(Roads after Belgaum)
Terrain after Belgaum suddenly changes after Sulaga and Turmuri..It started to rain heavily...even though we had rain gears we had to stop for a while..It stopped pouring after 20 min..we continued towards Chandagad..the fog started to cover roads..beautiful paddy fields can be seen on the either side of the roads and farmers taking care of them in heavy rains..We could also see school going children playing in rains which reminded us our childhood and made us nostalgic of it...As we proceeded further it started to pour heavily and we made a decision not to stop as it couldn't help us..and finally at the end of day we were out in rain for 7 hours and it rained continuously with gap of 10 min in between...We reached chandagad and continued further...During this time for a while we got sun bath and we decided to stop for a while and enjoy it and we stopped at a small stream near by on a bridge and clicked some nice pictures and dried ourselves meanwhile....
(Road after Chandagad)
At around 11 45 AM we reached Naagartaas waterfall which was our first waterfall and view point in Amboli....Here water falls into a deep gorge and clouds moved apart for a while and we could see a small rainbow at the foot of the falls.....
(Naagartaas Waterfalls formed by a stream of Terekhol river)
(A tiny rainbow at it's foot)
Then we proceeded towards Kavalshet / Kavalesaad point which was heaven on earth the moment we were about to approach the point we were covered with dense fog.....It was a true magical place rains started to pour hard..and nothing was visible...road was completely covered with dense fog...we were judging road approximately and riding..The point marks the beginning point of Kokan plains...the below valley is a part of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg district...We could see numerous waterfalls which later converge to form Terekhol river...
(Hiranyakeshi river on the way to Kavalshet point..the river has taken birth just a few kilometers before)
The beauty here is Hiranyakeshi flows towards east and joins Ghataprabha just below Hidakal dam, while Terekhol river flows westwards through Malvani plains of Kokan and merges with Arabian sea near Malvan which take some 2 km apart....
(Kavalshet point,Near Nagartaas,Sindhudurg)
( group of waterfalls in Kavalshet)
(View of terekhol valley in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts)
(Streams leading to merge into Terekhol river across the man made boundaries following natural boundary)
Then we proceeded towards Main Amboli waterfall through Amboli village and then it poured super hard we could literally feel droplets hitting us very hard it rained heavily for 30 mins then we moved ahead and it was a bit crowded at Main falls since it falls on the main road...we climbed the steps and reached at the base of the falls enjoyed there for a while...and descended back had some Vada Pav, Khanda Bhaji and Tea and left back to Belgaum.....
( Amboli Main falls, Belgaum - Vengurla road, Sawantwadi)
We left Amboli at around 4 30 PM and reached Belgaum at 6 00 PM with a tea break in between........
(Chai to banta hai boss)
After reaching Belgaum it started to drizzle amidst setting sun...It was a dazzling scene to look watch...We then headed towards Niyaaz for Biryani in Khade Bazaar had some finger licking biryani and refueled near a petrol bunk at Killa lake and left for Dharwar at 7 30 PM and we were not in a mood to ride fast because rains had created such a peaceful mind in us we maintained an average of 80 kmph and reach Dharwad at around 8 45 PM..........We departed towards our homes unwillingly and fantasized the trip whole night even in dreams....................
Some useful information:
Carry necessary rain gears...Enjoy in waterfalls and get wet...what is the use if your'e visiting such beautiful place and not getting drenched......Snacks are available in Amboli at all the tourist points, Vadapav, bhajis, Bread - Omlete , and roasted corn and sweet corn are available.....Best time to visit is from last week of June to October last week..........
