Tansa Road Trip

There were a couple of plans for this weekend. Dhumketu had organized waterfall rappeling at Kondivade caves. An event I was not really keen on attending. The only thing that could have made me interested in that event would have been me setting up the ropes.
Since that was not going to be the case, I decided on skipping the event where I
would be a mere participant morally forced to do volunteer duties. :) The second
option was a trip to Raigad, which too I wasn't keen upon. Plans were being
made, mails were being shot and SMSes were being forwarded. My mind still was
not really made up. Friday, I attended a training program at SEEPZ and was off
by 5:30 pm. Varun gave me a call and he wanted me to return his SLR camera. When
I met Varun, he asked me about the plans and as usual I had none made till then.
We decided to do something on Sunday. So Saturday, when I called him up, he said
lets do Mama -Bhacha. I thought it would be good for a short trek. So I called
up my cousin Sanket, who at that point was keen on joining us. Sunday morning,
Sanket called up and cancelled and Varun had a surprise in store for me. His
friend was driving over to Tansa and we were both going to join up.

Shivaji Chowk

So post-breakfast, I took
a train to Kalyan station. We had decided to meet at Shivaji Chowk. I reached
the place and started clicked a couple of photographs, only to be interrupted 
by the policeman in the chowki. He just made a couple of general friendly
inquiries. He was worried about the blasts taking place all over the world. It
is ironic that a blast in Egypt or UK would affect a havaldar over here. I guess
that is due to the global village, world getting smaller phenomenon.

Varun called me up on the
phone and then on it was a smooth ride towards Tansa. We stopped for air at a
local petrol station. The route - Nasik Highway is a scenic one in the month of
July. Black clouds were hovering over the route and we also faced the occasional
showers. There were clouds all around us. I could see Mahuli Fort and Vazir
pinnacle towards my left. Vazir made a pretty sight. It was shrouded in clouds.
Mahuli too was surrounded all over.

Canopy of Trees

The route from Atgaon to
Tansa is filled with numerous pot-holes. It also happens to a narrow road.
However the canopy of teak trees on both sides of the route makes it a real
pleasure to drive through it. Atgaon to Tansa is 12 kms on a tar road in case
any of you would want to trek it.

Ploughman



Cattle Egret

There were some farmers
tending to their farms along the way. Some sights of cattle egrets and domestic
cattle greeted us. A light drizzle of rains greeted us. Tansa is a huge expanse
of waterbody and instead of going up to the filtration plant area, we got off at
a point where we could take some snaps. Cameras are not allowed inside the dam.
If you want to go inside the dam, there are certain forms to filled at the BMC
water department. Luckily Varun had his central government ID card and the
watch-man let us in. He too was worried about the blasts and all the stuff that
is happening in some parts of the world.

We left our cameras in the
car and went out to the dam. The water-level was 417 feet. It would have to be
422 feet to reach the over-flow mark. The watchman assured us that by mid-August
it definitely would. There have been some sightings of  Royal Bengal
tigers, a truly magnificent animal. Apart from that leopards and some wild-boar.
We did not see any of these animals. The watchman told us that the jungle that
is here today is only 25% of the jungle. Then he added 95% of the jungle has
been cut away. Obviously the poor guy was mathematically challenged.

If you plan to drive till
Tansa from Thane, please ensure that you carry BMC permission so that you can
get on top of the dam wall. Also do not go on  a Sunday, since the canteen
is not open. You will not get anything. An over night stay is also a wonderful
option. The driving distance is around 70 kms.