Unravelling the mysteries of Singapur Naal and Agya Naal

With the norm  of trekking on alternate weekend, after trekking on 18th-19th Feb, our next plan to trek was on 4th and 5th March. Till then we were savouring the wonderful trekking moments spent at Ghanchakkar and Shirpunje Bhairavgad. It was Friday 24th Feb and suddenly I was presented with a challenge of attending an important event on 5th Mar with my wife. It posed a great threat to my 4th and 5th March’s trek plan. Pondering over this misfortune, I checked with my other trek mates to see whether plan for 25th and 26th Feb could be materialized. Few trekkers showed the interest and I immediately met with Tushar Dada after dinner.

With few calls and suggestions, following trek plan was finalized at 11.30PM on Friday:

Day 1: Singpur-Singapur Naal-Dapoli (Stay)
Day 2: Dapoli- Nisani Route- Singapur

I was not sure about Day 2 plan as it all depended on local guide’s availability.

When I slept at Friday night, four trekkers had given final confirmation. When I woke up, one member decided to cancel and we were left to three. As I was mulling whether to go ahead with this particular trek of ghat routes, Tushar Poman who was tentative last night called to provide his confirmation and again our count increased back to four with following members:
Prashant Kothawade, Tushar Kothawade, Mukund Pate, Tushar Poman

We started around 12.30PM from Sus Road, picked up Tushar Poman from Dhayari Phata and reached to Velhe via Pabe Ghat. It was exceedingly hot in the afternoon and we sipped at Sugarcane Juice at Velhe.

Torna while going towards Mohari village:

Rajgad seen at a distance:

When we took right turn towards Mohari, I was pleasantly surprised with a very smooth road. This surprise lasted only for few minutes as condition of the road deteriorated. We stopped at a small village to check whether we could get guide for 2 days. No one among us had done these ghat routes earlier and we were keen to hire a local guide. Village was deserted in the afternoon and we spotted a youth and an old man at separate houses. Both of them were knowing Singapur Naal route but not sure about Nisani route, they didn’t seem too keen to accompany us as the guide.

Disappointed, we left the village and decided to search for the guide in Singapur village itself. On the way, we spotted few locals. Couple of elders were cognizant of both the ghat routes but they were too old to take the rigor of descending and ascending two ghat routes. Again disappointed, we marched ahead towards Singapur.

Checking for a guide with few locals spotted on the way to Singapur village:

Raigad and Lingana:

We parked our car in front of a big house in Singapur village. Three elderly women chatted with us for a while and offered us water. We inquired about the guide but no one was available at that time. But to our advantage, these women told us exact route to descend Singapur Nal. For now, procrastinating worry about our ascent via Nisani route and with the hope that someone from Dapoli village at the base would accompany us, we started towards Singapur Naal.

We walked along the distinct trail from Singapur for 2-3 kilometers to reach to start of our descent.
Trail of descent was quite distinct. So we were walking confidently and merrily but our excitement lasted only for a while. Suddenly we came across a traverse from where there was no trace of any route and there was a dense forest at the base of this traverse.

Confused, we decided to call our regular trek mate - Chinmay Kirtane who had done this trek earlier. Luckily we had a good mobile range and Chinmay picked up the phone. He assured us that we were following the correct trail and asked us to descend the traverse which would lead us to the correct trail. Thanking Chinmay, we descended the rock patch of the traverse and seemed to hit the correct trail.

Traverse which confused us and which made us call Chinmay to check on the correct trail:

Mukund soaking in the great vistas:

We kept on descending; sometimes walking along the traverse. On the way, we met an elderly man - Mr. Dagdu More who was ascending to Singapur village from Dapoli village. He compassionately inquired about us and took on himself to show us the correct trail. He came with us for further 10 minutes and once assured that we were on the correct trail, he again started ascending.

Mukund felt quite drained today. Generally a fit trekker, he was having a bad day in the scorching heat and humidity. Seeing his condition, we decided to stop for 10 minutes. With plenty of fluids and snacks inside his stomach, Mukund felt better and we resumed our descent further.

Mukund feeling better now:

Tushar Poman, a man with great knowledge of history:

We still were not able to see base of the mountain from which we were descending as there were large trees in front of us. So every time a plateau came, we felt that we were at the base but soon after the plateau, another descent waited for us. This continued for a while. Looking back, Lingana was towering above us.

Finally we came out of the woods and located Dapoli village situated at the base. We quickly negotiated the further descent. Village was still far but now it was a flat trail leading us to the village.
We decided to rejuvenate ourselves only when we came closer to the village. Perched on the grass, we savoured the thrilling moments of the day and soon entered Dapoli village.

Trail leading towards Dapoli village:

Peaks basking in the golden light of the setting sun:

Another angle of mighty Lingana:

Few villagers greeted us as soon as we entered Dapoli village. Village looked absolutely clean and we stopped in front of a house. Owner of the house provided us water and we started chatting in front of his house. We inquired about possibility of getting dinner and we were redirected to another house of More Uncle. We now shifted our luggage to More Uncle's house and now started chatting in front of his house. Many other villagers joined us and we chatted on different subjects. Though many subjects were being discussed from local politics to history, my whole attention was on the dinner that was being prepared in the house.

Finally we were ushered into More's house for dinner. A simple dinner of Rice and Potato vegetable with gravy was served to us. Famished, we stuffed ourselves with the food. After dinner, we had a walk around the village and soon retired to sleep.

We arose early as our alarm buzzed off. After finishing early morning chores and having the hot tea, we started towards Agya Naal. Considering none of us knew the entry to Agya Naal, More Uncle agreed to guide us till the start of Agya Naal.

We set off around 6.45 in the morning. We wanted to avoid afternoon heat for the trek and were aiming to reach top as early as possible. None of us had done any study on Agya Naal as it was not in the original plan. With excitement and nervousness of the unknown, we marched ahead in the footsteps of our guide.

More Uncle was very swift and it took a lot of our energy to match to his steps. But to our advantage, we walked at a fair pace for 1.15 hours non stop. Most of the time, we were walking through the river bed with boulders in multitude.

We stopped directly at a water source. Replenishing our water supply to 3 lit each, we resumed our trek. Soon, we were at the start of Agya Naal. More Uncle seemed concerned about us finding the correct trail to the top. So he magnanimously offered to accompany us till top and till Singapur village. We were elated to have him as our guide for the whole trek and our nervousness dissipated in a jiffy.

Arrow in the left indicating the route towards Agya Naal:

There was barely any trail left as there are hardly any footfalls on this route. This posed a lot of challenges and slowed down our pace at certain stretches. Still we maintained a good pace because of our guide and kept on ascending.

Only comforting factor was that we were shielded by scorching sun from the lofty mountains above.

Finally all faces lit up as top came within striking distance. It was past 10 am and still we hadn't breakfasted as we wanted to ascend as much as possible in the morning. With almost to the top, we decided to munch on few snacks.

There was still some steep ascent and now we were directly exposed to sun. As a result, rest of the ascent proved quite tiresome.

Finally, we came to a plateau from where village was at a striking distance. By this time, every step was laborious under the intense heat.

Finally we reached to Ekalgaon. We were quite satisfied to come into human colony from the wilderness of Agya Naal. Still there were few kilometers walk towards Singapur village where we had parked the car. Tushar Dada, fittest of all of us alone with our guide went ahead and asked us to wait under shade on the road to Singapore. Happily we agreed and kept of waiting for Tushar Dada to return.

Finally Tushar Dada arrived with the car and we set off for the return journey. We ate heartily at Swapnil Restaurant in Velhe and were back to Pune by 3.30PM.

Finally the mystery of two significant ancient ghat routes descending towards Raigad was unravelled. Descending Singapur Naal posed few challenges without guide but in the end, it proved to be a memorable hike with some stunning views of Lingana and other mountains along the trail. Spending the night at Dapoli village among the caring villagers proved to be a special experience. Agya Naal presented some unique challenge with its obscurity and wilderness. But the most touching memory from this trek was the magnanimity and compassion shown by More Uncle who guided us through Agya Naal with the sheer intention of keeping us safe and protected in the hostile terrain.

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Happy hiking!

Appeal: No litter; no plastic; no wrappers; keep the mother nature clean!