Kihim - The Rocky Shores

Kihim - A stretch of pristine beach in Alibaug

Kihim is one of the most popular stretch of beach amongst the Alibaug beaches. At a distance of 12 Kms from Alibaug this stretch of beach with a rocky stretch on the northern side and an unending stretch of white sandy beach towards the southern end, Kihim is a beach that holds something for every one. The sunsets at Kihim is very beautiful with the Kanderi fort looming in the horizon and waves bathed in the twilight shades breaking against the rocks .

Shiv-ling at Kihim beach

The  Shiv-ling, which emerges out of the sea water on the Kihim beach during the monsoons is very famous and hundreds of pilgrims flock this beach during the month of shravan in Kihim.

Kihim Lake

Situated on the border of Kihim village, surrounded by suru trees from all the three sides with a small old Shiva temple is a very peaceful place. Boating facility is also available in the lake.

Sri Kankeshwar Mandir

Situated atop 900 feet high hill this 54 feet high Shiva temple built by Raja Ramdeorai Yadav is a popular destination near Kihim.  The temple complex comprises of small temples of Sri Paleshwar, Sri Hanuman, Sri Balram Krishna and Lord Shiva. The temple is well worth the 5000 feet long tiring climb.

Alibaug Beach and Colaba fort

Alibaug beach and the Colaba fort is just half an hour away from Kihim beach. Situated in the sea at a distance of 1–2 km from the shores of Alibaug Colaba fort is a very popular sea fort in the entire Konkan region.

Rajgad Trek - 31st March 12

The first trek of 2012 season Trek to Rajgad was organized on the 31st of March 2012. Here is the report on how it went..

The trek invoked mixed feelings for us as organizers. The trip started on a very disappointing note, though we expected atleast 10 participants (as confirmed the night before) only 5 them turned up! I personaly was considering canceling the trek as advised in the initial advertisement of the trek that though there wasn't a limit on the maximum number of participants we needed a minimum of 10 participants, however we decided to continue with the plan.

We started off on our first trek at about 7:45. With a chai break while waiting for couple of participants at Katraj we reached Gunjawane - the base to the Rajgad trek, at about 9:30. We had a mini breakfast at the base and started our trek. The weather was punishing and the sun was beating us down. The walk up was tiring but we stopped frequently and kept a slow pace to the trek. On a lighter note we were looking for the next tree to make our next stop and later on we didnt even need a tree to stop under!!

We reached atop the fort by about 01:15 and our lunch was waiting for us. After splashing some water on ourselves from the Padmavati 'Talav' we had our lunch behind the temple near the 'deep stambh'.

After resting for sometime and regaining some strength we decided to explore the fort. Since we still were quite tired we decided against exploring the whole fort. Between the 'bale killa' and 'nedh' we decided to go to 'nedh' on the suvela machi. We climbed up the 'nedh' and the view from there was amazing. Even though the entire region was dry it still had a charm about it.

We decided to return by about 04:30 and started the climb down. The climb down though not so strenuous was hard on our thighs. As we closed in towards the base the walk became easier and reached Gunjawane by 6pm. After a drink from the community well of the village and a small tea break, rather a cold drink break we started our ride back to Pune.

The trek all in all was a good experiance and a good start to the season and we intend to organize a few more in the coming weeks and sure do hope better participants in the future treks!!

Participants

Ernest Christy, Ashutosh Kumar, Lovkesh Chaturvedi, Prasad Kulkarni, Vinayak and Joshua