A visit to Karnala fort

1^st September 2012, this was the day when we broke our boundaries to explore the world outside our city. Karnala is located on the National Highway 17 (NH17), which is the most accident prone highway in India. Our travel commenced at 8:30 am in the morning from Mira-Road and it took us about 3hrs to reach Karnala.

We travelled by road and getting there was a fun experience as much it was after we reached the place. The route we took was the one suggested as the shortest by google maps. No matter how much you hate a wet day but when travelling on an open road with lush green surroundings along the way it will really grow on you.

We had gone during the monsoons which according to me was the best time to visit Karnala, as the weather was calm and we got to see greenery on either side of the road. The Bird sanctuary was gigantic, literally green and extremely clean. The authorities made sure that we were not carrying any sort of plastic into the sanctuary to ensure that we do not litter around, thereby conserving the natural habitat.

It is said that one should be very lucky to see birds in Karnala and we were not. The only bird we saw was a peacock and an injured eagle which were kept in cages.

As planned we started trekking towards Karnala fort. The trek felt pretty basic at the start which started getting a bit hard every passing second.. Good that we carried enough water and food with us as there was no other source of getting any along the way to the top.
After trekking for around 2 hrs, we were startled by something heavenly, the beauty of the Western Ghats.

Once you get through trekking the difficult part, there’s a 10min long flat stretch. Here is where you get reassured that your climb will be worth it. From here we could finally get a glimpse of the fort and the peak.


There was a red flag waving at the top of the fort and that’s where we thought we were headed, but when we reached the top we realized that we were going towards heaven!!!

This is what the gateway to heaven looked like!!

The joy of reaching the top of the hill and viewing the surroundings is something that cannot be explained enough. You can literally feel the clouds touching you!!!

After clicking away at our hearts content, we headed back down. It took us more than 3 hrs to trek all the way to the top, getting back down was quite fast.

Overall the trek was exhausting and at the same time it felt like a refreshing break from the hackneyed city life.

This was the first getaway our group experienced and there are many more to come……