Gaganbavda Hill Station

Located in the Kolhapure district of Maharashtra, Gagan Bavda is a relatively lesser known hill station but not denying the fact that Gagan Bavda is also amongst the Top 10 most beautiful hill stations of Maharashtra. The hill station is famous for its serene environment and majestic views of the Konkan Coastal region and the Karul Ghat. Gagan Bavda is also the pefect place for those who love trekking. Though it’s a little tiring journey of around 400kms from Mumbai, but its surely worth a visit with your friends and family.

How to reach Gaganbawda:

From Gaganbawada bus stand, road to the left will take one to the Karul Ghat and road to the right will take you to the Bhuibawada Ghat. The Karul Ghat starts immediately after Gaganbawada village which is  1 km. from bus stand. Karul Ghat goes towards Northern part of Sindhudurg District. Tha quality of road is good. Length of Karul Ghat is 11 km. The entire ghat comes under the administration of Vaibhavwadi Tehsil of Sindhudurg. This ghat is beautiful and very scenic in monsoon. This ghat ends just before Vaibhavwadi and the state highway ends at Talere village (NH 17).

Interesting Points of Gaganbawda are :

1. Karul Ghat & Bhuibawada Ghat  are one of the most scenic routes which originate from Gaganbawada and connect the Deccan Plateau to coastal region, Konkan, of Maharashtra. Karul Ghat descends towards Vaibbhavwadi and is 19 km in length. The road condition is pretty good. This route further goes up to Talere and meets NH17 (Mumbai-Goa highway). Bhuibawada Ghat is smaller compared to Karul and descends towards Bhuibawada Village. This ghat is of 11 km but road is narrow and not in good condition. Both The ghats have scenic views of valleys and hills. At the start of Karul and Bhuibawada ghats near Gaganbawada we can enjoy the sun set.

2.Gagangad Fort and Gagangiri Ashram – 1 km from Gaganbawada town lay ruins of Gagangad Fort is 1 km. from . During British rule it was the headquarters of Gaganbawada tehsil, comprising around 243 square miles now known as Sidhudurg District. There are a small mosque and Bhavani temple in the fort. The guarding walls of the fort can be seen at some places. During his early penance days Shri Gagangiri Maharaj settled in a cave known as Garbhagiri near the fort and perfected his tantrik techniques. Now there is a temple of Gurudatta and ashram of devotees of Shri Gagangiri Maharaj. During Datta jayanti, a large number of devotees visit the place and it is one of the main festivals of Gaganbawada town.

3. Hiking lovers must visit Morjai Plateau near Gaganbawada ; Morjai plateau is 8 km from the town.  Is perfect example of “Sada Ecosystem”. We can drive down till the base of plateau and then hike up generally  hiking takes about 45 minutes to reach the top. On the plateau there is  unique cave temple of Morjai goddess, people came to solve their disputes in front of her. At the end of monsoon , the plateau looks like  a flower carpet like “Kaas Pathar” of Kolhapur district.

5. Pandav Caves, also known as Ramling are 8 km from Gagagnbawada. These caves are located near  Palsambe village. There is  monolithic structures, “Sadhana Ghar”.  During ancient days people were used it for meditation . The references of these caves are found in the literature dating back to 5th century.

6. D. Y. Patil Sugar Factory is also one of the attractive place for people who are eager to understand the process of sugar making. If you are lucky one of the engineers may accompany you and explain the process in detail.

7. Next to the sugar factory stands the magnificent Bavdekar Bungalow; of  Jahagirdar of Gaganbawada Shri Madhavrao Pandit Pant Amatya. It is well maintained and has been featured in few movies and serials, its featured in the 2004 Marathi film (पछाडलेला) Pachhadlela. The heirs of Shri Madhavrao are planning to start a small museum in this bungalow soon.

8.  Sarounded forest of Gaganbawada is vary  rich in biodiversity. In the forest we found more than 120 species of birds, 50 species of butterflies, 21 species of mammals and also many medicinal plants and herbs.

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