Jungle trails of Mahabaleshwar

01.22.09
9:00 am

Jungle trails of Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar has these beautiful paths in the forest from which you can access remote lookout points. Since it's a bit of a walk to get to these, you'll generally find complete solitude at these places. I walked back from Old Mahabaleshwar yesterday evening - it was a lovely 2.5 hour walk through gentle trails in the forests with a couple of detours along the way to check out a lookout point and Dhobi waterfalls. The waterfall wasn't spectacular, I imagine it's much nicer after the monsoons in sept/oct. However, the place where I was sitting was spectacular. It was a nice open plateau overlooking the waterfalls, the forests below, the ghats and the Konya valley off in the distance.

Sitting by the cliffs, I could hear langurs down below. I was straining to see something in the trees, when all of a sudden I see this flying monkey on the tree canopies far below. It was beautiful. Then he disappeared, except for the movement of the branches. I didn't see any other wildlife other than a possum like creature. The jungle paths are used by locals that work on the bee farm, so they're only busy in the evenings. During the day, when I was walking, I didn't see a soul for the most part except around 5:30ish I started to see people. I did hear horns and cars so I knew I was close to the road and going in the right direction - though I imagine it is pretty hard to get lost here.

I would recommend exploring Mahabaleshwar by taking these long walks in the forest!