Conquer Your First Trek: Discovering the Beauty of Sondai Fort

Looking for an easy trek to improve your trekking skills and stamina before heading for a big one. Sondai fort is one of the easiest fort which you can accomplish. It is not known by many people.

How to Reach:

By Road:

• From Mumbai it is 74.1 kms.
• From Pune its 107 kms.

Best Time to Visit:

Best time to visit is from July to April.

About Sondai Fort:

Sondai fort is a small hill fort located near Karjat in Raigad district. It is not much popular fort. Basically it was a watch tower. Sondewadi is the base village for this fort. The height of Sondia is 1200 ft.

Trek Details:

Always start your trek as early as possible.  The reason to start trek early morning is that, the climate is the morning is cool which helps to maintain our body temperature  and as time passes by the temperature also increases and the body starts to dehydrate more quickly. We had started our journey at 8 in the morning. It takes 30-40 mins from Panvel to reach the base village by road. For this trek one of my friend from Dombivali and my younger brother joined me and we used Maruti Suzuki Ertiga VDi to travel. 

Please refer google map while travelling.  The road till the base village is narrow and is in good condition. While travelling towards the base village (Sonewadi) you will pass by one end of Morbe dam. At the base village you can park your vehicle. It takes almost 1.5 hrs to reach the top. As this place is not known by many people, you will find very less crowd. It’s a best place for the people who want to spend some quality time in nature with less crowd around them.

When you reach the base village, at the left you could see the hill fort and a tar road leads toward the fort. About 250 m you have to take a left from the road, there is a rocky path which will lead you to the fort. The path is clearly visible. The road is rocky and muddy, so kindly carry a stick for support if possible. Local villagers come here for cattle grazing, so if you come across any herd of cows or sheep then there is a chance of some villagers been around you. During the trek we were accompanied by a dog, who guided us till the top. This trek is full of steep climb and small plateau. 

During monsoon you will find this trek bit difficult. You will come across a small rocky path where water flows and its bit slippery, so be careful and take the support of the ground by leaning over it. Before reaching the top you have to climb 2 iron ladders. These iron ladder’s footsteps were small as compared to a normal ladder.  During our trek we named the dog as “Tiger”. Our guide Tiger reached the top first. There are 2 water cisterns on the fort and also you can find steps carved on the stones to reach the top of the fort. When we reached the top, we rewarded the dog with some biscuits and water for guiding us.

At the top there is a small temple of Goddess Sondai. The name Sondia fort is derived from the Devi Sondai. From the top of the fort you a mesmerizing 360 view of the surrounding mountains.  Morbe dam, Irshalgad, Matheran, Prabalgad, Karnala fort, Songiri fort and Rajmachi fort can be viewed from the top.

While descending Tiger again guided us and when were about to reach the base of the fort, Tiger just ran into the woods. We didn’t knew where he came from and where he went, but his company made our trek joyful and we felt protected.

While returning back you can take a halt and get fresh at shore of the Morbe dam.

Note:

Keep our forts clean and do not litter. Also if you are going for a trek for the first time ask your friends or family member to accompany you or go someone who has a bit of experience in trekking, as it would be helpful if you get into tricky situation.

Things to carry:

• 2-3 liter Water 
• Wear full pants and full sleeves t-shirts
• Wear Trekking shoes as they provide a good grip
• Cap / Sun cream / Glares
• Dry fruits / Energy bars / Dry snacks (Glucos Biscuits)
• Glucon-D / Tang
• Napkin
• ID proof