Matheran……not a familiar destination for people who haven’t been to this part of Maharashtra. It is nested in one of beautiful Khandala ghat region. For people who are really tired of their daily routine…this place is a real and a quick getaway. A beautiful little place is an hour’s journey from Bombay by train. Get on to any train that goes to NERUL; yes that’s the station you will have to alight to get to Matheran. For spending a good part of the day here start early from Bombay.
Travel facts: Board a train from Mumbai – it’s the fastest way to get there.
A bird’s eye view of the place is seen as the train approaches Nerul station. The amazing silence here makes you wonder are you really away from those crazy vehicles and the large crowd that you see every day around you?. You can hire a taxi till the top of the hill, beyond which vehicles are a strict NO. During summer you also take a toy train till the parking place, which also is a smooth but slow ride, giving you the utmost view of the place.
Travel Facts: “no vehicles allowed beyond a certain point. How do you continue? A good trekking experience or simply get a horse”
From the point that you will alight from the taxi / train, the real experience of Matheran begins. Get a horse (that should cost you around 300 /- a horse – one way recommended – price as in 2008) unless you feel the urge for a long trek. Our journey (Sudipto, Vishal, Yatna, Bharat, Aatish, Sowmik and Me) to Matheran started at 7 am with rains expected anytime. On reaching the point it was rain rain everywhere. We bought some make shift rain coats available ready at the stores there. From here the horseback ride started. The horses here were named after some famous sports personalities like Dhoni, Ganguly, Sachin and so on. The guide who would accompany you with the horses is the best reliable man who would show you around. We were shown a couple of different places around where each view is different.
Travel tip: Be gentle to the horses as many are siblings and their feelings are easily hurt…..that’s a personal experience.
There is a mall stream of water flowing through Matheran as seen from different places changes its size. After a journey of close to 3 hours and some good tea sessions in between we stopped for a little long where we reached a place and had a good look at the stream that we saw earlier, wondering if it was the same thin stream that we were looking at the top of the hill. After a tiresome journey it was time to make our trip back to the base camp. We paid around Rs 50 /- per horse as an addition for the wonderful ride, the guide was kind enough to get biscuits out of the money only for the horses and not pocket them. After a good round of vadapaav, onion pakoda and Mirchi bajji’s and chai it was time to get back. Two and a half hours later Bombay was in sight and the journey ended.
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