Motorbike Ride to Vardayini Falls, Maharashtra

Each season has its own advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of the monsoon season, I think, beats all other seasons, which is, bringing out the nature’s beauty that is usually hidden. During one such beautiful rainy days, this trip came to life.

I am part of this amazing motorbike riders group called “BladeRunnerzzz.” A group of passionate riders had formed this group and has been active in the city of Pune for three years now. Like our own nature, this group picks up its pace during monsoon to soak up the beauty all round. Being one of the riders in the group, my wife and I got an opportunity to ride along to this beautiful waterfalls spot – Vardayini.

Vardayini waterfall is within the Kherwadi village that falls on the Mumbai-Goa highway. We started our ride from Pune around 5:30 AM in the morning. It is always fun to ride in a group. We took the usual NH17 route to get to the Mumbai-Goa highway. On the way, we stopped at Lonavala for breakfast at the famous Ramkarishna restaurant. Once we were done with filling up our stomachs, we were back to our main task of being on the road. We parked ourselves a little way ahead and made use of this short and quick break to get a group photograph.

The BladeRunnerzzz in action –

We moved ahead towards our destination and with few enquiries here and there, we finally reached the village. There was a small pathway leading us to the interior parts of the village and finally it ended at the entrance of a house. The occupants were friendly and advised us to park our steeds outside their house. There is no other way from that location but to walk to reach the base of the waterfalls. We not only parked our bikes but we also bothered them to store our riding gears. The people were extremely kind and allowed us to store our gears in one of their rooms. In addition to this, they also invited us to have free lunch at their place on our return. We thanked them and accepted their invitation and moved ahead towards the waterfalls.

The group happily walking towards Vardayini –

As we walked further we noticed that the path was full of dense vegetation. The greenery all around was rejuvenating and we didn’t want to go back.

Group enjoying the greenery all around –

Enjoying the beautiful landscape around us, our eyes finally met the heavenly falls from a distance. We could actually hear the sound now. The sight was just out of the world.

Vardayini falls from a distance –

The sight only made us to increase our pace so as to get to the base of the falls at the earliest. A little ahead, we came across a mini waterfall and a small lake-like formation that had to be passed. We sat down for a while enjoying the serene beauty around us.

Some of those serene moments –

Soon, we crossed this section and moved towards the main waterfalls. The moment we reached, all of us were spellbound looking at the mighty downpour.

First sight of Vardayini falls, up close –

We couldn’t hold ourselves any longer and without any delay all of us made way to the base of the falls. It was not easy for us to park ourselves due to the sheer force and slippery surface. However, we somehow managed to find ourselves space at the base of the falls –

The group enjoying the downpour –

None of us had any idea of how much time did we spend over there and nobody was even initiating the word to get back. Some of us even made attempts to walk away only to go back and get drenched. However, as they say, all good things come to an end, we finally convinced ourselves to make our way back to the villager’s home who had invited us for lunch.

Some moments captured on our walk back –

The walk back through the dense vegetation was equally energizing and now we were blessed by Rain God with some mild showers. We reached the villager’s home where our bikes were parked. The occupants were, once again, extremely kind and offered us water to clean ourselves. The mild showers had just stopped and hence it was a bit humid. The occupants went ahead and arranged for some table fans – mind-blowing when it comes to treating guests.

Soon we moved towards an open space where they had put up a canopy. We sat down on the floor in a line ready to pounce on the food. We were first served dry-leave thali followed by delicious veg food. All of us enjoyed each and every morsel and in fact found it difficult to get up after the food – we ate so much :)

After lunch, we sat there for a while allowing the food to settle down, exchanged appreciative notes about the destination and started our ride back home.

In all, it was an amazing trip and a place that should be visited during the monsoon season. Visiting places like this only makes us realize that our country definitely is a repository of heavenly destinations – there is so much to explore…