So finally one day after googling and surfing through numerous travel blogs and tourism websites imparting little information we decided to explore the less known and the only hill station of Gujarat,Saputara.
We were running on a moderate travel budget and this place being on the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra and quite near to Mumbai we decided to choose it as our weekend break from the hustle bustle of thecity life.
We started our journey early morning boarding the passenger shuttle that runs from virar-dahanu-vapi-valsad-Bharuch.Saputara is well connected to major cities so you could get down at vapi,valsad or bilimora while coming from mumbai.we alighted at valsad station.the bus stop is within 2 minutes reach from railway station and there are direct buses from here to saputara.we unfortunately missed the 7.15 am bus by few seconds and had to wait more than 2 hours to boardthe next bus.travel time from valsad to saputara is approximately 4 hours.Apart from state buses there are private vehicles available on the way to bus stop that would cost approximately 3000 Rs.The road to saputara is full of large sugarcane fields and tall teak trees in the vast forest of dang.
We had planned a two night stay and booked a room at a Jain dharamshala on reaching there.Booking a room at most of the hotels is moderately cheap and easy except for weekend holidays.
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| The Jain Temple |
In the evening we decided to check out some tourist spots and hence we headed for the saputara lake.It isa serene decent lake and there are boating facilities available here. The little market with stalls of batata poha,vada pav,tea and pav bhaji along with vendors selling fresh strawberries and guava could be seen here.We took half hour to row across the small and peaceful lake and then headed towards the tribal museum and fish aquarium situated just near the lake.Its true the musuem is closed on public holidays and open till 5.30 pm.It was some ten minutes left that the receptionist allowed us to have a look inside until the gatekeeper arriveswithout a entry ticket ofRs 5 each.We hardly had a look of some tribal slides and artifacts and were forced to leave and decide to arrive the next day but unfortunately the next day in afternoon since there was no electricity we were recommended to visit later and we missed visiting the museum on our trip as we had other points remaining to visit.The fish aquarium is a small room with around 25 fish tanks of diffferent varieties of fish and overall it is ok.The winter evening begin early and we tried to look for the rose garden asking the locals for the directions and at last we reached a place seemed ro be like a small garden but no roses.Moreover the entrance was closed and the road was getting dug for some construction work.we headed to find a decent hotel for dinner which we had at hotel purohit which offers only gujarati thali.The food was ok and at around 8.30 pm we took a small evening walk beneath the unpolluted sky filled with twinklingstars and reached our room.
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| The Saputara Lake |
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| The fountain circle at the saputara market |
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| Sunrise in Saputara |
The second day we hired a tourist guide for the day and left for Gira waterfalls and Botanical gardens situated in waghai after having lunch.It had stopped raining couple of months back and hence we could see very little of the waterfalls.There are stalls selling bamboo made handicraft items,we purchased a couple of them after spending half an hour and headed for botanical gardens hardly five to ten minutes away.the entrance to the gardens is free and good but that is all.
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| Gira Waterfalls |
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| Shop selling bamboo made items near the waterfalls |
Deep withinthe gardens look more like forest pathways which reminded me of the jungle roads of Matheran.The garden is divided into various plots and we tried to cover the major ones in an hour as we were getting late to reach back to saputara for the sunset point.We had decided to skip the visit to vansda national park as one of the tourist guide had mention that the safari drive might be closed.Also since we moved out after lunch it was not possible for us to cover all the spots in one day.
The Botanical Gardens,Waghai
It took an hour drive to reach the vaity ropeway resort which maintains the rope way facility to and fro the sunset point at the cost of Rs 50 each.We reached there in nick of time as it closes just after sunset.there were two to three rides left behind us.It is a slow ten minutes ride with a halt of a two minutes in the centre and the passenger is not allowed to alight at the other end.We were lucky to see the sunset while sitting under the ropeway car.Thereafter we headed straight toward the lake which has a small market selling all the items from lonavala including chikki,jelly and jams.we bought some of them.There is no specific item that is just available here but you may buy the bamboo made handicrafts as a souvenir of this tiny hill station.We had our dinner at Shilpi inn hotel.The food was delicious and it costs on an average of Rs 800-1000 for a family.
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| The Vaity Ropeway Resort |
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| The Sunset as seen from the Ropeway |
The next morning we had our breakfast in dharmshala and headed for the saputara bus stop situated near the lake.we had enquire earlier about bus timings forvalsad but as the bus would leavw late at 3.00 in noon we boarded the 10.40 am bus heading to chikli after buying some fresh strawberries.The bus driver had suggested that we would get many state busesfrom chikli.It took us around three hours to reach from where we got a bus for valsad within fifteen minutes.We ended our journey by catching the 4.30 pm shuttle starting from valsad towards dahanu road.
To sum it up, it was an overall good trip.For those who enjoy adrenaline rush there are activities carried here such as paragliding and gokarting.But at a first glance Saputara is definitely a place to just chill out and relax in the beauty of the flaura and fauna of the Dang forests.There are less tourist spots to visit and it is definitely not overcrowded most of the times of the year which makes it an ideal place for a silent and serene vacation.Having been to many other hill stations of the nearby state MaharashtraI would definitely like to compare it with Matheran.Matheran is also a small hill station but it is completely covered with forests and red soil and the only way to explore is by walk as vehicles aren't allowed here.There are many points from wheretourists can have beautiful view of the valley which is quite missing in saputara but I loved the tall teak plantations stretching across the enrire hillstation.The jewel of saputara is the lake with boating and rowing facilities where as Matheran doesn't have one but it has a charlotte lake and dam just for sightseeing.Matheran is famous for chocolate fudge,chikki and jellies whereas in saputara mostly chikki and jelly from lonavala are generally being sold here.But I loved the fresh sweet strawberries and the bamboo made handivraft items bought from here.Lastly if you are coming from MumbaiMatheran is quite near as compared to Saputara which is actually near from Nashik.So to pick up just one from the two it is not easy but I would definitely like to visit both in the order of Matheran first and then Saputara.
Happy reading,travelling and a merry christmas!
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