We drove to madhuban dam which is located near Silvassa on the daman ganga river. Though it was hot ,it was also quite breezy. Getting so up close to a dam was a first time experience . The view of the water body created due to the dam is wonderful from the viewpoint.
Then we drove to dudhani lake. We even stopped on the way at a hill which gave a view of the lake from the a height.
Once we reached dudhani lake, we took boats for boating. The boat looked like a shikara from Kashmir and was rowed by a boatman. Imagine watching a pink sunset from a shikara like boat.
We had dinner at Silvassa hotel pioneer.
Next day we drove to saputara club mahindra hathgad.
Things we saw at hathgad, saputara :
Hathgad fort- we started a little late, but the advantage of that was we had the entire fort and the road leading to it, to ourselves. The trek begins just 2 minutes outside from club mahindra property. Though the road for trekking is good, it's a steep climb. Even though we started @9 ,the climate was still cool, bright & sunny. The fort offers 360 degree view of the entire area since it is located on a hilltop. The view is superb and great for connecting with nature . We were done with trekking up & down and spending time on the fort, in 1.5 hours.
In & around saputara
We bought honey from the honey bee center.
Step garden- there are steps created and on each level there are flowers planted. Its pretty but at the same time really small. We had amazing kadak tea at a small bamboo tea stall in the garden.
Lake garden- its called that because it's a garden adjoining the lake. You can see the lake & the people boating on it.
Sunset point- there is a rope way which takes you to it but we preferred the 1km walk up to the point. There are bikes on rent too, incase people don't feel like walking. We saw the sun go red before it disappeared.
For dinner we had street food of pav bhaji & vegetable nimbumari omelette. It was delicious and sinful ( not just the butter but also not forgetting Corona).
We also bought strawberries & grapes off the road at 50 rs for 250 gm of both. Also if in saputara eating the strawberries is a must.
Mangi tungi - you can climb the peaks by foot or reach nearly halfway by car. We decided to go by foot and climb the 3500 steps. It is easier said than done. We were exhausted by the time we reached till where the car takes you. There is a 108 feet jain idol of Rishabhdev bhagwan also there. We climbed further and decided we will do tungi first. While climbing mangi tungi you have to climb dizzying heights by steps . It was scary from the top but when we sat down in front of the idol in a shade with a breeze blowing it was divine. The summer heat completely drained us , so on the way back we decided to take the car offered by the trust that runs mangi tungi, for Rs. 50 per person. Unfortunately the statue is too big to be photographed from below it , & the monkeys seemed to have taken a liking to us & followed us everywhere. There was a monkey waiting for us at the crossways for mangi and tungi, when we tried to climb mangi ,& that was another reason to cancel walking up mangi.
On our day 3 in saputara we decided to give our legs a rest. In the early evening we went to a strawberry farm. There was an onion farm & corn farm adjoining the strawberry farm . It gave us a peek into a farmer's life.
Bought some strawberry from them as well.
In the evening we did paragliding. We were doing it for the first time. I went first. Initially it was scary but soon I started enjoying. I felt like a bird flying in the air. We flew towards the sun and it was wonderful. Snehal did the paragliding during sunset , flying towards the red sun.
The mini vacation ends with this flight in the sky with a parachute and without a plane.
Informative blog.
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