Mango Picking & Tasting in Ratnagiri

How Mango-Mad Are You? 

by Shruti Karkhedkar

Ratnagiri - A land of virgin beaches, cozy and welcoming home-stays, delicious sea food and yes a land of well known Ratnagiri Alphonso (Hapus) Mangoes. Having said that, it is a given that one would click on the ‘Going’ button immediately when a ‘Mango Tasting Tour to Ratnagiri’ is announced. The three day trip from the 16 to 18 May 2014 was organized by The Western Routes, a Pune-based travel company to Ganeshgule, a small village in the Ratnagiri district.

Freshly cut Hapus Mangoes | Photo: Medha Sahasrabudhe

Day 1

We started at 6 am from Pune all packed for a long weekend by the beach. The journey was rather enjoyable and very scenic, particularly after Karad city from where we left the NH-4 and took the smaller village roads. The recent sporadic drizzle had started painting the forests of the Western Ghats with different hues of green which contrasted with the bright blue summer skies and called for a snapshot by every twist and turn round the Ghats. The six hour drive had increased our craving for the much awaited mango meal by a zillion times. 

When we reached the home-stay, were welcomed by Mithil Pitre our host at Ganeshgule. Mithil welcomed us with glasses of cold Panha; a sweet and refreshing drink made with raw mangoes. Mithil runs a home-stay by the beach at Ganeshgule called 'Oceano Pearl’. Our welcome was followed by a wholesome mango meal with unlimited Aamras (fresh mango pulp), plates full of freshly cut mangoes and the regular Maharashtrian thali delicacies – sol kadhi, bhakri, amti and koshimbir.

After lunch and some rest, we visited the Ganeshgule Ganpati temple. The Ganeshgule temple is about 400 years old and is one of the few south-facing temples in India. One of the villagers at the temple narrated a folklore of Lord Ganesha shifting to Ganpatipule from Ganeshgule after the water stopped surging from his navel! 

Once back at the home-stay the next inevitable thing to do was to head to the beach which is literally a hop, skip and a jump away from the home-stay. The Ganeshgule beach is not known to many and hence the feeling of solace adds to the beauty of this white sand beach. We spent rest of the evening taking photographs of the sunset, swimming in the sea and walking by the sea shore. The thoughts of more mangoes awaiting us at the dinner table lured us back to the home-stay.

Ganeshgule Beach | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Ganeshgule Beach | Photo: Jayesh Paranjape

Ganeshgule Beach | Photo: Shruti Karkhedkar

Time-lapse video of the sunset at Ganeshgule beach by Raphael Baumann

Day 2

We started the day with a sabudana khichadi breakfast. Sightseeing was the agenda for the day and Aare-Ware beach our first pit-stop. The Aare and Ware beaches lie next to one another and are separated by a hill. We stopped at a turning on this hill to admire the scenic horizon over the two beaches. Some strategically located shacks served us kokum sarbat, tender coconut water and bhel with loads of kairee (raw mango) pieces.

We then headed to the Ganpatipule temple which is one the most visited and most revered temples in Maharashtra. Needless to say hoards of worshippers awaited their turn to be blessed by the deity. We decided to skip this and take a few clicks of the temple instead. Although constructed recently this red and white structure is aesthetically very appealing unlike many of the modern temple structures.

Ganpatipule Temple | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Ganpatipule Temple | Photo: Raphael Baumann

A trip to Konkan is incomplete without sea-food. On recommendation by a lot of people we had our lunch at Hotel Amantran in Ratnagiri. The lunch was perfect with its crunchy prawn tawa fry, perfectly cooked pomfret fry and a mouth watering surmai. We ended the meal with a rather generous helping of amrakhand (Srikhand with mango pulp). Visit to the Thibaw Palace came next. The palace was used for keeping Thibaw Min, the last king of Burma (now Myanmar) under house arrest.  The palace is now used as museum and a number of artifacts excavated from the Konkan region are on display here.

Surmai Fry Thali

Thibaw Palace | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Our next destination was Purnagad Fort which is said to be the last fort constructed by Shivaji Maharaj, hence the name Purna (Stop) Gad (Fort). At the foot of the Purnagad fort is a rocky sea side and there wasn’t a better way of calling it a day than by sitting on the rocks and getting wet by the splashing sea waves.

Purnagad Fort | Photo: Vidyuth Singh

Purnagad Beach | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Purnagad Beach | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Day 3

The day started with a session of making sand castles by the beach followed by a breakfast of ambolis (pancakes made from rice flour) with coconut chutney. We followed this with a fun session of mango picking at a nearby orchard in Ganeshgule. We got to select ready-to-pick mangoes and then use an ingenious and traditional technique to pick the mangoes.

Mango Picking at Ganeshgule | Photo: Raphael Baumann

Finally with a heavy heart we said bye to our hosts. But we made sure that we bought loads of ‘food’ souvenirs. The perfect spot to do this was at the Deshmukh household in Pawas village who have a small unit where mango and jackfruit pulp is canned. They also sell high quality Alphonso mangoes which are exported across the globe. The advantage of buying Alphonso mangoes directly at the source is that they are almost three times cheaper than in Pune or Mumbai.

We bought mangoes enough to last us this season and with alphonso sweet memories headed back home! 

More details about the Mango Picking & Tasting Tour for 2015 is on their Facebook page  or on the event page here

This travel story first appeared in the Mumbai edition of Mid-Day in May 2014. Read the full story here

The Heart-throb of Umred-Karhandla

Meet Jai

This magnificent Tiger is the heart throb of the woods of Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Tadoba Tiger Reserve. About 2 years ago Jai and his friend Veeru roamed in the jungles of Nagzira Tiger Reserve. And then one day they were no where to be seen. The forest guards thought they had been killed by poachers when the duo didn't return for months. Fortunately, Jai was spotted again in 2013 in Umred Karhandla. However, no one knows the where abouts of Veeru.

Join The Western Routes as we head to the jungles of Tadoba and Umred Karhandla this summer to sight this charismatic species! More details on our Facebook page!

All Photos of Jai taken by Aniket Sayam at Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary

AN OCTOPUSSY SURPRISE!

AN OCTOPUSSY SURPRISE! 

Look what we found as we waited to be ferried across the Savitri River! While looking for mud-skippers at the Bankot creek this octopus made a surprise appearance! We went crazy photographing this beautiful creature! 

Commonly known as 'Monsters of the Sea' these molluscs are abundantly found in tropical warm waters. These active predators are considered among the most intelligent invertebrates. They feed on crabs, shrimps and lobsters and can even attack sharks. They drop on their prey and with the help of the suckers on their arms pull the organism into their mouth. Their saliva is venomous and helps to subdue the prey. The Octopus is known for its defence mechanism. When threatened it releases an inky fluid from the ink sac which darkens the water and helps it escape. At times the octopus can lose its arm to escape the predator and re-grow it later without any permanent damage!

Photo: Vikram Vyawahare

Photo: Vikram Vyawahare

Photo: Aniket Sayam

Our next trip to experience the Turtle Festival at Velas is coming up on 7-8 March 2015. More details on our Facebook page! 

www.facebook.com/thewesternroutes

Fish Auction @ Harnai

FISH AUCTION AT HARNAI BEACH

A photo-feature by Vinit Godbole

Harnai or more commonly Harne is a coastal village in the Ratnagiri district of Konkan. It is around 15 km from Dapoli and neighbors beautiful beaches of Murud, Karde and Anjarle. Being one of the natural harbors, Harnai is an ideal wharf for fish trading. The fish auction at Harnai village is one of the most sought after events in the area and is a daily custom held in the morning from 7 am to 9 am and in the evening from 4 pm to 7 pm. The market is known to sell different varieties of fish like Pomfret, Surmai, Tiger Prawns, Squids, Lobsters, Sting rays, Mackerel, and many more. The auction lures many travelers and photographers. Tourists can indulge in the fish fest of betting and auctioning. Apart from fish, Harnai is also known for the magnificent Harnai Fort located on the northern front of the village.

Find this destination in the Uncharted Konkan Lands itineraries with The Western Routes. More details on www.thewesternroutes.com/tours

Velas – The Turtle Village!

Velas – Village of Turtles & More! 

By Jayesh Paranjape

There are some wildlife spectacles or events around the world that are a must-see or must-experience for a wildlife enthusiast like me. Be it the Great Migration at Serengeti in Africa, Brown Bears feasting in Alaska, King Penguin rookery at St. Andrews Bay or the Olive Ridley Turtles nesting and hatching in Orissa. As a kid, I had heard about the Olive Ridley Turtles who swim for thousands of miles and make their way to the Gahirmata Beach in Orissa to lay eggs and dreamt of visiting this place one day. I always wondered how it would be to witness an Animal Planet-like moment when tiny turtle hatchlings, make that journey from the hatched egg to the sea. 

Photo: Anshul Khandelwal

Of course I had never heard or imagined that the Olive Ridleys also had sporadic nesting sites across the western coast too. In 2008, when I was working with Sanctuary Asia (a leading wildlife magazine) I received an invitation to attend the first ever ‘Turtle Festival’ at Velas village in Maharashtra. It was almost like a dream come true. Unfortunately due to busy work schedules, I never got a chance to visit the festival. Since then, every year during March & April, my Facebook newsfeed was occupied by photographs of turtle hatchlings being released and making their way to the sea. In 2012 after a short stint in the UK where I studied responsible tourism management (and often spoken about the eco-tourism model of the turtle festival in Velas), I returned to India and got a chance to visit Velas for the turtle festival! And I got so hooked on to the whole concept that I have been visiting Velas every year since then.

Plus Valley at Tamhini Ghat

We started our journey from Pune early on a Saturday morning. We decided to take the Tamhini Ghat route from Mulshi which is the shortest route to reach Velas by road (around 180 km). The road condition was a bit dodgy, but the stunning views of the valley made up for the bad roads. After a 4 hour bumpy ride through the Tamhini Ghat-Mangaon-Mandangad-Bankot route, we finally arrived in Velas for lunch. We were welcomed by Sunil Darge and his family who were to be our hosts for the next 2 days. After a quick round of chai, we set out to explore the village. 

Velas is the quintessential Konkani village with low thatched sloping roofs, spotless and clean dung-smeared courtyards, narrow roads lined with jackfruit trees and backyards full of coconut, betel nut, kokam and mango trees. Velas is the birth place of Nana Phadnis, one of the most influential ministers of the Maratha Empire during the Peshwe administration. There is a small ‘smarak’ or shrine dedicated to him at his birth-house. Apart from this, there are 2 temples one can visit while in Velas - Shri Bhairi-Rameshwar temple built by the Peshwas and the Mahalaxmi temple which also plays host to a slide show and a film screening in the evening during the turtle festival. 

After a sumptuous home-cooked lunch, which was served on banana leaves, we headed to the Bankot Fort which is around 5 km from Velas. The fort which is strategically located overlooks the sea as well as the Bankot creek of the Savitri River. The view from the fort is stunning, particularly if you visit it early in the morning or late afternoon. A consistent historical timeline or the origin of the Bankot fort is not known. The fort was known to be under the control of Adilshahi and later in 1548, the Portuguese took control over it. The Marathas, under the leadership of Kanhoji Angre took control over Bankot and rechristened it as Himmatgad. When the British took over the fort, the name was changed to Fort Victoria. With its stunning views of the sea and the river, the Bankot fort is a must-visit while one is at Velas. 

After exploring the village and the fort, we headed to Velas beach to see the release of the turtles. The release of turtles happens twice a day – at 6 am and 6 pm. The protection of eggs and marine turtle conservation in Maharashtra was started by a Chiplun based NGO called Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra (SNM) in 2002. The conservation story goes something like this. In February 2001, SNM found evidence of around 35 turtle nests at Velas. Unfortunately they also found that poaching of turtle eggs was quite high as egg poaching is a traditional practice for some communities along the coast of Maharashtra. Add to this, predation of eggs by stray dogs, jackals and crows. In 2002, SNM decided to undertake protection and conservation of turtles at Velas. In first year they protected around 50 nests of the Olive Ridley Turtles and released more than 2700 hatchlings in the sea. Every year, volunteers from SNM patrol the beaches for evidence of nests in the months of December & January. They manually shift the eggs to a protected & barricaded patch on Velas beach and recreate the nest conditions here. Nature takes its course and in around 50-55 days, the eggs hatch and the turtles are ready to make their way to the sea. In 2008, SNM joined hands with the Gram Panchayat at Velas, the residents of Velas village and the forest department office to organize the first ever Turtle Festival. The local community agreed to open their homes and provide accommodation and home-cooked meals to the tourists who come to the festival. They also agreed to donate a part of their earnings and their valuable time and energy for the cause of turtle conservation. The turtle festival at Velas is one of the few examples of community-based eco-tourism in our country. 

In the evening we were lucky to witness the release of more than 40 turtle hatchlings. It is an amazing experience to witness the first walk of these turtles. The Olive Ridley Turtles are an endangered species named for their olive green colour. These turtles migrate thousands of miles once every year for arribada i.e. to lay eggs on the same shore where they had hatched around 15 years back! When the eggs hatch, the hatchlings make their way to the sea and in the process the large quantities of magnetite in their brains helps them to read the Earth’s magnetic field so that they can navigate back to the same shore to nest. It is estimated that approximately one turtle survives to reach adulthood for every 1000 that enter the sea. What a fascinating species! 

Photos: Anshul Khandelwal

Photo: Anagha Bodas

After experiencing the release we came back to our homestay and enjoyed a piping hot meal of jackfruit vegetable with lots of coconut, rice bhakri and of course the Konkani prawn curry made by Sunil’s wife. The next day at 6 am we were back on the beach and saw another 2 hatchlings make their way to the sea. As these two hatchlings made their way to the sea, they were followed by cameras. After lunch we started our journey back en-route Harihareshwar. The ferry boat ride from Bankot to Bagmandla is worth a visit. On the short ferry ride you can sit atop the viewing gallery and beat the heat with a kokum sarbat (juice) which is sold on the boat along with hot yummy wada pav. 

When we reached Pune, I slept peacefully and dreamt of those 2 hatchlings. I dreamt that they had survived against all odds, reached adulthood and had come back to Velas for nesting. After my first visit in 2012, I have gone back to Velas every year for the Turtle Festival and convinced more and more people to join me on these trips! At Velas it is not just about the turtle festival but so much more – the rural life, the food, the history and most importantly the people.

This article was first published for Citadel Magazine, Pune Edition and republished in 'Routes & Trails' July 2014 issue.