Vispur Fort Trek - Younger brother of Lohagad Fort

 

Commence Date : 26-Dec-2019

Mode of Transport : Train

History of the fort Visapur

 

              Visapur fort situated at 3556 feet above sea level. In the mountain of Visapur, Bhaje caves are there which was carved by Pandavas. Inside the fort, there is one ancient encryption on the water tank which is written in Bramhi font by seeing this we can come to know how old this fort is. Bramhi font is used in the ancient Satvahan era of about 1500 to 2000 years back (100 – 70 BCE)

 

        This fort was rebuilt and made stronger by Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath of Maratha emperor in the year between 1717 to 1720. In the year 1818 British capture this fort and started bombarding on Lohagad fort as the height of Vispur fort is more than Lohagad fort and the very next day, Lohagad fort was also concurred by British. You will not see any entrance gate on Visapur fort-like other forts because the British army destroys all gates and routs coming towards the fort so that in the future Maratha army will not capture and reuse the fort again against the British army.

 

Travel and Trekking Experience

  

    We started our journey from CSMT station (Mumbai) at 6.40 AM via Mumbai Pune Intercity express and got down at Lonavala station around 9:10 AM. I had made breakfast outside Lonavala station at Anand restaurant (Dhaba) as we had to wait for a Pune local train. We took Pune local at 10.10 AM and got to the very next station at Malavli.

    We got down at Malavli around 10:20 AM and started walking towards Visapur fort. We took a left from the end of the bridge which is over the Pune express highway to reach Patan village, as we decided to take the Patan route to ascend. Initially, we took the help of villagers to get on the correct path. The trek route from Patan village gives you a mesmerizing experience. Dense forest and small waterfalls give you a heaven. While ascending, keep Patan village on the left and Visapur fort on the right and there is an arrow marking on the rocks to guide you. You can see fortifications after you complete half the trek.

You can reach Malavli Station in 10 mins
from Lonavala Station

A signboard on the overhead bridge

   It takes around 2 Hrs to reach the top. We reached around 12.30 pm. To explore the complete fort it took around 3 to 4 hrs. The view of Lohagad and Pawna lake from Visapur fort is awesome. Due to the time limit (we decided to board Pune intercity from Lonavala at 6:45 PM) we started descending and reached around 3:30 PM at Lohagadwadi (waterfall) and reached the base of the fort at 4:30 PM. By walking we, reach the Lohagad route at there we took tea and snack, we decided to do lunch at Lonavala as we have to catch Lonavala local and Pune Mumbai Intercity express (take the help of the M-indicator app for train timing and plan accordingly). with the help of local tempo, we reach Malavli station at 5:15 PM. We catch Pune Lonavla local at Malavli at 5:30 PM and reach Lonavala at 5:45 PM.

Cannon on the fort

Fortification wall

   We had lunch at Lonavala station and did some shopping and at 6:47 PM we boarded the Pune Mumbai intercity express. (Note:- do reservation. To enter, in general, bogi is very very difficult). We reached Mumbai (Dadar station) around 9:40 pm. 

Places to see on the fort

Water cisterns
Lord Shiva temple
Sadar or Peshwa Wada
Fortification
Lord Hanuman carving
Canons

 

Places to see nearby

If you plan your journey well and you are a regular trekker then you can visit a minimum of three and a maximum of four places.

1. Bhaje Caves,

2. Visapur Fort,

3. Lohagad Fort,

4. Karla Caves / Ekvira Devi temple

Shivling on the fort (Shiva Temple)

Dipstamb

Fortification wall

Fortification wall

Water tank