The Valley of Shadows

Sandhan At Start of the Trek

Trip to Sandhan Valley with TrekMates India was delayed by 2 months. It was scheduled for mid-December when the advance payments were made, however, due to unknown reasons it got postponed. The next slot was in the first week of Feb but was fully occupied. I got a chance in the second slot. Sandhan Valley is gaining popularity as days pass by. It was as usual a much awaited break and my first ever professional trekking experience. With TrekMates I had been to 2 tours, ie. the Konkan - Sindhudurg - Scuba Tour and the Masti Ki Pathshaala picnic. Its a fun group to hang around with and I was expecting some great masti down the trip.

The trek was scheduled as under as per their website. Comments in blue are things to be noted between the lines:

Day 1 - (Starts the night before. Take enough sleep in advance )

Reach Samrad by Private vehicle  (Dont misunderstand the Private Vehicle for a Merc, it was a Jeep)

Rest (For 10 minutes)

Morning Refreshment at base village (Basically "the" introduction round and munch some awesome gud-poli)

07:00 am – Start trek (Started earlier in our case at 6:15AM)

Lunch Midway 

05:30 pm – Reach at base, dinner (awesome pulav) , campfire & stay (#speechless #awesomeness)

Dip in Pond

Day 2 -

Wake Up early 

Finish morning refreshments (Awesome tea and Maggi )

Start descend towards Dehne (Not a descend its a LONG Walk)

Travel Dehne – Dolkhamb and further to Shahapur by local transport

Reach Shahapur by 1:30 pm 

Lunch & proceed for Asangaon

Reach Mumbai by Local train by 08:00 pm (depending upon the railway mega blocks)

We started at 11PM from Thane and boarded the second last train to Kasara, one of the dead ends of Mumbai. Manoj Kalwar was AOing (AO being the hoot to call out TrekMates) at the local train door and helped us to quickly identify the bogey and we boarded. The train had an environment with people from and people not from TrekMates. For the first 10 mins I was experimenting as to who is and who is not waving at us back. By the time we reached Kalyan, I could realize that there were 12-14 mates already present in the compartment. Another 30 minutes and introductions started. There was a set of anxiousness in the air. Whats gonna come our way was unknown for the most as majority of us were newbies.

A Jeep was waiting for us to ferry us till the base camp at 2.00 AM. Another group of 4 joined us at Kasara, it was revelead that they hailed from Pune. Good enough. We were now a strong team of 22 people for the trek.

Moving through the hilly range in the Jeep we halted once for refreshments and continued our journey. We traversed through thick dark roads while being sleepy and exhausted. The Jeep journey was the least memorable as almost everyone was asleep.

We woke up at Samrad where the action began. It was 5.15 AM and Vikram Singh our lead instructed us to move from the village towards the hilly region and so did we. After a quick movement of 20 mins or so, we reached a patch where every one was asked to settle and prepare for the trek. 

Our introductions began, people from different companies, different backgrounds, mixed cultures etc had come in. It was a fun loving group and simultaneously packets of gud-poli (jaggery, flour combination preparation) were offered to all. We all got energized after a power break and started for the epic descend.

We usually relate trekking to ascending a mountain. Sandhan valley is a black swan. Located in the heart of Sahyadris, Sandhan is a descending trek for all the trek lovers worldwide. I would break the entire in a step-wise manner for quick comprehension.

1. Start 

2. Water Patch Crossing

3. Descend through Rocks

4. Rock Patch One : Call for Rappelling

5. Rock Patch Two : Call for a rope assisted descend

6. Rock Patch Three : Call for a rope assisted descend

7. Descend through Rocks

8. Reach Camp Zone and have lunch

9. Dip at the Pool

10. Rest

11. Evening Talk Hosted by Manoj Jalwar

12. Dinner Time

13. Antakshari

14. Rest

15. Early Morning Blues

16. Walk Down the Valley till Shahpur village

17. Lunch Time

18. Post Lunch Masti and back to Asangaon station by "Private Vehicle"

19. Mafia In Train

20. Back Home 

The journey ofcourse was tiring as hell, however, it was an experience worth remembering. People complaining cramps, people complaining strains, I had no complains whatsoever. Every piece was memorable, especially a night spent in the jungle under a sky filled with stars and monkeys hooting around.

Hope you guys get a chance to visit this place. Drop in your comments in case you would like to advice any similar zone.

Photo Credits : Abhineet Prakash