Trek: Sandhan Valley, Asia's 2nd most beautiful valley

Hello people,
Monsoon is here. So take a break & let me take you a Visual tour of my trek to Sandhan Valley. Asia's 2nd most Beautiful valley.

My colleague & Friend Reuben messaged me that his group is conducting a trek to Sandhan Valley on 22nd August 2015. I have trekked with his group before to Ajoba Parvat, again a monsoon trek.
This was a 1 day trek & on a Saturday, so I agreed immediately. I messaged my younger sister Asawari & she agreed to join in. My mom's friends daughter Bhakti wanted to join too. Both of them 1st time trekkers. So I HAD to go now ;)

Sandhan valley also called the Valley of Shadows is located in Nashik region. 165kms from Igatpuri. The base village is called Samrad. We started from Thane at 7:30 am, reached the base village at 12pm with one halt.

Singing all the way. Gana Bajana full on !

 If you are with Reuben, Sumi & Salil there has to be a Live orchestra playing non-stop on both sides of the way. Reuben is an exceptional singer, can belt out oldies, jingles with full background score. Plus if the crowd joins in then its Super fun. This was what happened on this trek too.
We were 43 of us including 3 young boys.

Fog, showers, smell of wet mud, cool winds, streams,waterfalls,.... everywhere.

Beautiful na? Check the lil island.

A part of the Bhandardara dam

Sandhan Valley, base village Samrad

If you can read Marathi, check the sign post giving directions & declaring Sandhan Valley, Asia's 2nd most beautiful valley. This was the base village, Samrad. 

Here our Guide Dutta, had a house where we freshened up & kept our bags. We were advised to carry only our windcheaters/raincoats, caps. Water was being carried by the team leaders.

There are no shops around here. Nor toilets, so be prepared to go in the open :D

Thumbalina, guess this one is called.

The mountains continued to play hide and seek with fog & clouds. Slight drizzles to cool us down in between.

We trekked for 30-40 mins and came to this cliff. There it was drizzling or so we thought from far off.
On nearing we saw water getting sprayed, but couldnt figure out from where. Once there we saw the waterfall and the valley below. The wind was blowing so hard in the valley, it sprayed the water upwards.
Pleasant and Super Phenomena to experience LIVE. Full paisa vasool :)

Check the video to Re Live it :)

The waterfall and the spray. Its not haze, I tell you.

In winter, you can sit here like its a Jacuzzi. Pitch your tents, no one to disturb. Hardly a soul stirs here. Till few years ago, the village and the valley was hardly known.

The Konkan kadda.

Such picturesque waterfalls throughout the way

Same waterfall from opposite side

Check, the wind hardly lets the water reach the base of the water. It tosses it back up :D

Waterfalls, streams, lush green mountain range

Our guide Dutta, guided us towards the Sandhan valley now. He said we could go on top of the mountains where the edges meet each other. The distance between them were so small you would think you can jump and cross over. But even experienced, lithe mountain goats dropped down the fatal gaps. So we just hiked towards the mouth of the valley.

Mouth of the valley with gushing water.

The valley in monsoon fills up with strong current of waters. Right now the water was neck deep. Our group of novice trekkers and kids was not fit to make the trek. So we decided to just check the mouth of the valley and return to base village.

Mouth of valley

The mouth of the valley. Google images to get an idea of how deep and narrow the passage into the valley is.

A natural pool with a strong shower

Our PS3 loving and resort experienced young trekkers were hooked to this natural water ride after the first forced head dunking. Most of us cooled ourselves here. Experienced trekker now Sumi, hiked down some more.
My sis Asawari, unfortunately slipped and got a cut on her ear. She was given immediate first-aid and she enjoyed the trek back.
After returning and changing our wet clothes, we were served authentic Maharashtrian food. We had given our food preference of Veg/Non veg when registering. Zunka bhakar, batata rasa, varan bhat. Slurp. It was a much needed and loved by all.

My veg authentic Maharashtrian thali. Followed by varan bhat, yummy !

Our trek organizers having their well deserved lunch

Last roll call for the day

Vote of thanks for the day to our Dutta in yellow Tshirt. He has been trained by a Trekking group and has equipment, knowledge, experience to cross this adventurous Valley of Shadow.

I hope to do the full trek sometime in winter. Obviously it will be a night stay in the open below the stars lit sky.
Would love it, I am sure.

Check out some more Trekking posts to get in the mood ;)Travel
Trek: Ajoba Mountain, Valmiki ashram-samadhi, luv-kush cave 
Trek: Kalsubai peak Maharashtra's Mount Everest 6th nov 2011 
Travel: Raigad Fort Trek 2009
Trek:Karnala Fort
Trek-River rafting at Kolad
Travel- Kanheri caves !
Trek: Tungareshwar-2010

Bye. Take care. Go Trekking this monsoon season.