A trip to Kaas Plateau

Photography was once described as painting with light.

No prizes for guessing what's there in this blog. An amazing journey into the nature, and the reflections captured by my DSLR.

Most of my treks & trips are driven by an urge to see the beauty of the creation. Post monsoon, nature is at its best in Sahyadri. Rivers, hills, sky, everything in nature offers amazing variety of colours. Kaas plateau is no exception. Come September, flowers start blooming at Kaas.

For those who haven't been there, Kaas is a huge plateau (around 1000 hectars) at an elevation of 3900 ft. It is situated in the Western Ghat Sahyadri range, 25 km from Satara, a district place on the Mumbai Banglore NH4 Highway. The major portion of the plateau is reserve Forest. The plateau is largely formed of basalt which is directly exposed to atmosphere. The basalt rock is covered by a thin cover of soil formed due to erosion and has accumulated a layer of not more than an inch or so.

At certain places water gets accumulated because of uneven surface. The plants growing on Kaas plateau are typically like grass. Kaas Plateau is rich in its Bio-diversity. Many species observed on the plateau are unique. Its an ideal place for students of botany and photography (including your truly). These days it is crowded by tourists during the peak season that starts in September and last for three to four weeks.

On being a student of photography, in the book 'Outliers', author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in any field. And most people agree with that. With less than thousand hours of practice, it's a long way to go for me. Going by the snaps that I could capture, it has been a learning journey. And of course,I may be few years (and few lenses) away from the hobbyist level.

Readers, are you reading between the lines ? Does this sound like a gifting idea ;-)

This time I was with a group of people on the spiritual path. We were accompanied by our Guru (an evolved soul) who would prefer anonymity and a highly advanced disciple. Evolved souls like our Guru are like Chintamani (wish-fulfilling jewel). Their presence has a magical touch to everything. It was going to be a great day.

We started at 8:15 AM. Reached Virangula, a well known restaurant on NH4, near Satara. Had breakfast. Proceeded towards Kaas.  By 10:30 we had crossed Satara. Ajinkyatara base, Yavateshwar, some great views, lot of greenery, and soon we were very close to Kaas.

There was no need for any sign post. The flowers along the road were suggesting the arrival of the heaven on the earth.

I had been to Kaas in 2008, with my parents and wife Smita. That time this place was not known so widely. Things have changed, not sure for good or for bad. Good part is vehicles are not allowed to be parked on the plateau (of course you can be a government official or a minister
to park your car on the plateau).

There is a nominal charge for visitors and car parking. The parking area is far away from the plateau. On busy days, government officials arrange for eco-friendly buses that take the visitors to the plateau. Other days you have to walk :-)

The entire plateau is now safeguarded by railings. While the aim is to make this place secure, there are claims that this might impact the eco-system. There is some debate among experts on whether a certain amount of grazing should be allowed on the plateau to ensure that grass species do not start dominating the landscape. Anyway let the experts debate on this.

The plateau is so large that one can walk for an entire day and still not see the plateau fully. We had to make a wild guess about which area to cover. Most part of the plateau was covered with flowers. But the 'carpet' effect was missing.

Next 90 minutes were spent in enjoying what nature had to offer. We could see different types of flowers. It was an amazing experience. Thanks to my lack of understanding of botany, I was free to enjoy the flowers without knowing the 'technical' stuff.

It was post noon when we decided to move to the next destination, Kaas Lake. Its around 5 km away from Kaas Plateau on the road towards Bamnoli. Its a mid size lake that supplies water to Satara city. We spent some time there and then proceeded towards Bamnoli.

Bamnoli is situated 35 kms from Satara city.  It is a very small village.  This village lies on the shore of Shivsagar lake formed by koyna dam. The road to Bamnoli goes through dense forest. Throughout the ghat one gets to see amazing view of backwaters below.

At one point, we decided to have lunch. It was a working lunch with parathas and thalipeeth (Spicy indian rotis) with curd rice and some sweets.

Post lunch we proceeded towards Bamnoli. The village welcomed us with a breathtaking view of expanse of the lake that spreads for hundreds of square kilometres. What an amazing view !

It was time for boating. We booked a ride for the triveni sangam (confluence of three rivers, Koyana, Solashi and Kandati) point. It was a 45 minute ride. At the actual sangam point, the lake appears to be far bigger than anything you can see in this part of the country. At that point you are covered by a huge lake. The huge lake is covered by towering mountains on all sides. And the mountains are covered by sky at the horizon.  Amazing experience. By the time we came back on ground, it was 5 pm. We were at least 30 km inside dense forest, covered by mountains on all sides. It was getting dark. Time to start the return journey.