Night Trek To Tung Fort

 

NIGHT TREK TO TUNG FORT

Tung fort is one of the popular ancient hill fort near the Pawna Dam in Pune district Maharashtra, which has its own history. The Fort lies at an altitude of 1075 m above sea level.  Tung Fort is also named as Kathingad fort. (In Marathi Language: Kathin means: Difficult). The literal meaning of the word TUNG is difficult.  It is believed to be difficult to approach this fort. This fort is also a popular one-day trekking spot for hikers and nature enthusiast for two reasons, the oval-shaped peak of the fort offers an alluring view of Pawna lake and surrounding areas. Tung Fort is a perfect place to witness the early morning sunrise. Ever since the Pawna was built, the fort is surrounded by water on 3 sides and the sharp and conical shape peak makes Tung Fort more attractive and unique.  

TREK DETAILS:

Fort Type: Hill Fort

Grade: Easy

Endurance level: High

Climbing Time: 1 hr.

Elevation: 1,075 m (3,527 ft)

History: Watch Tower

Best time: June to February

Base Village: Tungwadi

Location: near Pawna Dam.  Pune District.

 

HOW TO REACH TUNG FORT

Distance from:

·         Lonavala: 24 KM

·         Pune:67KM

·         Mumbai: 121

By Train:

From Mumbai: There are a number of long-distance trains from Mumbai to the Lonavala on daily basis. There are three popular express trains from Mumbai to Pune via Lonavala i.e. Indrayani Express, Mumbai CSMT – Chennai Central Mail, and Deccan Queen.  The duration of the journey is approximately 2 hours from Mumbai to Lonavala.

From Lonavala station, local cab and bus services are available to Tung Fort. But there is no direct bus service to Tung Fort.

From Pune: Take an early morning trains from Pune station to Lonavala railway station, From Lonavala, Taxi and bus service is available.  The distance from Pune to Lonavala is close to 2 hours and thereafter you can take a taxi up to Tungwadi (base camp).

By Bus: 

Both the travelers from Pune and Mumbai should reach the Lonavala first. From Lonavala, take an ST bus going towards Bhamburde or Ambavane village. You need to get down at the Ghusalkhamb. From here you need to walk to Tungwadi village. It takes about 1.5 hours to reach Tungwadi. The distance between Ghusalkhamb and Tungwadi is 8 km. Which I believe is not a good option unless you can’t afford to commute through other means of transportation. Its time consuming and very inconvenient.

By your own vehicle or Taxi:  The distance from Lonavala to Tung Fort is just 24 km and will only take about an hour by car or local taxi. This is the best option If you are with your family or in groups. This will save your time and energy.  

By Bike: A lot of youngsters from Pune and Mumbai are coming by Bikes to visit the Tung Fort. Simply reach Lonavala and ride towards Aamby Valley. It takes nearly one hour from Lonavala to Tungwadi. 

By Ferry

I also came to know that there is another option to reach Tung Fort is to take a Ferry from Pawna Dam to Tung Village. From here the fort is just 300 m away.

 

Dazzling view of Pawna lake

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

It is understood that, like any other hill forts, Tung Fort must have carry an important history behind this fort. So I did some research to know the history behind this hill fort. I could not find much of literature to refer but many history students and local historians have mentioned about this fort. I will just give a short historical background about this hill fort for your reference.

The Tung Fort was built before 1600 CE. It is said that the fort was built by the Adil Shahi dynasty and later captured by the Maratha king, Shivaji. Hence the size of the fort was limited in size. Therefore, it is not able to hold more than 200 troops at a time. Therefore, they could not defend the fort for a longer period of time.  One of the local historians has mentioned that this fort was built to monitor transportation from Bhor Ghat. During the invasion, the strategically located Tung fort served as a temporary distraction to the invaders. Thus, the other nearby major forts like Visapur and Lohagad could get time to prepare themselves to fight the invading army. As per the purpose behind building this fort, Tung Fort was used as a watchtower in the past, because the areas of the Maval region of the Pawana and Mulshi valleys can be seen clearly from the top of the fort.

The dynamic team: Tenzin,Abhijeet,Preeti,Neetu& Jasing Sir

MY JOURNEY TO TUNG FORT

I went to camping at Pawna lake in the month of December, from there I saw these  two very prominent forts clearly from the close distance, Tung Fort and Tikona Fort.  Both the forts were located opposite to each other and both were very attractive and prominent. I was especially fascinated by the shape of the Tung Fort and its location. It was cone-shaped and has a very sharp tilted pinnacle. The fort is surrounded by waters and both the forts are small hill fort. That’s when I decided to explore these two forts someday soon.  

As usual, one of the days on a very lazy afternoon, I called up a few of my hiking partners to check their weekend trekking plans. That’s when one of the partners was planning to visit Tung Fort and Tikona Fort.  I gave my YES to them and wait for their confirmation. Due to Pandemic, the traveling by train was restricted. This has created a big problem for hikers. Now, either we need to book a cab or travel by own vehicles which is a very expensive business.   

Finally, my friend confirmed the trek on Saturday evening around 7pm and briefed me about the trekking plan. Their plan is to cover two forts in a day and witness the famous sunrise view from the peak of the Tung Fort. The plan was quite overwhelming to me as I have never visited two forts in a day except for AMK. The craziest part was I was asked to report Thane at 2.30 AM. This puts me to worry as it was such an odd hour that I may not get any rickshaw or taxi to travel from Mulund to Thane. But I understood why they have decided to move by 2.30 AM. Anyway, I managed to report to the given location on time. All credit goes to the main organizer of the trek, Mr. Abhijeet. He allowed me to park my bike in his society parking area. That was the very thoughtful solution at that moment. That’s how I could drive my bike instead of depending on the availability of rickshaws and OLA cabs. 

Ascending in progress

I met other five hiking partners. We started our journey towards Lonavala by a private 6 seater car. Our Journey was quite smooth till Lonavala. From Lonavala, we had to be a little alert about the routes. Since my hiking partners were very experienced hikers, they knew the route well. However, we missed one important turn in between and we went ahead but we realized soon and asked few people about the correct route. From Lonavala to Tung Fort, the road was not as smooth as compared to Mumbai to Lonavala. There are many rough patches where we had good bumpy rides. That actually helped me to be alert. We reached the Tungawadi village after 3 hours of road journey.  It was pitch dark and it is obvious that the whole village was in deep sleep except few loyal dogs were chasing us from entering the village. We parked the car near the school. The only issue was we could see the Tung Fort in front of us but can’t find the starting point as It is pitch dark and can’t see much. Even though we know that the Maruti temple was the main landmark of the trek starting point. Now it is around 5 am and we can’t see anything. We tried to explore few directions based on our instinct but failed badly, That’s when we decided to knock on the door of the villager’s house.  So we knocked a house which had lights on and a lady responded to our call after few minutes. We requested them to show the main starting point of the Tung Fort. Luckily she sent an Elderly man to help us. That’s when we realized that we were going in the wrong direction. The elderly man took us back from where we have come from.  The trek starting point was away before the Tungwadi village. There he showed us the Maruti temple too. We thanked the kind elderly man and started our hike.  The trail was all uphill climb. The nature of the trail was very uneven, narrow, and steep. There are two-three patches that require a strenuous climb. We slowly started ascending towards the top of the Tung Fort. After almost 50 minutes of a climb, we reached the main gate (Darwaja).

Night view of Conical shape peak  is seen from the base of the fort

From here, we could see the beautiful twinkling lights of Pawna lakeside camping. The beauty of the night trek is you can’t see the route ahead, so we don’t realize the distance and the difficulty level of the trail. All we need is a good leader to lead us towards the correct path. The trail was well marked. We entered the first gate and walked towards the route which leads us towards the second gate. Once we entered the second gate, we reached the base of the Tung Fort. It is still dark, we can’t see much, so we moved ahead towards the peak of the fort and decided to explore later while returning.  From here you can actually see the oval shape of the peak of the Fort.  We moved ahead towards the final summit ascent.

Small temple on the top

Otherside of the peak

The trail was bit narrow and steep. It was quite challenging. The route was expose towards the valley on one side.  This will be quite challenging in Monsoon season as the route becomes very slippery and constant wind blow add more challenges for hikers. 

Narrow steep trail route towards the top

We reached the summit point after 15 minutes of steep climbing and to our surprise, there was already a group on the top before us. We were happy that we could reach on time and we rested for few minutes to catch up on our breath and had some water.  Now comes the important moment witnessing the sunrise view from the top.

We were quite excited too. We took our position and waited for the magical moments to happen.  After few minutes we could see the scattering effects of the sun lights on the sky. We could see the red lines which is the first sign of sunrise. One of our hiking partners has set his mobile on time-lapse mode to capture the whole process.  We observed it closely as well as enjoying this magical moment. The sunrise always gives me a positive feeling and hope. It is a new beginning of the day.  Therefore, I like to witness the sunrise. It was simply a magical moment.

Magical moment: Sunrise view from the top of the Tung Fort

After the sunshine brightly, we could see the stunning views of surrounding areas and dazzling views of Pawna lake. We enjoyed the amazing view from the top. Took lots of pictures from different angles and with different poses. 

Water Reservoirs at the base

The remnant of the fort

A small temple at the base of the fort

Now time to explore the areas of the fort. There were big water reservoirs, remnants of the fort , and lord Ganesh temple at the base to be seen. There was a fortified c shaped wall can be seen on the other side. It was a good photography site.  

Stunning view from the top

We started descending after a quick exploration of the fort area. We were in a bit hurry as we are supposed to visit another fort as well. We have also planned to get back home by 12pm. Which was a bit of unrealistic expectation. We started our descending. 

Second entry gate

Main entry gate

We met many travelers on the way who are ascending.  Many of them were huffing and puffing as it was quite a steep climb. 

Narrow trail

Steep uphill climb

Difficult patch: Rock cut step climb

Climb begins from here

The smooth and straight trail which leads towards the steep ascent

We touched the base within 30 minutes. There are two local food stalls nears the parking area. They served decent food and snacks. We decided to have a quick breakfast before we move on to our next destination. While having breakfast, we had a quick chat about the location and distance of our next destination. I suggested consulting the Dhabba owner. They are the locals and possess a good knowledge about the area.

Maruti Mandir: Landmark of  trek starting point

Parking area near the Maruti Temple

Local Dabba at the main entrance

 After we discussed with the locals, we realized that our next destination (Tikona fort) is located at the opposite direction with a distance of 22 KM and we have to go round the Pawna lake.  That will take almost one hour to reach the base village. The road condition is not so good it seems. The Dabba owner suggested us to visit MorGiri Hill Fort instead of Tikona because this fort is nearer to the Tung Fort and it is located on the way back to Lonavala.  Neither I nor others have an idea or heard about this fort before. However, we have decided to explore this fort instead of Tikona due to our convenience and time factor.  Initially, I was not so keen but willingly agreed to go with the majority later and always happy to explore new places.  We moved forward to explore the MorGill Fort with lots of curiosity and excitement.  

 TIPS:

1.   Wear a comfortable Hiking shoe which has a good grip. You have to climb few rock-cut steep steps.
2. Cap, UV sunglasses, and sunscreen lotion are a must when you are visiting post-monsoon or in winter.  
3. A good rain jacket is a must to protect yourself and your backpack if you are visiting in Monsoon. It is quite windy too.
4. Carry at least 2-liter water bottles and some ready to eat snacks. 
5. Leave the trail, not the trash. Bring your trash back to the city and dispose of it in a dustbin. 
6. Be sensitive towards villagers when you are interacting with them.
7. Respect the culture and the beliefs of the local people. 
8. The best time to visit is Monsoon & in Winter and September is an ideal time to visit this fort.
9. There are local food stalls available that serve descent food and breakfast.
10. No direct Bus facility from Lonavala to Tungwadi.Strongly recommend booking a direct cab from Lonavala station. That will save your time and energy. You will get more time to explore the fort and more time to enjoy the stunning view of surrounding areas and dazzling Pawna lake.  
11. Lohagad, Visapur Fort and Koregad can be seen from the top. 
12. For sunrise view, you have to be up on the top before 6:30
13.  Good Parking space is available.
14. Maruti Mandir is a landmark of the starting point of the trek.