Sunday, July 14, 2013

Kondeshwar Temple, Lake and Waterfall, Badlapur


Kondeshwar is a small picnic spot near Badlapur town in Thane District. There is a lake named Kondeshwar Lake which is formed by Bhoj Dam. The Kondeshwar Temple is situated near the Kondeshwar Waterfalls as seen in below picture.

The Kondeshwar Temple waterfall is barricaded so that there is no entry for swimmers in the dangerous section of waterfall. This waterfall is notorious for high death rates. Hence there are police officers guarding the entry of people. No one should cross the fence and go on other side as seen in below picture. The downside of fence is safe unless until there is no flash floods.
As seen in picture below there are many people having fun in water down stream.
The small temples of Kondeshwar are submerged during monsoon and inaccessible as seen below. During very heavy rain the temple is fully submerged and the area is closed.

This the dangerous section of Kondeshwar waterfall which reported many deaths. Though it looks deceiving as it does not has much height but there are rocks hidden below and have very strong downpull.
There are many waterfalls around Kondeshwar Temple. Many rivers come down to the temple through the top of the hills. Along its way many people have fun and get wet as shown in below picture.
If you explore the Kondeshwar area you will find many waterfalls and rivers. as seen above. There is also a small dam made up stream a river few meters up the Kondeshwar Waterfall as seen below. This is not the dam which you get while coming to Kondeshwar. This is a secluded dam just above the Kondeshwar Waterfall.

Kondeshwar is situated near the high hills of Badlapur. Chanderi Fort, Tavli Peaks are all nearby and can be seen. Kondeshwar is situated at its base. Below is the high hill range.
 There are farms of local people near Kondeshwar Temple.
Many cows and goats keep on grazing as there is endless green fields in Kondeshwar.
Kondeshwar is accessible via road. Nearest station is Badlapur East. One can hire a auto till Kondeshwar temple at a price of 50Rs per person. Go in groups as they take only when the vehicle is full i:e 5 people per vehicle. One can also take their private vehicle. 
 No bus service is there. Private buses go upto a certain point after which walking is necessary.
Below picture is the entry point of Kondeshwar. It is a narrow road with parking problems during peak time like Sunday. There are small stalls selling water, some cold drinks, maize and biscuits.
 A road to Kondeshwar
Sunday is the peak time where many people come. The area is in a mess with plastic plates and broken glasses of alcohol. People come here to drink and eat as a picnic but leave all wastes behind. Some times the drunk people engage in fight too. This is polluting the area and environment. Whole area is litter with wastes. PLEASE ENJOY BUT DO NOT LEAVE ANY WASTES BEHIND. KEEP NATURE CLEAN.





Kondeshwar Temple and waterfall has become quite famous nowadays especially during monsoon. Many people have drowned here as the water level is quite heavy and the small temples around almost gets submerged in water. The police stops people from travelling to the place during heavy monsoon. The waterfall pool is quite deep with heavy volumes of flow. Two streams fall and join to make one big stream which flows down to Ulhas river eventually. 
There are two small rock cut caves near the temple which dates much back according to the cuts.  During summer the bed is dry and one can go to small temples which are submerged during monsoon.




There is another waterfall which is close to Kondeshwar falls which is called Dhangar Waterfalls. This waterfall is extremely dangerous during heavy monsoon as the pool is deep where as the volume and height of the waterfall is also big.