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.

KONDESHWAR VIDEO OF 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.

Mulund Hills Trek

Mulund Hills Trek or Yogi Hills Trek is a nice trek for the adventurous people. It is not a big western ghats like treks but is fun and scenic. During monsoon there are numerous waterfalls and one can see the tulsi and vihar lake too. It is a tiring trek for the average people as the climb is steep and great for cardio.

The house shown here is the meditation house besides which there is also a gym. This can be entered from the Vasant Garden gate or from the nearby yogi hills society ground. Those are the paved road towards the meditation hall. There is a small way around the house which will begin your climb. 

The climb is a high grade climb with full of rocks to pass. There are huge chunks of rocks and the climb is steep which will take you straight through the top. At the base there are two ways one which goes right and other straight up the rocks. The right one is wide enough to get noticed, almost 2 cars can pass. If you take this it is a long route but less steep. The other one is straight up the rocks which is steep and is also easily noticed. The above and below are of the steep ones. If one needs a good cardio exercise choose this route. Its 30 to 40 mins climb for an average person.

The rocks can be as big as the one shown below but no need to worry you need to go around it.

This is the view once you reach the top. Thats the Tulsi Lake as seen from the Mulund side hills. There are plenty of langurs here but harmless. Behind you can see Borivali. Its nice to rest here as there is plenty of space up here like a table mountain but please do not litter. One can see whole mountain range from here.

Thats the freshwater Tulsi lake. The hill you are seeing above is called the Tiger Hill. Would be better if they call it as a leopard hill. Its called because frequent leopard are spotted on that hill as said by a frequent morning climber Alpesh A. What a contrast it has one side arid and other side lush greens.

This is one of the mountains as seen from the top and another contrast as the clouds divides the mountain into two, the shade and the sunny.

There is a ridge on the side you can see. To go there you need to get down from the top point but on the other side not from where you came. There are multiple ways to get down. Keep following the dusty track which is prominent, there is no chance that you are lost. Below shown is that route.

Keep moving forward straight until you come across huge chunk of single piece rock which is called the Kala Pathar due to its massive size in single piece. you can climb and sit on it. It give the open panoramic view of the city. Below is the photo of the Kala Pathar.

Above is the city view from the Kala Pathar.

Above is the Tulsi Lake View during summers. Below is Vihar Lake View.

Above shown are the boys climbing the huge Kala Pathar.

After climbing the rock keep heading straight till there is a diversion. One will take you straight and other will take you down towards a temple (rock steps). The straight one will take you to the AC point (will discuss later). The temple one will take you down towards the temple and then again straight up to the AC point. In short both will meet at AC Point. So don't be too curious about new paths.

Taking the temple road will obviously take you to the Taramati Temple above as shown. Its nice and cool here in the shades of the trees. There are rock cut steps which will lead you to this temple.

This temple is a multi religion temple having all faiths (Impressive).

This is gift for those who forgot their water bottles. This is a spring where water comes from beneath. Its nice cool and full of minerals and some fishes. During hot summer it is still full. Drink it but PLEASE do not spoil it. Now there is a path opposite to this spring which will take you to the Tulsi Lake. Since one is not permitted without pass you can still go but with your own risk. Beside this there is another path which will take you up to AC point as I mentioned earlier.

This is the AC Point. It is said so because at this strip there is always a cool breeze going on. The road you are seeing on left is the straight one from the Kala Pathar. The temple one is on the right emerging from below hence its not seen. Now just don't sit let others have some breeze.

This is the same AC point view taken from little height.

There are two paths from AC point. One is leading up from the AC Point which will take you to the another peak and other is leading down back towards the starting point which is also the long route up from the bottom as I had mentioned earlier. The 2 car wide road. If you had chosen that to come up then it would open up here. Now we are going down from that route.

This route has numerous waterfalls too (small ones though).

This is the city view from the AC point.

Now descend with great speed and reach down to the meditation house again or enter the Vasant gardens to rest. Below is photo of Kanheri caves which is seen from top of the hill.

MULUND HILLS TREK VIDEO