Have you ever experienced camping under the stars? If not, then you should definitely try out the Bhandardara camping experience once in your life. Camping at Bhandardara is quite famous these days, you can see the ads of different travel agency promoting the camping experience.
So in this article, I will try and explain everything from the first person experience point of view. So before going to Bhandardara lake camping definitely read this article.
How to Reach?
OK, there are two-part of travelling. You can either travel from your own vehicle to the campsite or you can include pick and drop from Kasara Station (this will cost extra)
Pro tip: If you are from Mumbai then taking your vehicle is not the best option.
Ask the organiser for a Pickup and Drop from Kasara Station. Till Kasara you need to take a local train. These camps are basically done on Weekends so the trains are not that crowded.
The organiser will provide you with all the details like, which train to catch and where to reach. Kindly make sure to ask for the itinerary from the organiser so that you don't miss out on anything.
What to Carry?
If you ask the organiser what to carry? He might give you a different answer. So here's what you should carry according to me.
Some Warm Clothes. Water for the Travel. Some Food for Travel. Mosquito Repellent Emergency First Aid Extra Pair of Clothes.
Try to keep your packing as minimal as possible because extra language causes a lot of problems.
Now to the final story, below is like a complete log of my journey, read it till the end because it might help you.
The Bhandardara Story.
I have been seeing these bhandardara ads all over my Instagram and Facebook feeds for over 2 years. I always wanted to do an under the star camping but never had the chance.
I wanted to blog and write a complete review on my wandersla blog and one day everything suddenly started to fall in place and I was about to book the trip. We were a total of 8 people.
For Bhandardara camping you need to contact the organisers. There are people who organise these camps. You cannot directly go and put your own camp and start camping(I Guess).
So while planning the trip we contacted a couple of organisers and after reviewing all of their offers we finalised Yatrik package. Since we were more than 5 people so we got a little discount on the total amount.
The Journey starts on Saturday, we were asked to take 12:20 PM Kasara Train from Thane. The bhandardara camping site is not in Kasara, it's around a 2-hour drive from Kasara Railway station.
The Local train dropped us at the destination at around 2:30 PM, yes the train was late. The organiser will share a contact detail of a guy which you need to contact while you get down at Kasara Station.
He will get you into one of the Bolero's and you will be on the way to Bhandardara lakeside camping.
The journey is tiring and suggested to take medicine if you have car sickness. Because the road is not that great.
Bhandardara is a government recognised camping site. And you can see many camps set up around the lake. The place is like heaven on earth. Quite pleasant and beautiful.
The camping location is also very close to the lake so you can go and take a dip i you want. The lake is clean and kindly keep it that way.
Once you reach and all the campers get settled, you are greeted with tea and some onion bhajis. Some indoor games like monopoly, snake, and ladders are also available here along with Football and cricket bat, ball.
We did enjoy some light football though you cannot play a full-fledged game. But it's amazing to sit next to the lake and enjoy a beautiful sunset.
The beauty of this cannot be explained in words. Once the sun sets you can enjoy good quality time with your friends or make new friends.
Around 7:30 to 8 PM they start creating barbecues. I didn't except such awesome barbecues here. But these were really good then excepted. Simultaneously the music also starts and you can enjoy a splendid dance with your friends.
The music continues for around till 10 and then the food is served. Don't except great food, the food was average. The Dinner menu included salads(best of all the dishes), Dal, rice, roti, sabzi, and chicken curry.
You can also ask the care takers for booze and they will bring it from the nearest market for no extra cost. We did order Red bull at the market price.
Once you are done with these activities, you can enjoy a chat with your friends under the star. You don't get to see these star clusters in the cities.
Enjoy the view of the starts from your tent or just sit near the bonfire and enjoy. The temperature goes on dipping by the night.
Cushioned beds are available in the tents and these tents are double sharing and can easily accommodate 2 people in one tent.
The next day makes sure to get up early to enjoy the beautiful sun rise. The place is great for a photographer and cinematographers.
You can then enjoy warm tea and Poha in breakfast. Later you can also enjoy a small boat ride in the lake. Enjoy the pristine lake view through your naked eyes.
And once done with boating you are ready to check out and head back towards Kasara.
The place has decent toilets which are suitable to both men and women.
The Final Thought
The Bhandardara is once in a lifetime experience that you should definitely have on your bucket list. The experience helps to move out of your comfort zone and enjoy nature at its best.
The Bhandardara lake side camping was in my bucket list for a very long time and I was finally able to strike it out of my bucket list.
If you wish to visit Bhandardara then we definitely suggest (not sponsored). I had a good experience with these guys and believe me you won't be dumped.
