Fort State: In ruins
Difficulty: Medium
Endurance Level: Medium
Things to carry: Two liters of water, snacks, Trekking shoes.
Best time to visit: Any time of the year
Type: Hill Fort
Time to Explore: Two hours
How to Reach: Reach Khandi chi wadi village near Nimgiri village.
History: Not much information is available about this fort. Looking at the rock carved stairs, it must have been used from ancient times.
Nimgiri & Hanumantgad are the twin forts separated by a cleft in the Junnar region of Pune. It lies 25 KM ahead of Junnar. Though it is named Nimgiri fort, it is nearer to Khandi chi wadi village. It comes under administration of Nimgiri village, hence could have been named so.
We can park our vehicles near the primary school of the village.
There is a mobile tower from where we start our journey towards the fort. We need to go through paddy fields. Before heading straight to the fort, we can see a dilapidated temple, water tank, temple of goddess Kalubai, idol of Lord Hanuman and some war memorials.
We met a resident of Nimgiri village. He was kind enough to show us directions and tell us what are the places of interest.
The dilapidated temple is hidden in the dark bushes.
Funds were provided by government for the restoration of the temple, but money was used to clean the water tank and to dig it further for storing more water.
As we go ahead, we can see temple of goddess Kalubai. This looks recently built and we can spot few carvings on the main gate.
Behind the temple, there are some war memorials as well as idols.
As we go further, we can see the idol of Lord Hanuman below a tree.
Near to it, there are around 40 war memorials placed. These must have been grouped together and placed here by villagers.
We need to go towards the watchtower from where path to the fort starts. There are red colored arrows placed on the trees to help us follow the right path.
The unpaved path between the two forts leads us to the fort. After walking for 15-20 minutes, we reach a point near Nimgiri fort from where right path takes us to a small cave.
From here, we can either take rock cut steps or follow the unpaved road to go up. I would recommend not taking the steps as they are broken at couple of places and also it is very risky in rainy season.
These steps take us to Nimgiri fort's gate which is broken now.
Going ahead, we can see a cave on the left side. This must have been used for gatekeepers.
As we reach the top, we can clearly see Hanumantgad on the other side.
If we take left and start exploring, we can find three water tanks. As it was raining heavily, we could see the water overflowing from the tanks.
As we move ahead, there is a ruined temple of goddess Gajalakshmi. The idol is carved out of a rock.
There is also a Shivalinga placed near this idol.
As we go ahead, we can see few more water tanks.
Going ahead, we can see three caves on the fort. These could have been used as granary.
If we go to the tallest point on the fort, we can see some memorials.
We need to get down to go towards Hanumantgad. There is a point on the cleft, where we can see boards for the forts.
If we look down, we can see panoramic view of surrounding villages.
Path towards Hanumantgad also is via rock cut steps. Not much is left on this fort to see. There is some part of fortification.
As we take left, we can view some water tanks.
There are reminiscences of a hall. We can see a wall and pillar in ruins.
It is an exquisite experience to visit this fort in rainy season. Do make a plan and enjoy the nature.
You can watch the vlog below.
Leave only your footprints, Take back only pleasant memories.