Damanganga river valley , most of us might not had heard about it .Same was the case with me when I came to know about this cross country expedition through TCS Matiree mails. I was unable to find any information as there are hardly any posts or wiki pages about this location.
The journey started on Friday night (21 Dec) with many of us waiting for the bus on our stops.With around 5 to 6 hours of traveling we reached the base village Ruipada, where we were divided in teams and then had an awesome breakfast of kanda poha and chai. As we were already 1 hour late from our schedule so we all packed our bags and started our trek with the first milestone of crossing the Val river .
Thereafter was one of the toughest back to back climb of steep mountains which which made us gasp for our breaths.After continous non stops ascends and descends we reached in a valley where we were give just 15 mins to have our lunch and refill our bottles.
The moment I was thinking about the expected next way of our trek I was shocked to hear that we have to again climb a mountain. It was impossible for any of us to climb it in one go so we took multiple breaks and once we reached the top no one of us even bothered about the dirt or any thing else we slept at the place on top of ........ (need not explicitly mention) where the villagers had earlier tied there goats . Then came our whole trek group and we had a very informative session from Deepa mam and our other trek leads telling us about Daman ganga river valley.
Continuing our trek thereafter we came across many dead and alive snakes and then came the 90 deg steep mountain slope which was sufficient enough to give me goosebumps. Taking help from one of my trek mate I finally made it to bottom after slipping 5 to 6 time from the slopes and landing into bushes with bruises on my hands.
Above picture was clicked when we were wondering how to go down ...........
With yet another 2 to 3 hours of continous trekking we reached our base village Dadri for night halt. It was yet another amazing experience to learn setting up camps and then working in teams to win the BIG GAME in night followed by Adivasi Tibal Dance Tarpa !!!
Early morning next day::::::::::::::::::
Unable to sleep due to extreme cold Pooja and I got up very early at around 5:30 and since everybody else was sleeping we got up to take a round near our camping site with torches in our hands. Unable to get the directions in the night we walked in the directions were Tribal were doing some kind of rituals around fire . Cold feeted we walked a little bit ahead but while flashing our torches on to the forests we found a big white figure (might be a big tree) but in the cold dark night it was sufficient enough to give us the top most speed to run back to our tents. Finally we sat back near our tents with yet another amazing experience of star gazing .The day started with pack ups and getting ready for the another day.
Second day was full of mountain climbing ,crossing water falls and traveling in a valley with full of big boulders. It was a day full of risks and dangers as even a slip or a mistake would have landed a person into deep trenches .
And finally we all 40 trekers completed the cross country trek starting from Thane District (Jawahar) crossing Daman and then finally arriving Dadra Nagar Haveli. It was historical moment for all of us as TCS Matiree is the first ever group to explore the most magnificent forests of Daman and Dadar Nagar Haveli which would be sub merged under water till 2025 due to an upcoming Damanganga Dam to fulfill water needs of Mumbai city.
This was an appreciable initiative by TCS Matiree team who themselves did multiple pilots in the area before bringing us here just to make us aware and spread the words to save our Sahyadri Mountain ranges and these tribal villagers who are still unaware of there rights.
The journey started on Friday night (21 Dec) with many of us waiting for the bus on our stops.With around 5 to 6 hours of traveling we reached the base village Ruipada, where we were divided in teams and then had an awesome breakfast of kanda poha and chai. As we were already 1 hour late from our schedule so we all packed our bags and started our trek with the first milestone of crossing the Val river .
Thereafter was one of the toughest back to back climb of steep mountains which which made us gasp for our breaths.After continous non stops ascends and descends we reached in a valley where we were give just 15 mins to have our lunch and refill our bottles.
The moment I was thinking about the expected next way of our trek I was shocked to hear that we have to again climb a mountain. It was impossible for any of us to climb it in one go so we took multiple breaks and once we reached the top no one of us even bothered about the dirt or any thing else we slept at the place on top of ........ (need not explicitly mention) where the villagers had earlier tied there goats . Then came our whole trek group and we had a very informative session from Deepa mam and our other trek leads telling us about Daman ganga river valley.
Above picture was clicked when we were wondering how to go down ...........
With yet another 2 to 3 hours of continous trekking we reached our base village Dadri for night halt. It was yet another amazing experience to learn setting up camps and then working in teams to win the BIG GAME in night followed by Adivasi Tibal Dance Tarpa !!!
Early morning next day::::::::::::::::::
Unable to sleep due to extreme cold Pooja and I got up very early at around 5:30 and since everybody else was sleeping we got up to take a round near our camping site with torches in our hands. Unable to get the directions in the night we walked in the directions were Tribal were doing some kind of rituals around fire . Cold feeted we walked a little bit ahead but while flashing our torches on to the forests we found a big white figure (might be a big tree) but in the cold dark night it was sufficient enough to give us the top most speed to run back to our tents. Finally we sat back near our tents with yet another amazing experience of star gazing .The day started with pack ups and getting ready for the another day.
Second day was full of mountain climbing ,crossing water falls and traveling in a valley with full of big boulders. It was a day full of risks and dangers as even a slip or a mistake would have landed a person into deep trenches .
And finally we all 40 trekers completed the cross country trek starting from Thane District (Jawahar) crossing Daman and then finally arriving Dadra Nagar Haveli. It was historical moment for all of us as TCS Matiree is the first ever group to explore the most magnificent forests of Daman and Dadar Nagar Haveli which would be sub merged under water till 2025 due to an upcoming Damanganga Dam to fulfill water needs of Mumbai city.
This was an appreciable initiative by TCS Matiree team who themselves did multiple pilots in the area before bringing us here just to make us aware and spread the words to save our Sahyadri Mountain ranges and these tribal villagers who are still unaware of there rights.
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