Trekking is always fun. Waking up early and watching the sunrise are things I love to do. Hiking to a mountain with my group of friends is something I enjoy instead of spending a day at a fancy cafe or a mall. One fine day, we decided to go to Lavasa, though I already visited it a couple of times with different groups. While we were having a break, one of the locals mentioned Lingya Ghat waterfall. This got our eyeballs rolling, and we quickly searched for it on the internet. And to our surprise, it was on the way to Lavasa only. Yay, we found something unexpected that is still hidden from us and the world. And here I am writing my own experience about this hidden waterfall trek near Pune.
What Is Lingya Ghat Location?
The base village for Lingya Ghat waterfall is Damanhol, which is just 14.3 km from Lavasa, and Lavasa is around 60 km from Pune station. So, the total distance one needs to cover is around 74.3 km, making it a perfect destination for a day trip. Since 50% of your route is in a hilly area, it would take around 3 hours to reach the base, depending on the traffic conditions.
What Is The Best Time To Visit Lingya Ghat Waterfall?
Like other Nanemachi and Kumbhe waterfall, this waterfall also appears during the monsoon season. The best time to visit Lingya Waterfall is from July to October. During this time, Lingya Waterfall looks incredible, with water falling from the top, flowing through the green paradise and creating mist. Also, there is a waterfall near Pune within 100 km, which makes it a bit crowded, so be prepared for that.
How To Reach Lingya Ghat Waterfall?
By Car
Since we live in Pune East, the shortest route for us to exit the city is from Chandani Chowk via Kothrud. From Chandani Chowk, we took a leftย on NH 753F to Lavasa Link Rd. Then we traveled for around 20 km on this road and took the left for Temghar-Lavasa Rd to Mugaon. Then, we drive through for another 40 km to reach Lavasa. From Lavasa, we headed towards our base village, which is around 16 km, and took almost 40 mins. Roads are well maintained and not that much slippery. So, you can choose to go either by car or by bike.
By Train
There is no nearby railway station for Lavasa orย Damanhol. Pune station is the one that is nearest and you have ample options to come back in a single day. You can hire Uber or Ola directly from the Pune station for a Lavasa Ghat round trip.
By Bus
There is no direct bus service to Damanhol, but you can reach Lavasa by MSRTC bus, which departs from Swargate 6 times a day (timing and frequency may vary). Bus service starts at 6 am to Lavasa and nearly takes 3.30 hours. Once you reach Lavasa, you can hire a taxi to reach Damanhol Village. The last bus departs at 10 pm from Lavasa to Pune.
What Is The Difficulty Level Of Lingya Ghat Waterfall Trek?
I will rate this trek as a moderate-level trek. The trek was relatively easy but held a good challenge due to territorial challenges. The trail has some steep and rocky areas where you must walk carefully, especially if it’s raining.
If you’re traveling during the rainy season like us, you will see lots of potholes, which can make your trek a bit of an adventure. You can also use a trekking stick to check the water level of potholes.
What Are the Nearby Places to Lingya Waterfall?
What are the other places you can cover near the Lingya Waterfalls? You will come across a few places you can’t stop yourself from. You can find the list below where we halted to capture memories.
1. Temghar Dam
I won’t say it is a place you can plan to visit separately, but still an average place where we stopped to take a small break for snacks like corn, Onion Bhajia, etc. The best time to visit this dam is during monsoon season where this large and tall looks good with turning turbines. The sound of falling water will southee your ears. A 30 mins stay is more than enough to capture some incredible moments.
2. Lavasa
Lavasa is a place often crowded in rainy and winter seasons due to its landscape. Lavasa is like a valley which is surrounded by misty western ghats and a lake in between called ‘Dasve’. This lake is a backwater of the river Mutha, which flows all the way to Pune. There are a lot of eateries that are present where you can enjoy the lake and river along with some food. You can even enjoy a lot of water sports at Lavasa ghat.
Above mentioned are named viewpoints, but thousands of other small points in our journey were unnamed, and we stopped there to take beautiful pictures. One of them was a deep valley near Lavasa, where we were literally in the clouds.
Our Journey to Lingya Ghat Waterfall
So, finally coming to our core. The Lavasa waterfall is a hidden gem in the Sahyadri range where, on one side, you can see the Konkan plains and, on the other, the Deccan Plateau. In the first leg, we traveled for around 25 minutes in the jungle, where we found aย lot of bumpy tracks. Here, we saw a big valley with a lot of cloudy mist that gave us goosebumps with a flavor of chills.
From here, we started to descend towards the waterfall base, which is around 10 minutes. While descending, we can see a lot of small waterfalls nearby, along with Lingya, which is around 40 ft. high. At the base, there is a small cave-like structure where the waterfall pours water at its full capacity, making a thunderous sound. Since it was raining hard, we didn’t risk going into the waterfall but if you are lucky to have your visit on a dry day, you can surely enjoy the waterfall more. Always be extra careful while having a bath in such waterfalls due to a lot of unknowns, like water depth, flow, etc.
We stayed there for around an hour and had some snacks which we packed earlier and then returned back to the base village. There is also a fort named Kurdugad fort near by which you can trek but we didn’t do it due to time constraints. Overall, it was a wonderful trek experience that was full of fun and more importantly friends’ company.