Morgiri Fort Trek

Morgiri fort trek is situated in the Lonavala range of the Pune district of Maharashtra, India. The fort was used as a watch tower.

History

The Morgiri Fort Trek is an unknown hill fort that was discovered in the last few years. It is assumed that the fort was built in the era of Shivaji Maharaja. The base of the fort is too small and hence the fort was used to keep a watch on the region below. The fort was under the Peshave Empire and in 1818 it fell to the hands of the British Empire.

Geography

The highest point on the Morgiri fort trek is  3010 feet above the sea level. The difficulty level of the fort is hard. Among the forts that are located in the region near the Morgiri fort , other forts are visited more frequently.  There is an Indian flag hosted on this fort. After climbing a patch there is a water tank but the water inside in it is unhygienic and not potable. Further from this tank, there is a 5 feet high rock patch, above which there’s one more water tank which again has non-potable water. Walking further there are cut rock steps. Once we come across this open area, there are more steps that take us to the top of the fort in 5 minutes.  A cave of Jakhmata goddess can also be found. The water of Pawana Dam, Tung, Tikona, Korigad forts are visible from the top of this fort.

The Trail

The base village of the fort is known as Jambhulne. The steps of this fort are completely in ruins and hence there is an installation of an iron ladder for easy access to the fort. There are rock patches at two places where trekkers are recommended to use a rope. A route between two hills leads up to the mountain. After crossing the ridges and dense vegetation we come across Karvi flowers. Ascending the patch we reach an open ground and from here it takes about 30 min to reach the base of the fort. There are hills to the left and further to that, we can observe the wall of a rock hill which is the Morgiri Fort trek. Keeping the valley to the right and hill to left, we reach the base of the fort. Just above the two feet where the ladder ends there is an iron nail dug in the wall.

How to reach

Reach the Amby valley junction in the Lonavla range of the Pune district. From this junction, there is an INS Shivaji route that path takes you to Amby valley. The distance via bhushi dam to Lonavla is 16 km. Trekkers can reach to this junction by boarding S.T. buses from Lonavla going to Bhamburde village. Proceeding forward we come across a signboard for Essar Agrotech and Club Mahindra. After crossing the signboard, about 1.5 km from the junction there is Jambhulne village where one can be reached by private vehicle.

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