night hike to rajgad fort

hi there!

before I go into detail here, let me say one thing: friday night did not just add another set of amazing impressions I will retain from the three months in india. in fact, if the taj surprised me in an aesthetic way, this hiking trip introduced me to a entirely unknown kind of atmospheric perceptions altogether.

nikhil picked me up at my apartment at 8 p.m. with his motorbike. we went straight to one of his friend's place where three college friends of his joined us. it took us about two hours to get to our starting point: a little tiny village in the middle of nowhere. we parked the bikes in front of a "hotel", leaving the helmets on the roof of the same, and took off.

the ascent to the fort really deserves the description "backcountry" - nothing but pure nature. we were lucky to have a full moon, which enabled us to complete the major part without the use of torches. unsurprisingly, the way up became steeper by the meter. the last part resembled rock climbing; you really had to make sure your foot did not slip only an inch. the climbing ended at a small hole in the rock - we had reached the outskirts of the fort.

these surrounding fortifications actually span three different mountain ridges with the fort itself being located at their centre. the fort consists mainly of huge walls, a few small buildings (or what is left of them), some small ponds used for collecting rain water, and many staircases connecting the different parts of the fort.

looking at the pictures, some of you might find the atmosphere a little dodgy or frightening. it surely is something special to explore the top of a mountain with ancient ruins by full moon but I did not feel unsafe whatsoever. strange feeling though to be up there at the pinnacle, somewhere in the mountains in south india, with just four other guys and two stray dogs accompanying you while otherwise you cannot hear anything but the wind blow.

towards 2 a.m. we lay down just where we stood to take a quick nap. that is how it must have been in the past when you were travelling; you simply slept under the open sky. I did not get a wink of sleep there because of the glaring moonlight; quite an experience for a city boy like me.

before dawn, we were back at our starting point dozing for hardly an hour. however, seeing the sun rise from up there compensated for the sleepless night. only now could I visually measure how high up we had actually climbed. spectactular sights. you might want to turn off the light when you look at the pictures:

shortly thereafter, we started descending back to the village in an attempt to avoid the indian midday heat. we arrived at the village just when its residents got up and began their day. we headed back to pune and I was back at the apartment, safe and sound, at 8:30 a.m., where I indulged in an extended shower session and went straight to bed. finally.

what an awesome trip!