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Tungeshwar

This area consists of mountains near Tungareshwar, which is situated about 15 km east of Vasai Road railway station. Vasai Road is about 1 hour 15 minutes from Churchgate by a slow Western Railway local train. Tungareshwar is a beautiful conical peak, 664m high, easy to climb and the highest plateau in this region. Buses from Vasai Road to Kaman halt at Tungareshwar Phata, off the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. Tungareshwar Phata is about 15km from Vasai Road and about 60 km from Mumbai. One can take a bus to Satiwali too from where Tungareshwar Phata is a half an hour's walk. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Satiwali from Vasai Road by bus. From Tungareshwar Phata, after walking for about 5 km on a broad flat path, and crossing a few streams (which are quite flooded during monsoon) on the way, one reaches a temple of Shiva, called the Tungareshwar temple. Behind the temple are a few waterfalls. The broad path continues with a gentle incline for a further 8 km to reach the top, which is a large grassy plateau. This route is very beautiful, with thick forest on both sides. There are a few tubewells along the way, so there is no need to carry a lot of water. Walking further on the top plateau, and after descending a bit, one reaches an ashram of Sadanand Baba. Nearby, there are huge walls which offer rock climbing opportunities. From the ashram, the route goes down gently for a further 8 km to reach Parol at the base. From here buses are available to Virar (16 km) or to Vasai Road (24km).
This is an easy trek, and in fact, a powerful jeep could climb up all the way to the top. The attraction of this trek is mainly the beauty of the surrounding forests, and the views from the top. Tungareshwar is a great delight, both in the monsoon, and in the winter.
The speciality of Tungareshwar is that the forests are the only evergreen forests in this part of the country. The flora and fauna are quite different from the kinds seen in the Sahyadri forests, or even the Matheran range forests. This place is a boon for the biologist. Many colourful flowers and butterflies can be seen here. Also bird watchers will have a great time in this region, particularly in winter http://kpy2.tripod.com/sahyadri/konkan/konkan.html There is this Sadanand Baba who has an ashram at the top. This baba is trying to build a road to the top, and every monsoon there are many trees who fall prey to his road development work. He also disrupts the natural flow of water. He is also constructing an illegal temple at the top. we have come to know from the locals that Bhai Thakur (well known gunda of Virar) is his follower and thats the reason no action is taken against him.Recently there have been reports of tiger pugmarks being found in this area and so this forest has attracted some attention, but i strongly feel it should be declared as protected forest asap. In the monsoon, the irrate picnickers polute this area beyond limit. Its very important to protect this pristene forest. Mr.Bittu Sehgal!! can you please do something about this.

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Wild grapes flowers
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Wild grapes flowers
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Mushroom tucked into a small cave
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Mushroom tucked into a small cave
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Looking out for interesting birds
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Looking out for interesting birds
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DSC04244
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DSC04244
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DSC04245
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DSC04245
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Wild Yam
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Wild Yam
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DSC04247
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DSC04247
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Animish Mandrekar explaining the plant properties
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Animish Mandrekar explaining the pla…
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DSC04250
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DSC04251
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DSC04251
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DSC04252
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DSC04252
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Animish explaining the crab anatomy
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Animish explaining the crab anatomy
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crab dorsal
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crab dorsal
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crab
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crab
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Harvester Ant Nest
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Harvester Ant Nest
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Commander Butterfly
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Commander Butterfly
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Daddy long legs
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Daddy long legs
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Hawk Moth Caterpillar
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Hawk Moth Caterpillar
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DSC04267
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Cup and saucer
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Cup and saucer
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Dew drop flower
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Dew drop flower
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Press me not plant
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Press me not plant
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Taking a break
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Taking a break
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Snail
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Snail
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