28 February
We substituted our auto-rickshaw journey to Kudal railway station for the comfort of an air/con car, we couldn’t suffer another hour and twenty minute bone shaking, dusty, truck exhaust fumes choking ride, so it was time for a little taste of luxury. The road winds its way through forests of mango and cashew nut trees with occasional glimpses of the palm trees and the Kali River below on the way to Kudal.
From there we once again board the Mandovi Express for today’s destination Ratnagiri, a distance of 196 km, 3 hrs from Kudal, then on to our final destination by road to Ganpatipule. The Konkan terrain slowly changed from lush tropical to a red dusty scrub landscape and rocky outcrops, the train burrowed its way through this inhospitable countryside via a continuous string of tunnels.
Unfortunately the only option for the last 30km part of our journey from Ratnagiri to Ganpatipule was the auto-rickshaw one, which turned out to be not so bad, the road followed the coast lowlands of mangroves and banyan trees then climbed up and around cliff headlands revealing beach after beach of surf breaks and not a board rider in sight. The beaches were almost pristine apart from the unfortunate ubiquitous India-wide ugly sisters, flotsam and jetsam.
We substituted our auto-rickshaw journey to Kudal railway station for the comfort of an air/con car, we couldn’t suffer another hour and twenty minute bone shaking, dusty, truck exhaust fumes choking ride, so it was time for a little taste of luxury. The road winds its way through forests of mango and cashew nut trees with occasional glimpses of the palm trees and the Kali River below on the way to Kudal.
From there we once again board the Mandovi Express for today’s destination Ratnagiri, a distance of 196 km, 3 hrs from Kudal, then on to our final destination by road to Ganpatipule. The Konkan terrain slowly changed from lush tropical to a red dusty scrub landscape and rocky outcrops, the train burrowed its way through this inhospitable countryside via a continuous string of tunnels.
Unfortunately the only option for the last 30km part of our journey from Ratnagiri to Ganpatipule was the auto-rickshaw one, which turned out to be not so bad, the road followed the coast lowlands of mangroves and banyan trees then climbed up and around cliff headlands revealing beach after beach of surf breaks and not a board rider in sight. The beaches were almost pristine apart from the unfortunate ubiquitous India-wide ugly sisters, flotsam and jetsam.
Sunrise sets from the cliff top
Low tide sand collecting bullock carts
Fishing village of Jaigad
Ganpatipule in Hindi translates into Ganpati another name for Ganesh the elephant god, while pule is hindi for village, the 400 year old Ganesh temple on the beach is a major Indian religious tourist attraction.
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