It’s been a long time that the Pandemic has impacted the vacations. Attractions remain closed, pools not open, and your pre-planned getaway could be pushed to the back burner due to quarantine restrictions. And when it comes to traveling with your young one, a fussy mother can never decide easily😃 #FussyIsFantastic
The best bait is to travel “Pivot”
So here we arrive after a long and extensive net search and reviews for nearby, safe, non crowded, secluded, safe, hygienic, homely, anything and everything place…😂
Karvanda Nature Stay
Karvanda Nature Stay is a hidden gem located along the foothills of Lonavala at Mangaon Budruk along Pali Khopoli Road in Raigad district of Maharashtra.
This place is owned by a lovely couple Mr Prashant, Mrs Jaymala and their little daughter Yashwi. Engineers by occupation and cordial hosts by nature. Mr. Tejas and his efficient team takes care of the property management and services. This small farm stay has total 5 cottages to stay: 3 wooden and 2 mudhouses, property owner’s house, kitchen, dining hall, activity room, Ganesha temple, under construction swimming pool and lush green landscapes around.
This is place is heavenly in monsoon. Misty mountains, sky filled with dark clouds, green fields and a rivulet flowing around, flowers blooming with vibrant colours make it a ‘Nature stay’ in true sense.
Bookings
Though you can find this place on Make my trip or Tripadvisor and other portals, best way to confirm bookings is by contacting directly Mr Tejas or Mr Prashant.
The rates quoted were inclusive of room stay, food, parking and activities. We were charged 6649/- per night for our family of 3 including my 6 yo. We confirmed the bookings by paying a token amount by netbanking beforehand and the rest was paid at the time of checkout.
Tejas was prompt in providing all necessary information as soon as we confirmed our booking. Google map, detailed pdf about directions with necessary pictures to guide you the way, terms and conditions, network availability, food arrangements were informed beforehand. Our food preferences, other requirements were asked for and accordingly the arrangements were made.
Reaching there
You need a private vehicle to reach to this place. After reaching till Adlabs Imagica, way ahead is as shown in the image
Khopoli Pali road has intermittent extremely bad patches filled with pot holes. One has to consider extra traveling time for that. It can be a bit risky in case one plans for evening drive. During day time, the road after Parali village is mesmerizing with greenery on both sides, free flowing river and waterfalls on the bordering mountains.
We started by 10:30am from Panvel and reached at 12:30 pm at Karvanda.
Rooms
The team had already sanitized and kept the cottage ready for us. The rooms were spacious, neat and clean.
The cottage we stayed was wooden with aesthetically planned interiors. Room has one king size bed, air conditioner, sofa, ceiling fan with remote control. One mini cupboard is provided to keep our belongings. Washrooms are clean and have water geyser. There are plenty plug points provided in the room. The generator backup ensures almost uninterrupted power supply at such a remote and interior place. Toiletries provided are hand wash, soap, shampoo and oil satchet once during the stay.
It is important to note that TV, electric kettle, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, intercom, safety lockers are not available. Towels and napkins are not provided considering Covid 19 safety protocols.
Rooms have safety nets for mosquitoes and insect repellent machine. Separately, foldable mosquito nets can be provided if required. However we did not require any. It is advisable to carry full covering clothes, covered shoes, insect repellent cream and gel especially in monsoon. As we were already equipped with, we did not face any issue. There is a sitout area outside the cottage with couple of chairs, table and fan.
One has to remove shoes outside the rooms as well as dining area. They maintain ecofriendly environment policy and use of non biodegradable products is discouraged in the resort. Majority of the staff working here is from the local village. This resort serves the purpose of an eco-friendly tourism with employment opportunities for the villagers around. Having said that, one has to consider that professional on call room services and butler facilities like that in a rated resort or hotels may be lacking here.
Facilities at the resort
The resort has many indoor as well as outdoor activities. The activity room has table tennis, ludo, carrom, dart, badminton, cricket set etc. They have bicycles in case you wish to ride around. There is a mini library for the bibliophiles.
Basketball net, dart, hammock, swing are there in the lawn outside. Except monsoons, the lawn is available for camping, outdoor dinner or barbeque. One can take a stroll around resort during the day time. It is quiet and calm around. There are many fruit trees, organic plantation within the premises.
Connectivity is the issue here. Cellular network/ wifi or cable connection is not available. Jio has good network though. We had kept one Jio sim active and it worked fine for us. We could manage to use it for internet as well as emergency calls.
The hosts are pleasant and welcoming and treat all guests like family members and pay attention to each and every requirement. The environment around is so peaceful and close to nature that you forget about connectivity to outisde world. It was fun to sit at the common area, chat with the property owners and fellow travellers. We never realised that we were disconnected from outside world for 3 full days!
Food
If you like Maharashtrian rustic food specially from Konkan region, you will not be disappointed here. The cooks are from the neighbouring village and that ensures authentic and rustic food. The hosts make a point to ask about your likes and dislikes and are happy to get food prepared as per your preference. We were happy that our fussy eater young one was also so well taken care of. They serve a scrumptious spread of chapati/ bhakri, one dry and one gravy sabji, rice, dal, salad, sweet dish. Puranpoli, modak, matki usal, rice bhakri, chicken, fish were worth mentioning.
For breakfast they serve idli chutney, upma, misal pav, sabudana khichdi etc. Evening snacks can be samosa, boiled groundnuts, pakoda.
Food is served in the dining hall. There is no room service for food. The eating place is clean. They serve food in disposable plates. As the total number of guests are limited, social distancing is maintained at the dining place. They provide purified drinking water. Overall the food was homely, lighter on tummy and satisfying to the tongue. Cleanliness in the kitchen area was also satisfactory.
Trek to nearby waterfall
Next day morning we went for a trek to nearby waterfall. We crossed the village Mangaon budruk and reached till tribal hamlet named Vawe by our vehicles and started our uphill journey on feet.
It took us about 3 hours to complete the trek to and fro. There are narrow, rocky and slippery roads on the way. One has to ensure good shoes and comfortable clothes. Carrying lighter is wise. One can keep a stick for support if required. My 6 year old could do the trek comfortably and we also had a 6th decade young at heart couple with us. But it is advisable to not venture into it if your young ones are too small to be carried in arms or for elderly people with joint or back issues.
Our trek guide Akshay (📞7264902387) was a cooperative and enthusiastic young boy. My little one made good friend with Akshay. He trusted Akshay more than his own parents to take him through the rocky road😂
The trek goes through the Sahyadri mountain with moderate forestation. You can see some tribal huts on the way. After about 2 kilometers of trekking, you reach the waterfall site. The water tumbles down with srtong gush on rocky surface right into the natural pool of clear water. This is one of the less known waterfall in this region and makes one wonder about unexplored and untouched mysteries hidden within mother nature around us. We search farway places to beak the mundane cacophony of everyday life and ignore such secret serene places just besides our own city. Probably one good thing out of entire Covid pandemic that we get to explore our surroundings 😉#DekhoApanaDesh
Apart from this trek, there are other places like Amba river bank, dam, trek to Rock pond and Mrug gad to explore around. The other treks can be comfortably done post monsoon.
Concise
Booking- Mr Prashant +91 90040 09078, Mr Tejas +91 83691 47239
Expenses- around 13500 for 2 nights @September 2021
Mode of travel- private vehicle. 2 hours journey from Navi Mumbai.
Things to explore- waterfall, tekking, dam, river or just relax at the resort and enjoy the nature around.
Best time to visit- Monsoon and early winters
Things to carry along- mosquito repellent cream, extra pair of good comfortable covering shoes for trekking and slip-ons otherwise, full covering clothes, towels and napkins, toiletries.
Check in- 12 noon, Checkout- 10:30am
One can explore only the waterfall as day trek as well. Also apart from this stay, there are a couple of other farmstay or homestays in Mangaon Budruk region. This place however is very well planned and has excellent hospitality.
We visited Ballaleshwar Ganpati temple at Pali village on our journey back home. This was a entourage of about 20 km.
To sum up, it was a nice weekend getaway to enjoy serene unspoilt natural beauty.
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