Thoseghar Falls in Satara, Maharashtra

Monsoon season in India provides everyone respite from the blistering heat and the entire landscape a much-needed makeover.  And for a very limited time frame, certain parts of Western India transform into a lush green landscape with beautiful azure lakes and seasonal waterfalls bursting forth through the hills.

We visited Satara in the monsoon season and saw a similar seasonal fall, called the Thoseghar waterfall. This Fall is the most famous in this area and is about a 20 Km drive from the Satara city. Set amidst a picturesque landscape of paddy fields and hills all around, it’s actually quite a beautiful sight.

The beautiful tree lined walkway to the Falls

We reached the waterfall by late afternoon and had the perfect lighting for photography.  Do note, that you cannot take your vehicle directly to the falls, and have to park it outside. From the parking area there is a short 7 – 10 minute easy walk to the Falls. There is also a very nominal ticket and they are very particular about littering in this area and around the Falls. I was so glad that they are seriously enforcing these rules and have been able to maintain cleanliness here.

Post a short walk we reached a newly constructed platform that provided a beautiful view of the fall. There are two streams of water falling on one side and a small fall opposite it. Though I have seen much bigger falls in Kerala, I liked this one for its sheer height, as the main fall in 250m high.

Thoseghar Falls

The small fall opposite the Thoseghar Fall

However, more than the falls, I loved the views around it. All along the hills here were dotted with windmills that were rotating and making a beautiful sight.

The windmills all around

The entire hills around here were covered with the Karvi plants. These plants bloom only once in several years and transform the entire area into a violet landscape. They last flowered in 2008 and are expected to flower after every 9 years. I would definitely love to see this area then.

Hills covered with Karvi plants

We had a great time photographing these sights and after a while walked back to the main entrance. All along the way we saw numerous other interesting plants and flowers like the small bitter amla fruit, the flower for curing snake bites, another variety of Karvi, etc.

Once outside the gate we had to have a quick tea break. So we had some tea from the local shop and the most amazingly fresh and juicy corn with it. I know, it’s quite a strange combination but the corn was freshly roasted and was super yum,  just too tasty to resist.

The super yum corn

We then spent some time taking pictures of these small flowers all around here against the backdrop of the lush green paddy fields and then proceeded to see the windmills of Chalkewadi.

Small violet flowers

Overall quite a nice place for a quick visit along with Kaas.