Trek to Rohida Fort – the windy fort

Rohida fort near Bhor is famous for its wind. I had heard about it many times and felt that it could be an exaggeration. It wasn’t 🙂

Rohida fort was one of the forts captured by Sivaji. It is not very big in size, but interesting enough to trek to.

Route to Rohida Fort from Pune (Magarpatta City): It is a comfortable 2 hr drive from Magarpatta. For those living near the highway, the easiest way is to get on the bangalore highway and drive down in the direction of Mahabaleshwar. I took the route through Saswad and Narayanpur because it is more scenic in this season. The base village is Bajarwadi and once you enter it, you will see a huge clearing on the right meant to serve as a parking place for vehicles. The parking charges are forty rupees per vehicle. The village administration has also constructed public toilets at this parking place.

It will take around 1.5 hrs to reach the top, with lot of photo stops. The climb is gradual and easy. There are some sections in the middle where it can get slushy when it rains (and it was when we went), but there are side routes available to bypass them (just look around!). There wasn’t any stretch where we faced any major difficulty, even while carrying Advika.

The best part about this fort is the wind. During the climb, there is a flat section where the cross-wind is amazing! You really have to be watchful to make it across without slipping.

Once you reach the fort, there are three gates (darwazas). This part needs a little care as the steps are in a broken condition and they are a bit tall. Once on the top, there is a trail to take you around the periphery of the fort. It will take around an hr to have a leisurely stroll. There are 6 watchtowers around the fort – lot of photo ops! After you cross the third one, the wind picks up GREATLY. That section was fun as well as scary. You are walking literally on the edge with the wind howling like crazy. The wind was blowing into the fort and hence our fear was a bit lesser. Not sure if it ever flows in the other direction. But if it is does,
can be very dangerous.
We started from home at around 7 am and finished the trek (back at the base village) by around 12.30 pm. So, this is a relaxed day trip and fun one for all ages. This is a short video i made about the trip. Check it out here.