28. Kaas Plateau revisited

In my last post (previous post) I had promised you (and myself) a revisit to the Kaas Plateau during this flowering season, which was fast nearing its end. So when Ajit and Anu visited us last week, we took the opportunity and visited this amazing place on the 3^rd of October.

The drive of over a 100 kms from Pune to the Kaas Plateau was as usual extremely pleasant and scenic; this time of year it had the added colour of the yellow cosmos flowers blooming in abundance on both sides of the road. Our automatic Honda Amaze was going for its first long trip and I was discovering the pleasure of driving on the mountain without continuously pressing the clutch to change the gears. When the milestone said 5 kms to Satara at a crossroad, we took a right turn into Satara city and drove for about 9-10 kms till we reached a T junction. Recognised a small replica of the Eiffel Tower from the previous trip, advertising something or the other, and took a right turn for the Kaas valley. We kept travelling straight , got stuck behind two large Passenger buses for a short while, till we reached another T-Junction, where we spotted the first proper sign board showing two arrows – indicating that for Thoseghar waterfalls go left while the right fork  goes to the Kaas plateau and the Kaas lake.

Our eyes feasting on the surrounding hills covered in various shades of green, we drove the next 20 odd kms,  with bated breath to catch a glimpse of  the flowers that the Kaas plateau is so famous for. Anu finally woke up and immediately started clicking pictures like one possessed, many of which I will be uploading on this post. At long last , we reached the fencing of the section where the flowers are in abundance. Though we had gone at the fag end of the season the sight was spectacular, especially when seen through Ajit’s field glasses (binoculars). The fresh air and the soft scent of the wild flowers was intoxicating. The prominent colour at this time was yellow. The previous fortnight the newspaper had printed a picture of the plateau covered with lilac flowers.

The Kaas Plateau has been accorded World Heritage site status but the large influx of tourists does not bode well for it. A few watchmen with whistles try to control the large number of ignorant adults and children, many of whom have the urge to run amok on the delicate flowers! 

 

Yellow Cosmos blooming along the roadside

 

Birds' eye view of Pune from the hilltop

9 kms to Kaas

The fenced Kaas Plateau and cars parked all along

Silvy and I

Rajeev 'protecting' his 'bad leg'

Yellow flowers giving the prominent colour

Mesmerised!

The sun peeped out of an overcast sky to light up a patch

Wayward clouds floating around

Interspersed with other shades of flowers which have already had their day in the sun

A Sykes Lark adding action and music to the colourful show

                  

 A frisky bee captured by Anu

After spending over three hours amidst the flowers we drove upto the Kaas Lake and enjoyed a customary cup of tea at the small stalls there.

At the Kaas Lake

 

 The way back was as pleasant and we had to tear ourselves away from this little piece of heaven on earth. We chanced upon an interesting little cafe in a bylane of Satara and had an interesting drink called 'Iced Limbau Lumputeh' or was it bad spelling!

Iced Limbau Lumputeh