Ratangad Fort

Ratangad - "the fort of jewels" - stands at about 1,297 m (4,255 ft) on the Sahyadri crest above the Bhandardara reservoir, in Akole taluka of Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar) district.

• The district administration puts the fort at roughly 400 years old and records its use by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj; gazetteer accounts pick the thread up again in 1763, when the Mahadev Koli sardar Javji seized it, and around 1820, when a British force under Captain Goddard took it.
• The whole massif lies inside the Kalsubai-Harishchandragad Wildlife Sanctuary, notified in 1986 over roughly 362 sq km of moist-deciduous and semi-evergreen Sahyadri forest, so this is protected country rather than open hillside.
• The summit's signature is the Nedhe, the "eye of the needle" - a cavity worn clean through a fin of rock near the top, wide enough to sit inside with the valley dropping away beneath you.
• It is the most photographed thing on the mountain and the reason most trekkers climb at first light.
• Below it the fort is entered through four carved gateways - Ganesh, Hanuman, Konkan and Trimbak, the Trimbak Darwaza being the main entrance - while a fifth, the Chor Darwaza or thieves' gate, survives only as rubble; at the Ganesh Darwaza two fixed iron ladders carry you over a rock band of some 25 to 30 feet.
• On the plateau stand rock-cut cisterns that usually hold water, one of them reckoned potable, a free-standing round tower known locally as Ranicha Huda, and two roomy caves to the left of the second gateway, big enough between them for a trekking group to sleep in.
• One of those caves holds a small shrine of Ratnadevi, the guardian goddess the fort is named for, whom local tradition makes sister to Kalsubai and Katrabai.
• Both of those sisters are visible from the top.
• The plateau looks across to Kalsubai at 1,646 m - the highest point in Maharashtra - and on to the Alang-Madan-Kulang wall, Ajoba and, on a clear winter morning, Harishchandragad, with the blue sheet of Bhandardara (Arthur) Lake on the Pravara river filling the middle distance.
• Through the monsoon and the weeks just after it the slopes turn emerald and seasonal waterfalls thread the cliffs below the fort - the single biggest draw of a Sahyadri trek, and also the season when the rock and the ladders are at their most treacherous.
• The caves make Ratangad one of the few Sahyadri forts where an unsupported overnight stay is genuinely practical, which is why sunrise from the Nedhe has become a minor Maharashtrian pilgrimage.
• Almost everyone starts at Ratanwadi, and the village deserves a slow hour of its own.
• Its Amruteshwar temple is a 9th-century Shiva shrine raised by the Shilahara king Jhanjha - one of twelve he built - in dark basalt Hemadpanti work, with an intact ornamented shikhara, carved octagonal pillars and a stepped tank beside it; the Archaeological Survey of India lists it as a monument of national importance.
• The trail leaves from the far bank of the Pravara, directly opposite the temple, and covers roughly 6 km - about three to four hours up and two to three hours down - so a dawn start and a full day are the sane plan.
• No ticket counter is maintained at the fort itself, but the massif is a notified sanctuary, so ask locally whether the forest office has any levy or timing restriction in force. Eat vegetarian and eat simply.
• Ratanwadi homestays will lay out a home-style Maharashtrian thali of bhakri, pithla, zunka and thecha if you give them notice, and small stalls at Ratanwadi and Samrad do poha, batata bhaji and chai; the Shendi and Bhandardara dam stretch has plain veg thali, misal and vada pav counters.
• Kitchens here are small and informal rather than certified, so confirm the kitchen is fully vegetarian before you order at any of them, and ask for the Jain option at Ratanwadi and Shendi if you avoid onion, garlic and root vegetables.
• Nothing at all is sold between the village and the summit, so pack your own theplas, chikki and dry fruit and carry at least two litres of water per person for the climb.