Tikona Fort Monsoon Trek | Lonavla- Pune | Maharashtra | Gypsy Brothers | Travel vlog
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Tikona Fort is located around 120 kms from Mumbai and 50 kms from Pune. From Mumbai, you can catch a Pune bound train and get down at Lonavala. From Lonavala, either take a local train or bus and alight at Kamshet. If you’re coming from Pune, catch a local train going toward Lonavala and get down at Kamshet.
At Kamshet inquire for a bus going towards Tikona Peth. Frequency is around 1 bus per hour. Once you are at Tikona Peth, ask the locals for the Tikona trek route. The hiking trail is around two kilometers away from Tikona Peth village.
Tikona is a dominant hill fortress of the Pawana Maval region of the Konkan, Tikona Fort is a loved, frequented and very popular one-day trek spot of Maharashtra. The real Marathi name of the fort is Vitandgad, but it gets its more famous name from the triangular shape it is built in
The fort is pyramidal in shape and the name Tikona means triangle. I would rate this as an easy trek and would highly recommend it to beginners. The trail is clearly marked and it generally takes around one hour to reach the top. While you’re climbing just be little cautious as the route becomes little slippery.
You can explore the walls, gates, a temple and a small tank on the top. The view of the surrounding areas is simply amazing. You get to see the beautiful Pawna lake with Tung fort in the background. Also, one can see Lohagad and Visapur Fort from the top. Due to heavy fogs we could not see much around. Still we were just experiencing the gush of the wind hitting our face
Once a pride of the sprawling Maratha Empire of Pune, the fort is now well-past its glorious history of being tossed between the Nizams, Mughals, Marathas and British. It is currently maintained and protected by a local organisation called Shivdurg Sanvardhan.
The 'Trimbakeshwar Mahadev' temple caved in the rocks is one of the main attraction in the fort
There are many places to see on the fort. Entrance gate (Vetal darwaja), Water tanks, Caves constructed during Satvahan, stone grinder, Steep stairs which takes you at the Bale-Killa, bastion and Bale-Killa. The whole fort can be seen in an hour's time.
From the top of the fort, you can have a view of adjacent fort Tung (On another side of Pawna Dam, Lohagad, Visapur, Jambhuli hill and entire Pawna region.
Not much is known about the history of this fort. Caves from the fort are from seventh-eight centuries A.D. Malik Ahmed Nizamshah of the Nizam dynasty conquered it in 1585 and thus it was made part of the Nizam territory. Shivaji Maharaj conquered Tikona fort along with other Pawna region forts in 1657. This fort was mainly used to keep watch on Pawna region. Netaji Palkar was the assigned the task of ensuring the security of fort Tikona. Mughal captured this fort but soon it was recaptured by Marathas.
In 1682, king Sambhaji met with Aurangzeb's son Akbar. After this meeting, Akbar was offered to stay at fort Tikona, however, was sent later to Jaitapur since the climate here didn't suit him. In the end, the fort was captured by British in 1818 after a small battle.