Coming from a defence background, travelling from one place to another has been an integral part of my life and how this got converted into my passion I still wonder. In my younger days I have been to several roads trips to Araku Valley, Mahabaleshwar, Hyderabad to Udaipur, etc. and that has always been with my parents. This time I decided to take a road trip with my friends instead. Taking into consideration, the prevailing heat wave and distance to be covered, a car seemed the most appropriate choice for travel. So, I hired a Honda City from Zoomcar, and was off to visit Kalsubai Harishchandragad, a wildlife sanctuary near Nashik.
I received an SMS, intimating the details of the car and person in charge. I reached the pickup site at Baner on 28th April at 7.00 am. The car earmarked for my drive was kept ready in shining condition. The person in-charge, very diligently checked the functioning of various components of the car like the AC, AUX cable, etc. I was also asked to verify the same on the app, after the initial checkups were done, I was handed over the car. My friends and I, started our journey at 7.45 am, to Kalsubai Harishchandragad wildlife sanctuary which was a 4 hr drive from Pune, en route to Nashik. The road to the sanctuary in itself is mesmerizing. We decided to make a quick stop for a morning cup of chai at 9.00 am at Chakan around 35 km from Pune.
After our chai stop, we continued down the road to Nashik. This is a four-lane road till Chakan, post which it turns into 2-lane road starts which heavily crowded. At around 10.30 am, we reached Narayangaon about 100 km from Pune, here we took a turn towards Shivneri Fort which is a birthplace of greatest Maratha Warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji. The road to Shivneri Fort has mountains on both sides, and would be very picturesque during the rainy season. We stopped here for a few pictures, after which we continued our journey to Kalsubai Harishchandragad which is around 100 km from the fort.
The tricky part of our journey started here for us, the road that leads to the sanctuary, on State Highway 54. The state of the road was in a pitiful state, but thanks to Honda City from Zoomcar, we had a comfortable journey through a tough terrain. In the blistering heat, the air conditioning was working perfectly. After driving continuously for two and a half hours, we finally reached our destination. We weren’t lucky to see any animal, the weather played the spoilsport, but the view from there was marvelous. Kalsubai is one of the highest peaks in Maharashtra, the place was scenic and peaceful. The road was nearly deserted, making the sight of humans just make us jump with joy!
All in all, we had a wonderful experience. A beautiful spot for weekend getaways, picnics and a real paradise for photographers.
This was my first booking with Zoomcar and I am very delighted with the service and customer satisfaction, right from pickup to drop. For me buying my own car and driving it around seemed a little farfetched for now. But thanks to Zoomcar, I now have comfortable and reasonable mode of travel in and around Pune.
You guys Rock! All the best! Keep it up! Kudos!
