Garbett Plateau – The charm of Matheran
Since last few days, I and my office teammates were figuring out where we should go for the trek as the monsoon in Maharashtra is on it’s best. And finally, we decided to trek the Garbett Plateau which comes in the Matheran region of Maharashtra. There are two ways we knew by which we could trek the Garbett Plateau. First, to get down at Neral station and reach Matheran, from where there is a direct trail for Garbett Plateau. Second, to get down at Bhivpuri station, from where the trail starts from Bhivpuri market which is nearby Bhivpuri station. We chose the second option as one of my teammate named Ankit Singh was aware of that trail. One has to board the train which goes towards the Karjat to get down at Bhivpuri station. The difficulty level for Garbett Plateau is Medium, which will take 4-5 hours of a trek from Bhivpuri station to Garbett Plateau and it also depends on how many pictures you click 😉

By 9:30 AM, we got down at Bhivpuri station and had the Kanda bhaji with the Chuski of a Chaai at one of the tea stalls at Bhivpuri market. And our the journey began then. Based on our previous trek experiences, Ankit Singh and I were playing a role of a trek leaders. After 10-15 minutes of walk, we reached Dhom lake. The lake water was still and silent. It was a cloudy weather with some rain and the group didn’t miss the chance to capture some pictures. There is an identifiable trail from Dhom lake for Garbett Plateau.

The initial trail goes beside the lake and then straight towards the Garbett Plateau. After walking about half-n-hour we were able to see the beautiful Bhivpuri waterfall. This waterfall was not part of our itinerary, but the beauty of this waterfall tempted us to visit it. Waterfall has the different trail than Garbett Plateau which took us 20-30 minutes to reach there. We saw that few people were doing Waterfall Rappelling over the waterfall. For a moment I thought to do it too as I wanted to do it for long, but since we were already out of our itinerary, I skipped my thought. We enjoyed the waterfall bath for 10-15 minutes.


After that, we started returning back to the actual trail for the Garbett Plateau. After 10-15 minutes of the steep climb, we reached the first hill which was just near to the village i.e. Sagachiwadi. The group captured some pictures and then moved towards the village. Now the climb became slight steeper but not much difficult. At the end of the Sagachiwadi village, we saw a well from where we found two ways to reach the top. One was a straight way and another one was from the right. As we were not sure about the way, we chose the right turn. We found 2-3 villagers coming from the opposite directions and they confirmed us that we were on the correct trail.


After about an hour of walk and steep climb we reached another village. Where the villagers confirmed us that it will take two more hours to reach the top. And we realized that the way we chose was quite long as compared to another one to reach the top. Now, climbing up was the only option for us. As we needed the energy booster, we took a halt at one of the village house for some tea and snacks. After getting charged, we were back on the trail. The climbing was not much difficult, but the lengthiness of the trek made us more and more exhausted. But the rain in between the trek was the refreshing part for us. The trek for Garbett Plateau is more about enjoying the journey than the destination. And the final hour to reach the top gave us some breathtaking views.



Finally, by 3 PM, after 5:30 hours of trek, we reached at the top of the Garbett Plateau. The view from the top was spectacular. It was an amazing experience for all of us. As all of us were exhausted, we took a snacks break at the top. Rain and the wind were the astounding part at the top.


After Garbett Plateau, we had Garbett Point in our itinerary which takes 30 minutes of steep climb from Garbett Plateau. As we were running out the time, we decided to skip the Garbett Point, and we started returning back. The return journey was again another good experience we had. We crossed the Garbett village which is just next to the Garbett Plateau. And then there is a direct trail through the Matheran forest which took us 1 hour of level walk to reach the Matheran entry point.

The forest trail was refreshing for us as the rain was playing it’s best role during the walk. And the cherry on the cake was the hot Maggie which we had at one of the stalls near Aman lodge. By 6 PM we reached Matheran entry point and we took a cab for the Neral Station for our return journey to Home with lots of memories. 🙂
August 13, 2018 @ 5:31 PM
Nice writing Ketan…relived our journey once again 🙂
August 18, 2018 @ 10:44 PM
Thanks Arun 🙂
August 13, 2018 @ 6:28 PM
Really a beautiful place ..
August 18, 2018 @ 10:44 PM
Yoo Ankit 🙂
August 13, 2018 @ 6:33 PM
Awesome experience 🙂 loved it worth going to this place.
Thanks Guys 🙂
August 18, 2018 @ 10:44 PM
Yoo Rajani 🙂