Road trip exploring coastal landscapes of South Maharashtra’s Coast.
Sunday mornings usually are spent lazing out in bed and unwinding from the tightness of the bygone week. But my road trip kick-started last year on a bright November Sunday morn at 10 am.
I already was soaking in pride of reaching Sawantwadi on time, in spite of unforeseen hurdles in my travel plans. The self-drive car rental service offered me Hyundai Eon, which was enough for me to travel with my backpack in and around the Malvan region.
see: Road trip exploring coastal landscapes of South Maharashtra part 1
I had ambitiously marked my road trip map sequence to be Sawantwadi- Zarap- Malvan- Dhamapur-Tarkarli- Devbag- Chipi- Parule-Vengurla-Shiroda & back to Sawantwadi by 8 pm.
Road trip exploring coastal landscapes of South Maharashtra
Tourist boats in the water
The trip would cover approximately 150 odd km. After filling in enough petrol at the petrol pump near Sawantwadi’s city centre, I set my journey in the direction of Malvan via Zarap.
After initially driving through narrow lanes the road then led me to a broad highway which connected me to Malvan road, where I took a specific left.
The signboards were quite helpful to easily navigate until I hit the narrow country lanes around Malvan city, which created a traffic jam.
Had it been Mumbai, it would be a frustrating experience to feel stuck among mismanaged traffic, but for the first time I was enjoying being stuck in traffic near the Malvan bus stand because I could observe the rawness of a town that spoke a different language (Malvani) and its market place so vibrant with food stalls of Malvani Khaja (local snack), Cashew nuts & eateries offering ‘Kombdi Wade’ (Spicy Chicken dish).
An old anchor on a beach
Though the Sindhudurg fort was very nearby, I planned to skip visiting it because, given the one-day road trip agenda, I would not have been able to give enough time to absorb the history, geography & beauty of the sea-touching fort.
I decided to specially visit it some other time, as I believe anything that’s built by the warrior King Shivaji Maharaj deserves dedicated time & intention to visit & appreciate its importance in the history & cultural capital of Maharashtra.
Thus, I took the left turn and headed towards Dhamapur. As I drove, I noticed that the area around me was surrounded by dry grass. Miles of dry waving grass created a beautiful yellow hue as the landscape passed by me. Soon I arrived at Tarkarli which has a unique geography.
It is sandwiched between the Karli River & the Arabian Sea! As I travelled further to Devbaag, I experienced the confluence of the river & the sea, which is called ‘Sangam’, at Devbaag beach.  It was a mesmerizing moment when I touched the water of the ‘Sangam’ and thereby literally handshaking with the river & the sea in one go!
Canoe on a beach Devbaag & Tarkarli
Tarkarli & Devbaag, due to its surrounding water bodies, has a lot of water sports and boating facilities. As I bid goodbye to Devbaag beach I noticed it was almost lunchtime. There were lots of restaurants around, but I was keen on visiting Walawalkar’s Resort.
I had earlier seen a couple of vlogs of this resort which were posted by Ankita Walawalkar, who is the eldest daughter of the resort owner. What impressed me about the vlogs was the simplicity & the honesty with which Ankita presented the content in Malvani/Marathi language.
Here’s a video reflecting Devbaag’s beauty & Walawalkar’s resort: https://youtu.be/LkQBKY4z3RU As I searched for the resort I noticed that the inner roads of Devbaag village are extremely narrow and car needs to be taken to drive very slow and also while taking a ‘U-turn, as the ‘Kokani’ houses around are closely constructed.
I realised that the closeness was not limited to the village set up but also I felt a close bonding when my host Mr Pramod Walawalkar & his wife (Ankita’s parents) served me seafood and showed me around the property. The couple was very down to earth & radiated a genuine vibe of promoting Konkan tourism around Devbaag.
The backyard of the property overlooks the ‘Sangam’ waters & Tsunami Islands (which emerged during the 2004 Tsunami crisis). An hour & a half spent at Walawalkar’s resort during my road trip gave me tranquil moments to carry on with my journey. Here is a weblink for more information about Walawalkar’s Resort: https://www.walawalkarsresort.com
Bonding with culture and nature
Around 3 pm I left Devbaag & via Chipi headed to Parule & Vengurla. Chipi hosts the Sindhudurg Airport and has acres of open land everywhere. By 5 pm I had reached Parule and I needed a strong cup of tea to continue my journey further.
As I sipped tea at a cosy tea shack near Parule village I improvised on my road trip plans. The setting sun was hinting to me of the challenges of a night drive back to Sawantwadi. Given the narrow State Highway roads and frequent flashing headlights of the cars from the opposite direction, it was not safe for me to drive at a stretch.
As I had been continuously driving since 10 am that day, my mind focus too had reduced to 50% capacity and due to the darkness around I anyways would not be able to observe and experience the beauty of the landscape.
As I hit the road again I practically decided to skip visiting Shiroda and after touching Vengurla town I took a left to head towards Sawantwadi. As planned, around 8 pm I reached Sawantwadi. After dinner around 10:30 pm, as I was retiring to bed, I felt elated by the fact that the ‘road trip mission’ was accomplished in spite of major hurdles in the beginning!
How does a road trip add value to one’s life? I asked myself and reflected on this thought. And the answer was- ‘It makes me learn about history, geography, culture and above all makes me meet & bond with wonderful people that create cherishing memories that are worth a million dollars as they chip and chisel my soul, and in the process makes me who I am!
Photo Courtesy: Shraddha. C Sankulkar
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