Tung Trek

Tung fort is a part of Western Ghats, near Lonavala. You can find more information about Tung Fort here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_Fort

Some details about the trek can be found here: https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g297654-d3243464-Reviews-Tung_Fort-Pune_Pune_District_Maharashtra.html

We did an impromptu trek to Tung fort. This blog post is to share the experience and tips.

We had heard Tung is a difficult trek. Well, it’s kind of difficult as most of the climb is a steep climb. There are some big boulders which some might struggle to climb. Kids would need help. We visited at the end of October, that’s like the end of monsoons. So some stones had moss on them. Moss gets slippery when it’s wet. 

However, the trek is not something which you should be scared of. If you take basic precautions like you don’t be too adventurous around the edges, or you don’t be careful and jump around, then it’s a very much doable trek.

We started very early as we like to avoid crowds. Also, the weather is better if you climb before it gets too sunny. The downside of this was that some of the big boulders with moss were moist due to the morning dew, which made some parts of the climb difficult. In one of such a patch we simply removed our shoes and climbed bare feet. Bare feet gave a better grip.

The drive to the base village is super awesome. However the road is very bad. I feel the best thing to do is to carry bicycles in your car, park the car just before the road gets too bad and then cycle to the base. This kaccha road seemed like perfect place to cycle, surrounded on both sides with a lot of greenery.

The top of the fort is very small. The _buruj_ walls are broken. I could not imagine how to control kids who tend to run around exploring the place! Hence I would not recommend the trek for kids without proper supervision.

At the top there is a small Tungai devi mandir. We did the trek on Ashthami, so it was a good day to take devi darshan.