Ratangad at the top, has a natural rock peak with a cavity in it which is called 'Nedhe' or 'Eye of the Needle'; formed by natural erosion, it is big enough to accommodate a group of 10 people & the view of the entire region from here is absolutely amazing.
Ratan gad was captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosle and was one of his favorites. The base village Ratanwadi has a beautiful Amruteshwar temple which is famous for its carvings. The fort is origin for the river Pravara / Amrutvahini . The Bhandardara dam is built on this river.
Main attraction at Ratanwadi, one can take in the beauty of the Amruteshwar temple dating back to the Hemadpant Era Roughly from the 8th Century.
How to reach Ratangad Fort:
Nearest railway station is Igatpuri. From Igatpuri, we have to go to Shendi village. There is a bus around 5-5:30AM from Igatpuri to Shendi. I'm not sure about other timings. Shendi and Bhandardara are two villages separated by Bhandardara Lake. From Shendi to Bhandardar village, we can go by boat. It takes around 30minutes. From Bhandardara, we have to go by walk for around 45min.-1hour to reach base village, Ratanwadi. Amruteshwar temple at this village is good.
Another way, it is about 67Km from Sangamner city which is on NH-50 Pune to Nasik, nearest city & people refer it for there routine work, This route is known as State highway Kolhar-Ghoti.
From here, we have to start trek to Ratangad Fort. It takes around 4hrs. in worst case to reach the top of fort. We have two caves on top of hill/fort. Small cave doesn't have any grill to close the opening of cave and it can accommodate around 5 people. Big cave have grill to close the cave in nights and it can accommodate 25 people. Night stay can be done. No fear of animals, except monkeys. Rain water(collected in the tank on hill) is good enough to have mouth-wash and refreshments in the morning.
Amruteshwar Temple
