Drive around Pavana lake - Lonavala.

We had set aside this day for birding at Lonavala; being on a holiday mood, we woke up late and realised that it would be too late to go out for birding. So we made an impromptu decision to take a drive around Pavana lake and enjoy the landscapes and waterscapes. 

After a lovely breakfast at hotel Rama Krishna, we headed off towards the lake. ( Map of our drive at the end )

The drive as we anticipated was quite picturesque and we lost no opportunity to stop at strategic points to enjoy some views. 

The roads have steep curves, but are well maintained and its a pleasure to drive on them. The only section that was back breaking was a section of five kilometers towards Tung fort. The road is very bad and we were wondering if Zeita's suspensions would be able to deal with it!

Above and below are two views of the Tikona fort. Aari wondered and asked me how come the fort was so small. Well, as I write now, I feel, it may have been more of a watch tower than a full fledged fort.  To reach the fort, there was a further 300 meter trek, but that one for some other day. 

Above, a lovely view of Pavana lake, during monsoons though, the lake dresses up differently. 

We continued driving around the lakes periphery, and came across some lovely natural formations. 

Defacing of rocks though is quite rampant along the way. Especially, by the below restaurant, which has been using many of the rocks as its billboards. I wonder if it is even legal to do something like this!

Near Chavsar, we took a detour towards another fort called the Tung fort. ( I think even this too may have be a watchtower). The road though was terrible and filled with potholes.  Aari and I stopped besides the base of the Tung for a break and we were delighted to see a group of endangered Black footed grey Langurs. 

It was quite a view, watching the relief on the Langur's face as he completes his Nature's call. Well, our birding idea alteast, ended up with some monkey watching!

Before you get any ideas, I was scouting for vantage points to photograph the Langurs.

We then returned back to Lonavala, by 1300 Hrs, and had a lovely buffet lunch at Avion. Below, is the map of the route that we drove. It was a lovely drive and we enjoyed every bit of it, despite, the summers heat.