Rajeev_photoblog: January 2010

Tarkarli :

Tarkarli is one of the beaches situated in Maharashtra on the konkan / Malvan region. It is around 7 kms from Malvan, and around 550km from Mumbai & Pune. In my opinion the best way to reach there is by road, and that too, in a vehicle which has decent horses to drive flat out or climb up ghats really smooth. You have awesome straights like the mumbai - pune expressway, NH17 or NH14 and also has a mix of long winding ghats. If you love driving / riding, then roads the best option. But otherwise, the nearest airport is in Goa & by rail, the closest stations would be Sindudurg or Kankavali.

Tarkarli has a really clear beach. Unlike the few other ones that I've seen. The most common way of stayin there is thru "Home Stay". People there rent out a part (or whole in some cases) of their houses for you to stay. But apart from this, there are also regular resorts like MTDC etc. But home-stays are a lot cheaper and pretty comfortable too, yes. you would'nt have A.C's or jacuzi's etc, but who cares, I dont you should be sitting in your room when you go there.

The cuisine here mainly comprises of Malvani cuisine.

There are quite a few things one could do here. There's of course the beach, and quite a few adjoining beaches, which are just at short distances. but apart from that, there are

Dolphin rides : There are a few places from which, you could hire a small boat and go a little deep in the sea to spot them. I took hired a boat from this place called Devbagh, which is on the "sangam" of Karli river & the Arbian Sea. Sadly i could not find any :(. In spite of being among the first batches, in the morning, to enter the sea.

But the ride, in itself was beautiful.. fresh and serene.

Snorkelling : which is good fun, if your doing it for the first time. The water is so clear, that you can actually see corals etc on the sea bed. Its a whole world out there. But the only sad thing, during this peak season, you'd have to wait long for your turn, because the guide to tourist ratio is 1:1. and the tourists are way too many for a handful of guides. and the other thing which might grosse out some people are the Snorkels. The Snorkels used by one person is not really sanitised before re-use. The only option to cleanse them is thru dipping them into the sea water n re-using them. I couldnt take any pictures of these as my camera is not water-proof.

Apart from these things which can be done in Tarkarli, there are a lot of beaches which are just an hour or more drive from here.

Vengurla :

This place has a beach as well as a light house, which is open to public viewing. Climbing up the lighthouse would give a really good birds eye view of the surroundings, i wish the climate was a little less foggy, the day I went.

Tiracol fort :

This is an old portuguese fort, but currently run as a hotel. its on the nothernmost tip of Goa. Its a nice place, nicely done up hotel and having some really scenic view. Its situated on a hill top, at the tip where, the river tericol & arabian sea conjoin.

There are many other beaches which I could not visit due to the lack of time, like Redi beach / Querim beach (the one seen from the fort), and other forts like, Sindhudrug fort, Sawantwadi fort (was closed for public viewing as there was some movie shooting going on) etc etc.. Basically a trip, which is a pleasure during the journey and also at the destination.

Some of my photos, during this trip.

Tarkarli Beach :