Kaas Plateau -Valley of Colours

Take yourself away to a colourful land called Kaas if you like nature and colours. Its Maharashtra version of Valley of flowers in Uttarakhand, but nothing less.
I have heard about Kaas Plateau since long but was unable to find opportunity.This time monsoon period was stretched till September and I could find some time.
Being a Tour planner decided to take a group with me but unavailability of rooms forced me to keep a small group.
In all we were 8 people from Mumbai and 2 from Pune.One group has planned to visit Pratapgadh en route so we all met at Satara. Rooms were booked at a hotel on Kaas road overlooking beautiful Satara city. It was mesmerising to sit in the balcony and keep looking twinkling stars of Satara at night.
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Twinkling lights of Satara city
Flowering at Kaas is generally between mid-August to Septemeber , as soon as rainy season ends and slight sunshine reaches mother earth, little blooms are ready for showtime.dsc_0688dscn2252
At Kaas
plateau its better to book time slot in advance as no. of visitors on weekday can be anything. Better to avoid weekend rush. In Weekend entry fees is Rs 100/- per visitor and weekdays it Rs 50/- Parking and camera charges extra.
It is advisable to take a govt. authorised guide to know
about flowers which are generally herbaceous in nature.
The sizes are from small to micro. Every flower has its unique characteristic and just by looking from a distance you will miss something important. Its a Biodiversity world heritage site declared by UNESCO. This place has roughly 850 varieties of flowers which bloom at different time of year. You won’t find same flower maybe after 20-25 days, colours and varieties keep on changing.Out of these 39 species are found in Kaas region only.dsc_0610dscn2199
We were lucky to see “Topli Karawi” a rare flower which blooms after every 7-8 years. One more rare variety which I have not seen anywhere else is ” Kumudini”. There is a pond 2 kms ahead of main flowering area which one should not miss .This water lily blooms in morning and closes at 1 pm.
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Kumudini flower
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Everybody who visit this beautiful place has a moral responsibility to protect and not to harm flowers. One should not smoke, throw plastic bottles or litter around. walk on designated path way.dsc_0834
This place is so beautiful you won’t be able to decide whether to capture with camera or just keep on looking at flowersdsc_0753dsc_0762dsc_0647

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