TheFreeBird
All the forts & waterfalls are crowded on monsoon weekends where can i find a place without crowd ? That was the question going through my mind when i came across KP falls ( KPfalls ). Those who have travelled by train from Lonavla to Karjat might have seen this magnificient waterfall falling over a cave / tunnel. The KP falls cascade over a man made tunnel kind of path which is carved in a rock wall. Though the railway bridge is clearly visible from ground and can be easily seen when you visit Zenith waterfall in Khopoli it has remained quite unknown for some time. In this KP Falls blog you will find all the information to plan this trek yourself. More offbeat waterfalls & treks at the end of this post.
The location of the waterfall is very unique and the train crossing over the bridge just to disappear in the tunnel on both sides makes for a unique view. Definitely going to add “Chaiya Chaiya” audio on the reel i make over here.
EDIT: I did make a reel.
How difficult is the KP falls trek ?
Niraj, what is the difficulty level of KP waterfall trek ? KP waterfall from Khopoli is a medium level trek. The stamina needed from Khopoli is beginner level. However the “Paanch Payri” stairs carved on a rock are very slippery & risky in monsoon, hence I term the difficulty level of KP falls as intermediate from khopoli side. As you will read below this Khopoli waterfall can be reached by walking on Railway track from Karjat side as well as Lonavla side – however I feel walking on live railway tracks through long tunnels is plain risky & idiotic. Hence if you take that railway track route for KP falls the difficulty level is risky
How long is the KP falls trek ?
How much time is required for KP falls? It takes 90 minutes trek from Khopoli to reach the KP falls. If you plan on walking to KP falls from Monkey cabin from Lonavla side OR from Nagnath station from Karjat side it will take 90 risky minutes of your life.
Khane me kya hai?
As you will read below all routes passes through dense forests hence you wont get any stalls once the trek starts. All you can get is the Vada Pav stalls at the starting point of Zenith waterfall. Better buy packed food from Khopoli itself.
Stay & Camping Options
There is no place to camp on this trek as this is uphill climb and tunnel/path at KP falls is too narrow to set up tents. This is a one day trek and if you need to stay somewhere many hotels are available in Khopoli city.
KP Falls Trek Route Map
How to reach KP falls ? How to reach Khopoli Railway bridge waterfall ?
There is only one trek route to reach KP falls from khopoli which is to reach the Datta Mandir in Khopoli. You can easily reach Khopoli by bus, train & your private vehicle. Once in Khopoli if you dont have your own transport walk towards Zenith colony or Zenith waterfall by asking people or google maps. The route for KP falls diverts from Zenith waterfall route from Datta Mandir. You can take your vehicle all the way to the temple where you can park and start your trek. There is a huge tree near the Datta mandir & trek starts from the left side. The trek route is simple, just walk straight towards the railway bridge visible.
Weekend problem: The problem is there have been many police cases of drunk behaviour at Zenith waterfall hence police dont allow people to Zenith waterfall. As a result even you cannot even go to KP falls because the trek starting point is on the same Zenith route. Both road routes to reach Datta Mandir from Zenith Colony and the normal route are both cordoned off by police.
Weekend Solution: Niraj, how did you go this KP falls on weekend ? Well i was hell bent on going to this waterfall hence found another option to divert this police attention. I went to SaiBaba Nagar which is about 15 minutes from the Datta Mandir. From there i parked my bike and walked/ trekked around the Zenith colony to meet the trek route ( which came from Datta mandir) midway.
Other routes for railway bridge waterfall by walking on Railway Track
Since the railway bridge lies between Karjat and Lonavla , you can walk from either sides on track to reach here.
Route1: From Lonavla side you can reach Monkey hill Cabin railway station & walk on track to reach here directly ( you will need to walk through a huge 1km- 2km long tunnel)
Route2: From Karjat side the route starts from Kelavli Railway station , from where you trek 2 hours to reach Nagnath Station (Time saving option: Else reach Station Thakurwadi & cross a service tunnel to reach Nagnath Station ). From Nagnath Station walk on the railway track towards Lonavla side where you will come across 6 tunnels ( longest one being more than 1km). Walk through all of them keeping an eye on incoming trains to reach KP falls. ON the same railway track after 2 tunnels you can also visit Nagnath Caves for a detour.
But both the raiwlay track routes from Lonavla as well as the Karjat side involve walking through multiple railway tunnels and walking on live railway track for most of the time. This is plain idiotic and needless to say super risky.
Hence i DONT RECOMMEND these railway track routes and prefer Khopoli route for KP falls.
The most common question that i get asked is I want to travel a lot but I dont have leaves. Should I quit my job ? I have always suggested to not quit your job unless you have another source of income. In search of this source of income I tried freelancing , trek leading, vlogging and I realised nothing works in the long term. After trying many different thinkgs finally I came across trading
Trading for getting freedom & income is perfect for a person with traveller mindset. You can trade from anywhere around the world be it some off the grid village in Himachal or Meghalaya, be it some island in Andaman. All you need is an internet connection and a trading account. You can earn by trading for 1-2 hrs a day and would have freedom to do anything in the free time.Or you might have just earned enough in a day to take the month off travelling around the world. If you are able to learn this then it has potential to make all your dreams come true. I would suggest you take it up as a side project for 6 months to see if you have patience & intellect to master it.
KP Falls Trek Blog: TheFreeBird’s story
On weekends, police dont allow tourists on Zenith road due to some unruly crowd incidents, I had no other option to but to reach Saibaba Nagar. Earlier we pleaded with the police to let us pass but they dont allow . We also pleaded with the security guard at Zenith colony to let us pass but in vain. Hence Saibaba Nagar was the only option.
After parking the bikes at Saibaba nagar our :
Plan A was to go around the zenith colony to reach the Datta mandir & then follow the route towards the railway bridge waterfall or
Plan B was to somehow reach the trek route going from Datta Mandir towards the KP falls midway.
The route shown above does take you around the Zenith colony and to Datta mandir bypassing the police barricades. However we decided to be adventurous and followed plan B to walk keeping with the bridge in sight & meeting the route from Datta mandir midway before Panch Payri. Seeing the police & taking a detour really got me excited
Paanch Payri @ KP falls
We met the Datta mandir trek route somewhere just before the Panch Payri. Legend has that these steps were build by the Pandavas hence the name. The steps are definitely more than 5 may be upto 25.
The steps are risky and very slippery in monsoon. Hence proper care should be taken while climbing these. Use proper shoes . No flip flops, sandals, slippers etc should be used.
After this we passed through a jungle of teak trees to finally get a clear view of the railway bridge. Now we were sure that we took the proper route to KP falls.
After this view last section of climb remains. We passes through a dense forest and had to pass through a water stream to finally reach the railway bridge. I was so happy to witness the magnificient waterfall. Only if I could have got a train in the photo it would have been wonderful. Too bad the had to wait for hours before a train passed.
After witnessing the tunnel path which seems to be manmade from the train bridge it was time to witness the bridge from the tunnel. This waterfall route which had gone viral in video is narrow, so it is essential to not crowd here. We waited for few people already present here to vacate the place before we could have it for ourselves.
It might have taken 2 hours to reach here but might be because I didnt know the route & was second guessing every possible path. As we reached here the tunnel path just looked out of movie set. The waterfall cascaded over this tunnel
We took many photos & videos at the spot but couldnt get enough of this place. Waterfall was milky white & was very luring and I couldn’t help myself from getting drenched. Have a look at the force of water in this video
Later on had a peaceful lunch sitting behind the waterfall… not many places where you can say such a thing. We had paratha while watching the waterfall and the occasional trains which passed over the viaduct into the tunnels
This tunnel towards this Karjat side goes to NathBaba caves . Also known as Nagnath / Gambhirnath / Gorakshanath caves. Some people take this route but i dont recommend walking into km long tunnels with frequent trains.
After spending few more hours we decided to head back on the normal trek route to reach Datta Mandir knowing fully well that the police wont be present that late in the evening. We also visited the oh so famous Zenith waterfall which is just beside the Datta mandir.
With this , we decided to call it a day. Reached my bike, had tea & rushed towards home.
Bye !
That’s it for Kp falls blog.
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I've written blogs covering numerous Sahyadri treks, all accessible in the section below. Additionally, I create ambient Sahyadri videos on YouTube, featuring solely natural sounds such as birdsong, wind rustling through the trees, and the soothing patter of rain—the elements of nature that I hold dear.
SAHYADRI TREKS NEAR
I wish it rains soon. mujhe Jana hai yaha
we all are waiting for monsoon