Kataldhar Waterfall Rappelling and Trekking

Kataldhar is a big waterfall near Lonavla in the Pune district of Maharashtra. This waterfall is not very popular because it is somewhat difficult to reach the valley and needs some experience of basic trekking before exploring this place. Though it is a little difficult there is heaven at the end of the fall.

I decided to go on this adventure with experienced trekkers so I joined the Pune Hiking Enthusiast group which organized complete trek and rappelling. At 5:30 AM, we started from Pune and within 2 hours we reached Fanasrai Village which is the only route to reach Kataldhar Waterfall.

Just after eating breakfast, we had a briefing session about safety equipment, Do’s, and Don’ts for rappelling down. We listened to each and every step very carefully and collected helmets, harnesses, mittens, and ropes.

One needs to trek down to reach the Kataldhar rappelling point. We crossed small rivers and walked on slippery trails in the jungle.

I assumed that multiple people would rappel together! The reality was different, it was one person at a time. Since it was my first attempt at rappelling, I was a bit nervous. I gathered courage and started rappelling down. The view on top, left, right, bottom and at my back was amazing. I was drenched completely, on my left I could see the huge waterfall, on my right was endless green, at the bottom waterfall base was invisible and on top, I could see waterfall water coming all over me. The rainbow cheers me up.
After rappelling down for 100 feet, I could not hear or see anyone from my group which was mentioned in the instructions. After some 100 feet more, the rock in front of me also disappeared. It was like a natural swing amidst of waterfall 🙂

After swinging for some more time, I could see the guide who detached me from the swinging rope and helped me to cross the slippery boulders near the waterfall.

Post lunch, we started walking in dense forest for around 2-3 hours and reached the base village 🙂

How to reach Kataldhar?

It’s approximately 8km away from Lonavala. One could reach Lonavala via train, bus, etc. I am not sure if there are local buses from Lonavala to the base village. This event was organized by a group and they took care of the commute from Pune.

Where to stay in Kataldhar?

Lonavala offers all sorts of stay options or one could ask locals for shelter. It could be best done as one-day activity. We planned trekking and rappelling as one day plan.

Overall Expenses

S. No	Activities	Expenses
1.	Breakfast, lunch, rappelling, trekking, and commute	1800

Thanks for reading. Share your experiences in a comment 🙂