Visiting Bedse Caves after searching for caves around Pune on google. The trilogy of caves in this region consist of Karla, Bhaja and Bedse Caves. Bedse caves are not as popular as the other two. We had visited Karla caves earlier in the day, and I had visited Bhaja caves a few years ago. So we decided to take a chance and visit the Bedse caves.

There were few visitors to this site. The road to this cave is off the main highway- and winds its way through a village. The dusty unpaved road stops at the bottom of a stair-case which is solid and made of stone- not your usual crumbly concrete affair. The climb up is arduous, and the only people we met on the way up were some four-five local women who were resting and chatting. At the top we met a young couple. And no one else.

We had the caves to ourselves. All the rooms were carved directly out of the hillside. There is one central chamber with pillars on each side. To the right of this are a series of small rooms- which must have served as dormitories in the past. Most of the rooms had a square motif of the side and on top of the doorway- bar one- which had flowers with six petals in a pleasing geometric design. We saw this same motif in the main chamber.

We were rewarded with excellent views, clean fresh air, and some unexpected birding. We probably added at least five birds to our life list- but we were simply uninformed tourists in the digital age who continuously snapped pictures of the caves and the birds and the surroundings, confident in our ability to dig up information on the internet at a subsequent time. Although, that “subsequent" time for research might never come! Real research into the caves or birds takes real time- and we do not have that. We are satisfied with our fly-by!

There is no public transportation to this place- one has to get there on a two/wheeler. This place is close to the Mumbai-Pune expressway, and there are signs directing one to this place. The friendly locals also know about the caves, and one can always stop and ask for directions.

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