Barkhadi Falls

A modest monsoon fall with a chain of small cascades and a pool in its upper reaches, in the green hillock country of the Devsatra villages between Rajpipla and the Karjan back-country. Barkhadi is the belt's walk-in waterfall. Trip reports reach for hill-station comparisons, low cloud on the ridges, bamboo-hut hamlets, everything running green, and in August that is a fair picture.

The visit is really a village walk. Vehicles park at the Barkhadi primary school, and a footpath climbs gently to the right of it, village lanes first, then field bunds, then two crossings of the same stream that feeds the fall. It runs about two kilometres one way, easy going, and the roar announces the falls before you see them. The village doubles as the base for the Devsatra hill trek if you want to extend the day.

Flow is strictly monsoon-fed: before the rains set in properly there is nothing to see, and villagers themselves advise waiting a few days into a wet spell. Walk field edges rather than through standing crops, and take up the local kids' offer to guide: it is their path.