India: Mordhan Fort. Khairgaon, Maharashtra.

India: Mordhan Fort. Khairgaon, Maharashtra.

Mordhan Fort aka Moracha Dongar is the 04th highest peak (1159m – 3800ft) in Maharashtra after Kalsubai (1646m – 5400ft), Salher (1567m – 5141ft) and Ratangad (1297m – 4255ft).

If you get clear weather you can easily spot Kavnai, Tringalwadi, Harihar, Anjaneri, Brahmagiri on the North – West side of the fort. On the East side are Aundha , PAtta ( Vishramgad), Bitangad fort , while towards the south is Kalsubai & A-M-K trio

Mordhan and Kavnai forts were built to keep a vigil on the Shir ghat which is nonexistent at present. The mountain which is in Khairgaon village had once a handsome population of Peacocks which is why it is also called as “Moracha Dongar” literally means Mountain of Peacocks.

Mordhan lies in the Nashik district. It actually can be considered as a watch tower and not a fort. It can be climbed by 3 routes; Via Khairgaon, Via Pimpalgaon and Via Khed village which is close to the Kalsubai range. Mordhan is a set of 2 Mountains, one above the other.

This is where trek starts, you can start climbling from this point, villagers can guide you to start from this location, even some villagers are ready to accompany you with some minimal charges. There is a school where all childrens of village come to study and also there is lake where to sit and relax a bit .

The trek starts from the base village, Khairgaon which in near Ghoti, Igatpuri. Khairgaon is a small village and the surrounding views are very pleasant. We can actually get the first glimpse of Mordhan Fort from the base village itself. Unfortunately we were not able to see it due to the low visibility.

A small road from the Khairgaon junction takes us to the school in the village in 2 minutes. One has has to walk past by the Lord ganesh idol painted in Saffron.
The mountain lies on the backside of the village and one can see a raised rock structure on the mountain top which is none other than Mordhan fort.
After reaching the foot of the mountain one has to ascend along the cut between two hills which eventually leads us to a plateau. Moving towards right from the plateau is the way to Mordhan fort which is spread North-South direction.
There is a small temple and an ashram to the south of the plateau. While moving towards the fort one has to keep the fort to the right. It takes around 30 minutes approximately to reach the fort top.
There is one water tank each to the north and south of the fort. there is a devastated temple structure to the south.

The ascend till the base of the first mountain is easy, within half an hour we reached the base.
Going right leads to a trail which will take us to the Mordhan Fort (Second Mountain).

There is a small waterfall on the right side, ascending a bit further we can get a clear glimpse of Mordhan Fort (Second Mountain).

The ascend to reach the terrain of Second Mountain is from the backside of the First Mountain.

The trail from here was a bit steep but beautiful.

Walking a bit further we reached a terrain (which can be considered as the MID-LEVEL) where the entire area was laden with flowers in some buoyant colors and textures. There were few flowers which we all became familiar were Single Leaved Habenaria (Ashadh habe-amri). Golden Eye Grass (Kali Musli yellow star shaped flower). We also saw wolf spider webs and Harvester Ant Nest. Courtesy – Sugandha Nimkar, thanks for sharing the information.

We headed further, this time the trail was a bit slippery and we had to be a lot more careful. In another 45 minutes we reached at the terrain of the Mordhan Fort (Second Mountain).

There is nothing much on the apex of the fort except a water cistern. The water is not potable here. It is said that on a clear day we can see the Kalsubai Peak, Alang, Madan and Kulang. One can also see Kavnai, Tringalwadi and Darne Dam from the apex.

This is a beautiful trail that takes one to the top of Mordhan Fort. It is an ancient fort with tons and tons of stories associated with it, according to one of them Pandavas were supposed to make this location their resting spot but for some reason, a hen clucked at 3 am, and they stopped just shy of this location nearby the famous Pandavleni caves.

Fort is just one of the highlights of this place, verdant green environments make up the surroundings of this region that are not just green but highly biodiverse as well with many different species of animals, birds, and plants to explore and observe.


Trailhead for this particular trail lies by the Khairgaon village which can be reached by bus, taxi, or even private vehicles. The closest airport to this location lies in the cities of Mumbai and Pune.

Other ways to reach base village:

1) By road:- 128 kms from Mumbai on the Mumbai-Nashik highway is Ghoti village. 4 kms from Ghoti On the Ghoti-Sinnar route there is a village named Devle from where a road to the right takes us to the base village at 2 kms.

2) By Railway:-
A) Mumbai-Bhusaval passenger train (51153 Down /51154 Up) departing from Mumbai at 5.21 am (Thane- 5.51am, Kalyan — 6.20am ) reaches Ghoti at 10.00 am. Autorickshaws are available from Ghoti bus stand to reach base village Khairgaon. For the return journey one can board the same train from Ghoti at 2 pm.

B) Reach Kasara on the Mumbai-Kasara local railway route and then reach Ghoti by a taxi or bus from Kasara. Auto rickshaws are available from Ghoti bus stand to reach the base village.