Mahindra Great Escape Lonavala : Slush Valley

The word “Great Escape” is really appropriate in the sense that this off road drive in a Mahindra four wheel drive vehicle helps you to forget & escape from the daily chores of everyday mundane life. This time the venue was the forest around Aamby Valley, thoroughly drenched in the monsoons & offering slippery forest tracks, huge ponds of water, gushing rivulets and of course steep climbs laden with slippery rocks with all the surrounding soil washed away.

Courtesy Bijoy Kumar, big man at Mahindra Adventure, ZigWheels was given a fully modified Thar with special tyres, winch for towing, solid roll cage & with the sky as the roof (roof top open). Me & Adil drove off into the forest behind the pilot vehicle of the convoy. This vehicle which we followed had a hard top to keep the perpetual shower away.

The entry into the gushing river was exciting but once the water was around our seats & threatened to get into our laps we decided to exit on to the hard ground and even this was a four wheel drive low ratio operation (hard / slushy ground).

Half way into the drive we had a field crossing with water and slush and believe you me with all the ability of four wheel drive and special tyres etc. the winch was working overtime! But the fun one can derive from such expeditions cannot be put in black and white; you have to experience it while you put your fear and the brain locked up in a box if you want to make progress in terrain you'd think a thousand times before dipping into!

There were many private participants who I am sure were in a position to really test their preparation and driving skills to the limit. Such surroundings don't normally exist in our urban lives but our roads department are getting there!

As regards the ability of the Thar to take punishment and keep going is really commendable, but to be able to go wet and dirty one also needs a healthy dose of guts and ability. This vehicle can give you loads of adrenaline rush at affordable costs. And as if to underline how much fun he had, the editor managed to charm Bijoy into letting us have the orange meanie for a week which we drove in blinding rain back to Pune! Yes thats how intoxicating the Thar can be! 

Related: 100th Mahindra Great Escape