Fireflies Festival - Bhandardara

Fireflies festival takes place every year between 15 May and 15 June. This year we planned to experience it.
I explored a couple of options and booked to visit Bhandardara for 18-19 May '24 with "Hire A Camp".
We started around 11am from Pune. The route wasn't very good, but was average. Some single roads through the villages , some ghats, a bit of stopping for break and we reached the camp site around 4:30pm. The campsite was called "backpack camping". There was ample parking space available at the camp site. The host Shubham was available at the site to help with the check in. We chose our tents , kept the backpack and went for a stroll at the lake side.

It was Rocky as expected but very clean lake side. We spent some time there, clicked some pictures, then returned back to our tents. 

Bhel and tea were ready for evening snacks. We had the snacks, then relaxed for some time in and around the tents. Families and groups were still checking in.
By the time starters were starting the site was full which meant more than 40 tents each could accommodate a max of 3 adults.
Barbecue starters were served both veg and non veg. We were scheduled to start from the camp at 9pm towards the forest to spot fireflies. The host gathered all the guests and gave proper instructions for dos and don'ts. There was no mobile network in the entire area, and hence it was all the more to follow his instructions.
The host started on his bike and all others followed on their respective vehicles to drive towards the forest that was approx 8 kms away from the camp site.
There was a designated parking space near the forest as well to park all the vehicles.
We started trailing through the forest looking for fireflies. As it was just the beginning of the season, fireflies were less in number and only limited to some parts of the forest. Our host cum guide gathered us all at one such spot to give information about the fireflies, other wildlife found in the area, some information on spots to be viewed around the place for next day and some tips on capturing the fireflies in mobile camera.

This was a very nice experience. After this we started back for the camp site to reach back by 11pm. The dinner was ready and being served to those who had already arrived back earlier.
We had dinner under the moon lit night 🌌, chatted for a while and then goot back in our tents to have a night's sleep.
We got up the next day around 7am and freshened up in the basic washrooms available. 
Poha and tea were served for breakfast post which we went for boating.


We checked-out soon after the boat ride.

On our way back , we stopped to visit Ozar and Lenyadri ganpati. Our trip completed and we were back by 5pm on 19th May '24.

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