Travel

 Matheran is a partially automobile free hill station and a municipal council in the Karjat taluka of the Raigad district located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Matheran is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and one of the smallest hill stations in India. It is located in the Western Ghats, at an elevation of around 800 m 2,625 feet above sea level. It is about 90 km from Mumbai, and 120 km from Pune. This proximity to these urban areas makes it a weekend getaway for many. Matheran, which means forest on the forehead of the mountains in Marathi, is an eco-sensitive region as declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.

There are many hotels and Parsi bungalows in the area. British colonial architecture is preserved in Matheran. The roads are made of red laterite earth.

History

Purple Flowers at Matheran

Matheran in 1874

Matheran map of 1911

Matheran was identified by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the then district collector of Raigad district in the May of 1850. Lord Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay, laid the foundations for its development as a future hill station. Matheran was developed as a getaway from the regional summer heat. It was also the birthplace of the freedom fighter Veer Bhai Kotwal.

The Matheran Railway

The Matheran Hill Railway was built in 1907 by Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy and covers a distance of 20 km 12 mi, through forest land. The railway was inspected by UNESCO officials, but failed to make it to the list of the World Heritage Sites. India's other Hill Railways like the Darjeeling Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway are already on the list.

The Toy train was shut down for the most part in 2016 and 2017. It restarted operations on 26 January 2018, re-inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis. However, it was temporarily suspended again after a landslide in the 2019. It then began operating as an hourly shuttle between Aman Lodge and Matheran Station.

Soil and rocks

Geographically the rock types are solely composed of Deccan trap with inter trappeans of Cretaceous, Eoceuerage and laterites of a still younger age. The rock is basalt, which has given rise to secondary alteration known as laterite. The laterite predominates the hills and almost covers the hilltops. This makes the hard exposed surfaces of the laterite show red gravelly earth. The soil has a vermicular or pisolitic structure and contains a large amount of water. There is little soil cover over most of the hilltop. The topmost layer of rock is a soft porous iron-clay, through which there is drainage of water by the beginning of summer.