Qualla: Matheran https://qualla.com/matheran en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Matheran https://qualla.com/matheran Matheran: Introduction https://qualla.com/matheran/ No cars are allowed into Matheran. Beyond the checkpoint at Aman Lodge, the only way forward is on foot, on horseback, or in a hand-pulled rickshaw. This is not a recent policy or an experiment in sustainable tourism -- it is simply how things have always worked on this narrow plateau, 800 meters above sea level in the Western Ghats, where the roads are made of red laterite earth and the forest presses in from every direction. The name says it plainly: Matheran means "forest on the forehead" in Marathi, and the forehead in question belongs to the mountains themselves.

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Matheran: The Collector's Discovery https://qualla.com/matheran/ In May 1850, Hugh Poyntz Malet, the district collector of Thane, climbed to this flat-topped plateau and recognized what the heat-battered British colonial class desperately needed: a hill station close enough to Bombay to be practical. Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, laid ...

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-the-collectors-discovery.mp3 0:06 2 full Matheran: Twenty Kilometers of Track Through the Trees https://qualla.com/matheran/ The Matheran Hill Railway, built between 1904 and 1907 by Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy and financed by his father Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy, is a narrow-gauge line that covers approximately 20 kilometers of winding track through dense forest, climbing from the plains at Neral up to ...

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-twenty-kilometers-of-track-through-the-trees.mp3 0:06 3 full Matheran: Red Earth, Dense Canopy https://qualla.com/matheran/ The geology beneath Matheran is Deccan trap basalt, weathered over millennia into the laterite that gives the hilltop its distinctive red gravelly surface. The porous soil holds enormous amounts of water, feeding semi-evergreen forests so dense they congested in places. Three sto...

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-red-earth-dense-canopy.mp3 0:06 4 full Matheran: Monkeys, Horses, and the Occasional Leopard https://qualla.com/matheran/ The residents of Matheran who get the most attention are the bonnet macaques and Hanuman langurs. They are everywhere -- on rooftops, along pathways, reaching for anything a tourist might be carrying. Horses, another local fixture, serve as transport and as a symbol of the town. ...

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-monkeys-horses-and-the-occasional-leopard.mp3 0:06 5 full Matheran: Forty Views and a Race Course https://qualla.com/matheran/ For a place that measures barely a few square kilometers, Matheran packs an improbable density of landmarks. There are 40 named scenic viewpoints, two lakes (Charlotte Lake supplies the town's water), two parks, four places of worship, and -- most improbably -- a horse race cours...

Read more: Matheran on Qualla

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/e/k/h/matheran-wp/tekh-matheran-forty-views-and-a-race-course.mp3 0:06 6 full