PANTHER's CAVE, Matheran

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

An unspecified Panther's Cave (note 1) advertises HILL STATION HOLIDAYS (2001) from an unspecified location somewhere at Matheran (note 2), the hill station on the Sahayadri Range (Western Ghats), about 50 km east of Bombay (renamed Mumbai), and accessible by toy train (21 km, 2 hours) from Neral Junction (note 3). SITUATION 1871: Not seen: SMITH, J V (1871). SITUATION 1882: The Matheran (-wooded head-), outlier of the Sahyadri range, has a sanitarium, within 4 hours of Bombay, reached from Neral railway station, 54 m. [87 km] from Bombay (SMITH, G 1882: 258). SITUATION 1905: Not seen: OLIVER, A K (1905). SITUATION 2005: At an unspecified location at Matheran … an undulating hilltop cloaked in shady trees and ringed by walking tracks leading to lookouts that drop sheer to the plains (LONELY PLANET, India 1997: 836; 2001: 750) which rests atop the Sahayadris Mountains amid a shady Jambol forest. Walking tracks lead to breathtaking lookouts that drop sheer to the plains (LONELY PLANET India 2005: 742). India 2005: 742).