Panchgani
Tags : hill stations, plateaus
Panchgani is a picturesque hill station of India, situated at a distance of approximately 18 km from Mahabaleshwar. 'Panchgani' derives its names from the 5 (paanch) hills that provide the perfect background to its scenic location. Panchgani is nestled at middle of five hills in the Sahyādri mountain ranges,also there are five villages around the Pachgani are Dandeghar,Khingar,Godwali, Amral & Taighat .The Krishnā River flows nearby which made the lake of Dhom dam on the Krishna 9 K.M. from Wai. The five hills surrounding Panchgani are topped by a volcanic plateau, which is the second highest in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. These plateaus, alternatively known as "table land", are a part of the Deccan Plateau and they were raised by pressure between the earth plates. Scenic Panchgani was discovered by the British during the British Raj as a summer resort, and a superintendent named John Chesson was placed in charge of the hill station in the 1860s. He is credited with planting many plant species from the western world in Panchgani, including silver oak and poinsettia, which have flourished since then in Panchgani. This flat large expanse of laterite rock is the second longest mountain plateau in Asia.
