The Soundekar King surrendered the Fort of Cabo de Rama alias Kholgad, located in the Khol village of Canacona taluka, to the Portuguese in 1764; we should not allow the present Goa Government to surrender this fort of immense heritage value to foreign or Indian private  companies to privatise it.

This was the echo heard at an eco-trek to the historic Fort of Cabo de Rama on July 18.
Led by eco-trek leader, Mr Durgadas Parab, a veteran of 21 Himalayan expeditions, we entered the huge portals of history with Sachin Madhge giving us the voice-over and we pledging to save this fort for generations to come.
Having witnessed a chequered history of pre-Portuguese rulers as well as the Portuguese for several centuries, the Fort has witnessed trouble brewing in the waters of the Arabian Sea, as it strategically floats on the banks of its vast and placid expanse. There are many figures from history whose story is entiwined with this Fort - Karwar Desai,  an Adilshah, a Soundekar, a Peshwa, a Mughal, Hyder Ali and eventually the Portuguese - as records would have it.
Flanked by a deep moat, the fort is built of square and rectangular laterite blocks. However the cream-yellow paint at the entrance defaces its rugged beauty. The graffiti on the walls at the entrance display a total disrespect to the fort’s historicity and heritage. The bastions and the cannon landing climbs, and the echo of the waves below give the fort its irresistible period look.
The trek led us to the furthermost cape of the fort as the foggy mystic clouds blessed us with waters from the heavens. Common Rose butterflies danced and fluttered in the background while  the dolphin frolicked in the waters below. The glazed pre-historic heritage rocks below and the undulating hills in the wings and some silhouetting in the foreground add a paradisiacal panorama to the amazing landscape–truly one of the seven wonders of Goa.
As 40 trekkers made their way towards the twin capes, the rains made a pronounced appearance and played hide and seek all through the day and the afternoon. A sumptuously healthy lunch followed as we journeyed to yet another heritage hillock of Baradi in Quepem greeted by a beautiful Southern Birdwing butterfly We left the fort promising it a campaign – The Save the Cabo de Rama Fort Campaign.
The view from the Baradi chapel hillock leaves one spellbound–the coconut groves, the emerald fields, the azure blue sea and the little distant canon of Shivaji’s Betul fort reinforce the timeless truth that Goa is still beautiful.