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.

Lord Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay laid the foundations of the development as a future hill station.

The railway was inspected by UNESCO officials, but failed to make it to the list of the World Heritage Sites.

Geographically the rock types are solely composed of Deccan trap with inter trappeans of Cretaceous, Eoceuerage and laterites of a still younger age.

This makes the hard exposed surfaces of the laterite show red gravelly earth.

The topmost layer of rock is a soft porous iron-clay, through which there is drainage of water by the beginning of summer.

[4] The trees are evergreen, making the plateau forests very dense and even congested in places.

The laterite, porous soil along with very heavy rainfall mixed with dense fog has resulted in unique flora rich in diversity on the plateau.

The trees form a cover over a large variety of shade-loving herbs, climbers, ferns and mosses.

[5] A good collection of the dried plants is deposited in the Blatter Herbarium, St. Xavier's College, Bombay, Mumbai.

[6] The declaration as ESZ has led to the stoppage of developmental activities and construction of hazardous industries.

Due to heavy rainfall, dissected hilly terrain and excessive leaching of the soil, the exposed areas become less fertile and become less moisture retentive, resulting in shallow rooted vegetation.

It is required to plant trees to protect the soil cover from losing its valuable humidity and fertility.

The town also has a large monkey population, including bonnet macaques and Hanuman langurs.

Inside the forests, animals like barking deer, Malabar giant squirrels, foxes, wild boars, mongooses can be found.

But these animals are rare in numbers compared to the monkeys and usually do not venture to places with human activity.

Lying in an elevated region, it has a cooler and dryer climate relative to its surroundings, making it popular during summer.

The monsoon retreats prior to this time period,making the temperature cool,but not humid.Such weather facilitates sightseeing.

Altogether, there are 40 points, two lakes, two parks, four major worship places[11] and a race course to visit in Matheran.

It starts from the base village Mamdapur and takes about 3 hours to reach Matheran via the Vikatgad fort.