A visit to Sanjay Gandhi National Park

We frequently visit SGNP, but we head straight to the Jain temple in the National Park and we are back.. But with my daughters vacation last month, we played a visit for her. After long long time we were going in that toy train, which we used to enjoy as kids. A visit to the park needs at least half a day to explore.

The park notified in 1974, lies on the northern fringes of Mumbai covering an area of 104sq km. It is one of Asia’s most visited National Parks with 2 million annual visitors and claims to be the largest park in the world located within city limits.

Main entrance to the National Park

We reached there by 2, we headed to the toy train. Being a weekend, there was lot of crowd. The train starts from Krishna Giri station, drives through the forest, crossing Teen Murti station and back at the Krishna Giri. My daughter had fun, as this was her first journey in a toy train.. 

Maanvi enjoying the drive

There is also boat ride near the toy train, which we didn't try. Next we headed to the Lion and Tiger Safari, there was a big queue with more than 50 in the ticket counter and another 50 in the queue to board the bus, which would drive us through the Safari.. Getting ticket and then into the bus took almost an hour.. But this wait was quite worthy as we got to see a lion and two tigers, in which one was white. A bus with grilled windows drive you through the jungles. While there was some renovation going on in the tiger Safari and the tigers were caged.. This was our second visit to a Safari in a week, after our previous weeks visit to Safari at Silvassa. 

By then it was already 4:30 and we headed to Kanheri Caves, which was supposed to close at 5pm. A 7 km drive within the National park leads you to Kanheri caves.. 

Kanheri gets its name from Sanskrit meaning black mountain or Krishna giri. We always postponed our trip to Kanheri caves thinking we would have to trek like in Karla Caves or any Buddhist caves, and a trek with my daughter sounded impossible. After reaching there we realized, its just few steps climb that leads you to the caves.. 

There are 109 Buddhist caves chiseled out of volcanic rock. There are small chambers called viharas(cells for monks). And few larger and deeper chambers known as Chaityas(for congregational worship). 

The main one has colossal figures of standing Lord Buddha, 7m in height, on each side of the entrance porch, a colonnade of 34 pillars surrounding the interior halls and a over topped stupa at the far end, all carved into existing basaltic rock. These caves are dated from1st century BC to 9^th century AD. (The below pic i downloaded from Wikipedia as my camera was out of battery).

Image courtesy Wikipedia

And then a visit to the Teen Murti Jain temple. There are three huge idols of Adinath, Bharatha and Bahubali, along with smaller idols of 24 theerthankaras. 

Heading back we visited Mahatma Gandhi Memorial. This place at a high altitude gives you a beautiful view of the National Park. Artificial ponds with lotus and fishes attract kids.

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (Image courtesy Wikipedia)

If you are planning a visit, below is some useful information,
Location: Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali(East) is 1km from the Borivali station.
National Park(Main entrance):
Entry Fee: Adult Rs. 33/-, child Rs.17/-
Vehicle Entry fee: Four wheeler Rs. 110/-, two wheeler Rs. 28/-
Timings: 7:30am to 6pm
Mondays Closed
Toy Train:
Entry Fee: Adult Rs. 28/-, child Rs. 11/-
Timings: 9am to 5:30pm, train schedule every half an hour.
Boat Ride
Entry Fee: Rs. 33/- per person for small two seater boat and Rs. 66/- per person for four seater boat
Timings: 9:30am to 5:30pm
Lion and Tiger Safari:
Entry Fee: Adult Rs.55/-, child Rs.22/-
Vedio Camera Rs. 1050/day
Timings: 9am to 12:30pm and 2pm to 4:30pm
Kanheri Caves:
Timings: 9am to 5pm
Entry Fee: Adult Rs. 5/-
BEST buses run from National Park to Kanheri Caves: return journey Rs. 60/-

Linked to Our World Tuesday, Tuesday Around the World, Outdoor Wednesday