Peace amidst the chaos
Sanjay Gandhi National Park situated in Borivli West is a famous wildlife habitat. This park is at a distance of just fifteen minutes from Borivli station.It is said to be the largest and the one of the most famous attractions of the city. Thousands of people flock to this park. It was earlier called as the “Borivli National Park”.Its spread in an area of around 104 sq. km. It’s also said to be the Largest park in Asia that is within city limits. The Park is the natural habitat of insects, mammals, reptiles, butterflies and flowering plants.
Few come here for picnics, while others just walk in to seek and explore the place. “Being a resident of Borivli, I’ve had many experiences in this particular park. From my toddler days I’ve been lucky to have the chance to visit it on numerous occasions. Picnics, Family outings, trekking, college photography visits, nature club trips, etc are few reasons that have brought me here.” This place is very peaceful and serene. Covered with beautiful and dense greenery, it’s an ideal place to sit back and relax. When you enter the park, you tend to forget the hustle and bustle of daily life. It keeps one away from the crowded city, noise pollution and the moving traffic of Mumbai.
Sanjay Gandhi national Park, though old still remains quite edged in the minds of many. “I visited this park when I was around 13 yrs old with my dad. And now I’ve brought my son who is 8 yrs old”. Says Reena Shah, a mother from Andheri, who enjoys seeing her little son play in the tree house. There are many other famous water parks, amusement parks, or places for recreation that one could still visit. But many do want to come back there for the peace and joy it provides.
With time, it’s certainly not remained what it was before. Not much of wildlife to see and so. But that doesn’t stop one from appreciating the beauty of this place. A lovely dam, a lake that one can enjoy boating, a huge tree house that you could play around, a toy train to take you for a safari,etc are the few but extra-ordinary things that make this park what it is. Not much of wildlife would you get to see here. But there are few who keep you smiling through the way. Monkeys! Innumerable you could say. Up on the tree watching you, behind you following you, ahead of you leading you and by you to snatch things away from you. With the wide variety of trees and plants growing around that place, you could spot insects, and tiny little creatures of different shades and colours buzzing around you.
The very famous Kanheri caves are situated in the heart of this park. These are famous for its old Buddhist monks abode. One would get to notice many youth from around the city trekking. Sundays are a special attraction.“ I’ve come here for trekking with my college gang so many times. All of us stay in different parts of the city. We come here early morning and spend the day. It’s a lot of fun”, says Tina D’souza, a 18 yr old youth from .Malad,
This place is recommended as one of the places to learn or experience good photography too. On certain occasions you would spot a group of children shooting with their cameras. “Nature photography can be best captured here”, says a Prof. Abha, a Photography teacher in a reputed college, who was seen along with her group of students
Another famous attraction of this place is the Jungle Safari. Kids wouldn’t move out of this park without enjoying their joy ride in this toytrain. It takes you into the park where footsteps wouldn’t lead you. Deers, Elephants, Giraffe, etc are few that you might get to spot in this fun safari ride. A 6 yr old described this joy ride as a tunnel ride. For him it was the best moment in the park when he made some noise along with his friends as the train picked speed in the dense forest.
With time and the population of our city increasing, settlements are seen threading in and around this place. This raises a lot of concern. If one walked around this place in recent times, you would see plenty of housing societies just come up near the park. These are built so close that few of them are even seen to be sharing a common wall. Many incidents have been reported in the past of wild animals just walking around and climbing walls. Apart from this, there are many chawls that have sprung up there and these are the ones who face the worst most of the time. Wild animals like Leopards stray away in the night and lift young ones of the family.
This park is truly a Mumbai Icon that I consider. Ask any Mumbaikar about it and they wouldn’t deny it. It’s old but still unique in its own ways. A park that I would always love visiting. That’s what Sanjay Gandhi National park is to me and it belongs to me and my city- Mumbai.
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Reference:
http://www.mumbai.org.uk/national-park.html
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