I always had this dream of me waking up early in the morning and watching a sunrise (yes it's a big one for me ) , spend time amidst nature and capture nature in its rawest and purest form . After much research , i zeroed down on Sanjay Gandhi National Park as my go to place for the same . Me and my wife made this plan every Friday night for last 5 months to wake up early on Saturday morning but alas it always failed .(Such lazy bums we are both of us )
Finally almost like a miracle last Saturday (as if God wanted this to happen ) we woke up early and decided to go to SGNP. After a long time , I heard the morning sounds and felt the sweet chilly morning breeze. We started from our home at around 5.45 am ...And reached there by 7 am .( yes it took us that much time despite so early morning ,thanks to Mumbai Metro construction ).
You can take your car inside ( you need to take a ticket for your car as well as you ) and then you can go inside the park . There are multiple parking spots inside the park for your car . You can decide basis what you want to do inside. You also have the option of hiring a bicycle at the entry gate (Approx Rs 80 for couple of hours ) .
Once you will enter inside the park , you will see a bevy of nature and health enthusiasts of all ages ranging from kids as young as 3 yrs old to old age people . You will see amateurs , veterans , long distance runners , casual runners , families coming for picnic , lovebirds(amazing place for them ) and of course photography enthusiasts.
Me and my wife primarily wanted to walk and feel the nature rather than driving in the car
. Hence we parked our car near to the entrance and started walking . We walked for around 1.5 hours on a stretch and didn't feel even one bit tired or bored .
The park has a abundant mix of amazing flaura /fauna /landscaping /nature trails /short treks/ train line passing through the park / bird watching options /caves (yes the very famous kanheri caves are here) , lakes /ravines /waterfalls / tiger and lion spotting and last but not the least - one of the cleanest air I have ever felt in Mumbai .
Once you are tired you can always stop over to have some fresh cut salads and fruits / corn/exotic fruits sold by local sellers on the road . It energizes you instantaneously .
I would recommend everyone in Mumbai to visit SGNP at least once ..I can bet you that you will definitely come here again ..It's a perfect place for any health/nature /photography enthusiast.
For any queries or suggestions on the above article , mail me at taggstories@gmail.com
Also go through some of the pics I clicked during my visit ...hope they inspire you to visit SGNP very soon .
