Back in February 2016, after we visited Chennai for almost a week, we visited India’s most populated city, Mumbai for about a week also. Me and my buddy enjoyed our day tour trip of Mahabalipuram in Chennai and thought it was a great value that we wanted to do another one in Mumbai. Staying at Grand Hotel, we booked a tour to Sanjay Gandhi National Park on the 5th day in Mumbai for 5242 rupees which is about $70 USD. This amount includes bridge toll, park and safari fees and for our driver to drive us around all day.
we stayed at Grand Hotel Mumbai
Getting There
Again, we got a bigger car just as we requested. Similar to the one in Chennai, I got sit in the back seat, but this time, my manual wheelchair had to be collapsed to fit inside the vehicle. The drive will be only about an hour and the driver took us on The Bandra-Worli Sea Link. This fancy beautiful $220 million USD bridge has 8 lanes of traffic and opened fully in 2010. It links the west side of the city Bandra to the South side of Worli and was quite a marvel to see and drive on.
transferred to back seat of this larger vehicle and ready to start the day
we got to drive on the new Bandra-Worli Sea Link bridge
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Sanjay Gandhi National Park is located within city limits of Mumbai in the Borivali suburb and was founded in 1996. It is one of the most visited parks in the world and in 2004, it had over 2 million visitors. There is a small entry fee for the park (55 rupees = $0.75 USD) but our driver included that in our tour price. There are 274 species of birds, 35 species of mammals, 170 species of butterflies and over 1300 species of trees that can be found here. We didn’t check out the Butterfly Garden, Bicycle Tour or Boating Tour, but here is what we got to do:
on a caged bus for the lion and tiger safari
Lion and Tiger Safari
This was the first thing we did at this national park. It normally costs 85 rupees for an adult ($1.20 USD) and we get to ride a caged bus for this 20 minute safari. My buddy had to carry me in, as this bus had a few steps to get in. Lucky people let us sit at the front seat to make it easier for the transfer.
looking for lions and tigers
There are actually 25 lions and lionesses and 4 tigers in the park but 23 of the lions are kept in another fenced area that the safari bus could not get to. We did get to see both the lions and the tigers but the pictures of the lions we took did not turn out well. Riding in the caged bus wasn’t too bad, but some of the trail road was a bit bumpy but with my buddy sitting right beside me, I was a bit more stabilized.
we see a tiger
Nature Trek & Trails
Our driver did drive slowly on some of the trails so we could see the deer and monkeys that were all running around freely. My buddy did get out of the car to take better pics of the animals and the monkeys kept crowding him and begging for food.
so many monkeys around
We even got to see some Indigenous people living in their homes right in this park. There are many families that live here and are protected and live without technology. We thought it was neat to see even if it was from a slight distance as to not disturb them.
some of the people living at the park
Kanheri Caves
The Kanheri caves are on a hillside with lots of rock cut steps. So instead of getting out of the car and trying to maneuver around, my buddy just went by himself and took a bunch of pics for me. I waited in the car with our driver and couldn’t even see the caves from the car but when my buddy came back, he gave me a commentary of what he saw while showing me the pics on the camera. I wish it was a bit more accessible to do but was glad to have my own set of pictures.
so many steps
more caves
Trimurti Digambar Jain Mandir Temple
Mumbai has a large Jain community so we wanted to see some of the temples that were at this park. Located right at the edge of the forest, our driver drove us right up to the area. Just like the Kanheri caves, I waited in the car while my buddy got out of the car to take pics. There were a bunch of stairs to get to the 3 large statues so I did not bother getting out of the car. This whole area was a lot smaller and I could see most of the things from the car anyways.
so many stairs to the Jain temples
The 31 foot tall Lord Aadiinath and his 2 sons Lord Bahubali and Lord Bharata stand at 28 feet. Those 3 statues were the main highlights of this attraction, and it was a calm and serene place to visit. We were told that at night, these statues are lit up beautifully with different colors.
the 3 statues
Visiting Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the day was a great way to spend in Mumbai. I really enjoyed seeing lions and tigers from the caged bus and am happy to experience that even though there wasn’t any accessible buses around. Even though I stayed in the car for the Kanheri caves and the Jain temples, I still had an amazing day here in India and would do this again if I were to revisit Mumbai in the future.
more Kanheri caves
Great Chaitya hall at Kanheri caves
