A Walk into Mumbai’s Woods

Couple of weekends back saw me and A heading to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park early on a cold Sunday morning. The park has a walking trail leading to the caves. The trail is a good 5kms long, one way, and makes for a great ‘I want to stretch out those muscles, feel the crisp cold air, get away from honks and dirt and crowds and work my appetite for a heady Sunday brunch’ kind of walk!

Ghost tree inside the park

Note: Don’t be misled by ‘national park’ as I was. I did not expect to see more than a handful of nature and hiking enthusiasts, but there were a bunch of people who had arrived even before when we did (7.00 AM). The park opens its gates much earlier to regular ‘walkers’ who hold a pass. There was also a karate class as well as a yoga class (if I remember correctly) happening in the park entrance. Of coure, this part of the park is separated from the actual forest with the famous leopards.

After walking for about 20 to 30 minutes, the crowd thinned away as most people visiting had driven down. I didn’t quite understand people driving down, because the walk was really the best part of the visit. So, it was just us, enjoying the fresh morning air, getting a dash of green and also a great work out.

Mumbai from afar