25 photos that depict the understated beauty of the urban wildlife sanctuary.
The Sanjay Gandhi National Park - also called as Borivali National Park - is to us city-dwellers the calm in the midst of chaos. Popularly termed as the 'green lungs of Mumbai', this wildlife sanctuary is the second largest forest reserve in the world to exist within the boundaries of a city, the first being Central Park in NYC, USA. This forest area of SGNP is so vast that it stretches all the way from Borivali in suburban Mumbai right upto Thane district (a neighbouring city.) The national park also houses the exquisite Kanheri caves on its premises. These caves were a Buddhist learning centre and pilgrimage site built by Buddhist monks between the 9th and 1st centuries BCE.
What I have come to realise is that while most of the times we crave a holiday break in far-off places, we often end up overlooking gorgeous spots that are right there in our very own hometown at an easily accessible distance. SGNP has been there in Mumbai since long before my birth but somehow I had never given it a visit in these 23 years of my life, until now. I decided to drop by over there with a friend of mine on a Sunday last month, and I am rather glad to have finally ticked it off my travelling bucket list.
Anyway, without further ado, here are 25 eye-soothing unfiltered photographs of the National Park and
Kanheri Caves that I clicked during the trek:
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| Bougainvillea in season! |
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| A 7 kilometre walk from SGNP entrance to Kanheri caves. |
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| Morning sunlight filtering through the parched trees. |
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| Some choose to navigate the park on a rental bicycle. |
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| Braving the harsh sun! |
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| Grabbing natural food delights! |
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| Here come the Kanheri caves! |
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| The entrance to Kanheri caves. |
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| Hiking up the mountains! |
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| The caves are made of basalt. |
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| Look at the delicate intricacies in design... |
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| Raw grandeur. |
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| Gautam Buddha. |
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| Columns of pillars. |
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| Babes of India! |
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| More pillars... |
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| Hot and arid. |
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| Spectacular vista. |
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| Too much climbing! |
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| Massive structures! |
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| Another beautiful cave... |
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| The ascent doesn't seem to end! |
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| Picturesque river. |
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| Floral beauty. |
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| Shopaholics - this way to the boutique! |
Great post! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
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