Winter walks at the Shilonda Trails at Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Tags

BNHS, Kanheri Caves, Mumbai, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, SGNP, Shilonda, Things to do in Mumbai

Well we walked the Shilonda trails in Mumbai’s so called winter and sure was a highly rewarding experience. A little hard to believe this rests smug in the middle of Mumbai’s chaos. The trail offers flora and fauna, butterflies like Baronet, Common Leopard, and Striped Tiger also birds like Loten’s Sunbird, Common Iora, Southern Coucal, Grey Junglefowl and occasionally mammals like Spotted and Sambar Deer. Highlight for my son was the piece on pagoda ants which the BNHS guide also demonstrated by slightly tickling their pagoda so the soldier ants came out with a vengeance. This trail leads through fine mixed forest dominated by bamboo and ends at the first stream.

The BNHS team assembles at the gate of Sanjay Gandhi National Park at 7.30am and the trail starts after a 20 mins walk towards Kanheri Caves. The blog link (http://mybioscope.blogspot.in/2010/08/sanjay-gandhi-national-park-silonda.html) describes the trail better so I will not go into too many details but a few pointers for our kids:-

1. The trail is a flat terrain so ideal for kids of all ages (we had a family with us who had a infant along as well). However, the walking was a drag for my son beyond half hour so he did ride on my husband’s shoulder! Alternated between walking and riding thereafter.

2. The stream where the picnic ends is a very picturesque spot so you can carry a picnic and enjoy your time there. The stream is at its best during monsoons though.

3. If walking is an issue for your kid then you could minimise on the walk from the SGNP gates to the trail start point by driving your car or cycling to the trail’s entry point. This way your child has conserved energies for the trail itself. The BNHS guide had told us about this but the weather was so pleasant that we were excited enough to walk. But on return at 11.30am we sure did wish we had parked closer.

4. Carry small beach bucket along if your child loves collecting pebbles or random shaped objects off the trails. Mine picked many a random shaped pebbles to be painted and kept at home.

5. There was a slightly older child in our group (10 yrs I guess) and I liked that he was carrying a small book and pen using which he jotted down information that the guide was giving. Good to jot pointers and research later for budding nature enthusiasts.

Overall it’s quite an easy patch to accomplish (1.5 Kms flat terrain) with some learnings and fun thrown in..so a half day really well spent closer to nature in Mumbai!