Journalism of Courage
Sanjay Gandhi National Park: Inside urban Mumbai’s jungle
1 / 10Inside Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), one finds the usual fauna of the jungle — deer, monkeys, cobras, vipers, peacocks, hornbills and leopards — sharing space with unusual fauna like joggers, cyclists, fruit-sellers, bhelpuri vendors and picnickers. (Text: Pooja Pillai; Images: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
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2 / 10The SGNP has the unique distinction of being the largest tropical forest anywhere in the world to be completely surrounded by urban sprawl. It is flanked by the Mumbai suburbs of Borivali, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Dahisar on the western side, Bhandup and Mulund on the eastern side, Aarey Milk Colony and IIT Bombay to the south and Thane to the north. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
3 / 10It’s one of the most visited national parks in the world, receiving over two million visitors in a year. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
4 / 10At a time when India, and the world, reel from the impact of human-made chaos resulting in drought, floods and unbreathable air, green expanses like the SGNP assume greater importance. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
5 / 10The importance of the SGNP to Mumbai’s well-being cannot be overstated. This forest also acts as a catchment area for the two lakes of Vihar and Tulshi that partly supply water to Mumbai. Forests also regulate temperature. The SGNP also touches the lives of Mumbaikars in other ways. Tribes such as Warlis and Mahadeo have historically lived in the forest and even now, there are tribal hamlets inside the park. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
6 / 10For those who live around SGNP, it is a place to go to for exercise, recreation and meditation. Kanheri caves, the two millenia-old Buddhist rock-cut structures found inside the park, is popular with tourists — pilgrims, history buffs, families with children that need to be kept constantly amused and couples who seek out the more secluded caves for a measure of privacy. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
7 / 10Hundreds of trekkers, bird watchers, lepidopterists and photographers visit over the weekends and help to keep track of the park’s rich biodiversity that comprises nearly two dozen mammal species, about 250-300 bird species, about 150 butterfly species, several species of reptiles and amphibians and thousands of other insect species, not to mention the large variety of medicinal plants that one can find there. (Source: Express photo)
8 / 10It’s a wonder that this forest has survived this long. Over the decades, as urban expansion pressed it on all sides, the forest has shrunk. (Source: Express photo)
9 / 10Other issues have threatened the relationship between citizens and the park as well, including the treks that the forest’s leopards made into human settlements outside the boundaries of the park. (Source: Express photo)
10 / 10In folklore and myths, the forest is often a metaphor for the unknown, home to our most primal fears, while civilisation is where we feel safe, where we seek refuge in the company of fellow humans. The modern world has inverted some of these notions. Surrounded as we are now by noisy, over-bright concrete jungles, retreating into the deep silence and darkness of a forest has become therapeutic. (Source: Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
