I got up early today to visit Sanjay Gandhi National Park with Linda. I went to the park years ago with my mom and visited the Kanheri caves. In addition to the 2400-year-old Kanheri caves, the park offers a lion and tiger safari, boat ride, and multiple walking trails.
We left early in the morning at around 8am to avoid traffic and so that it would not be too hot. I don't think I've been able to zoom that fast in Mumbai since there is always so much traffic. You are always bumper to bumper with the cars around you, everyone pushing to inch forward and continuously honking. In the past at Sanjay Gandhi, they have let you drive your car up to the top of the road but since covid they stopped that and everyone has to take the bus. Linda was laughing and asking if this was my first time on a BST bus. Let me tell you that the bus really struggled making it up the hill to the base of the caves. Throughout the park you have to pay for everything separately - the entrance, the bus, the caves, and the safari.
The caves date back to the 3rd century B.C. and serve as evidence of Buddhist presence in the region. They are created from volcanic rock and are made from a single rock. There are nearly 110 caves you can visit! The most impressive cave was cave 3 as it was the biggest and most intact. There was an outside verandah with huge columns and windows. The courtyard in the front was intricately decorated with carvings of various gods and on either side were two giant Buddhas carved into stone facing each other. It was impressive to see the size of the carvings and how well they have been preserved. I definitely remember seeing the giant Buddha carvings from the previous time I visited. Inside the main hall columns lined the sides in front of walls that were adorned with more carvings and inscriptions. The main focal point of the room was a large dome called a stupa denoting the room as a place of worship in Buddhist culture. Compared to Elephanta, there were so many caves here! The caves varied in size and some caves had enough space to walk inside while others you could only just look inside. As we got higher up, Linda and Nisha got a little tired so I went running up the steps to reach cave 101. I really enjoyed the caves at the top as it was very peaceful. There was no one there, not even the security guards, so it was nice to observe in peace. There were some beautiful caves with so many intricate carvings on the walls. I think it's so fascinating that these have been able to stand after so long. I especially love the rows and rows of columns.
What is interesting about the caves is the water cisterns that were built to establish a system of rainwater collection that would be stored in the caverns below the caves. Each cave had a grate next to it where these ancient cisterns lie today. In the monsoon weather I can only imagine that the cisterns get filled as does the stream that is now dried up.
I really enjoyed walking from cave to cave to see what each one offered. It started off very cool in the morning and was not crowded at all. In fact it was so peaceful you could hear the birds chirping away. As it got closer to noon, it got quite hot as I was trekking up to visit the last of the caves. We were able to cover most of the caves. There was no direct path so you could not visit them in order but we ended up going up and down on every path.
While I was running ahead Linda and Nisha had sat down to eat a snack. She had opened a bag of Doritos and eaten about 5 until two monkeys came running along. The mischievous monkeys grabbed her pant leg and she threw the chips at them before she got attacked. When I arrived back, the two monkeys were sitting in the tree happily munching on their Doritos. I found it hilarious and cute how similar they are to humans. I later saw a monkey opening a tadgola and extracting the fruit! They are so smart! As we boarded the bus to go to the safari, a tourist pulled out some food and immediately a monkey came running into the bus. The food was quickly put away and the monkey left without any casualties. I have heard stories of the monkeys biting and scratching so I am trying to keep a distance even though they are irresistibly cute.
Following the caves, we decided to do the tiger safari. We had to wait for some time for people to sign up as the bus only leaves when 15 people are present. The bus is very well protected with bars placed on the windows. I assumed since the bus was so well protected we would see the animals roaming around freely. Incorrect. They took us on about a 10 minute ride to a heavily gated area. After some time he pointed to 2 sleeping lions inside a pretty small cage. Essentially, we were looking through two cages to view the tigers that were far away. I think you have better views at the zoo. Tiger safari was definitely a bust and not at all what I expected.
There were signs for an orchid garden and all the signs pointed to a white dome that appeared to be closed. We kept asking people and the many school children around but no one could tell us. It was interesting how many people lived in Sanjay Ghandhi park as well as the number of school children who were present.
For lunch after the caves we visited Peter & Maria in Borivali. It had been a long time since I had seen them and I enjoyed catching up with them briefly. My grandma had gone to the factory so I returned to Linda's house and watched Bollywood movies with Nisha and Rahul.
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