Sanjay Gandhi national park is on the western Express highway in borivali, Mumbai.
There is a parking lot where you can park your car or bike.
The park starts at 8 A.M for visitors ( not daily pass holders).
We had reached by 7.30 and had to wait half an hour.
The park had various trails and attractions ( tiger safari and butterfly garden etc).
We only did the Kanheri Caves trail. It's a 6 km trail. We decided to walk it up while going there & taking a bus while returning.
As wikipedia explains:
"Kanheri comes from the sanskrit krishnagiri, which means black mountain. "
The early morning sun & early January weather made the walk pleasant for the most part. The trail ( it's easy , not like a trek) is a complete concrete road where regular ac buses also ply. The road is shaded by trees and greenery all the way.
On the way we spotted deers and monkeys ( both the silver monkeys and the Indian ones).
You will find local tribal people sitting under huge umbrellas with tables selling fruits and chickpeas etc. We had guava, ice apples ( tadgola) , cucumber and Lemonade.
We reached around 10. It took us 2 hours to reach by foot.
The Buddhist caves system is bigger than I imagined. The main cave has a stupa in a sanctum. Also the entrance to the main cave has 2 huge buddhas on either side.
There are lots of smaller caves presumably for the monks to stay.
Kanheri caves are much more spread out in terms of area and number of caves than elephanta( yes, I have been to both).
While returning back we took an ac bus (did not see a non ac bus on this road).
Adventure of the day: we ran out of money & had no money for the bus. A kind man helped us with 10 rs which we returned back by Google pay.
For us it was a 4 hour adventure ( going to Kanheri caves and coming back), but the national park can be made a full one day trip.
We are coming back soon to explore the other trails.
Yes Mitali Shah....explained very well about kanehri caves....beautiful place it is
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