Travel Guide

Parks & Gardens of Mumbai

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Hanging Garden	Kamala Nehru Park	Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Zoo

Hanging Garden

The Hanging Gardens is located at the Malabar Hill adjoins the Sir Pherozshah Mehta Gardens. It is also known as the Kamla Nehru Park (popularly known as the "The Hanging Gardens" where the visitors can witness a spectacular view of the skyscrapers and the serene beaches in Bombay. At the night, one can walk down the Marine Drive with the glittering streetlights and lighting looks like "the Queen's Necklace."

Kamala Nehru Park

The Malabar hill offers superb views of Mumbai. On top of the Malabar hills are the Hanging gardens and Kamala Nehru Park.

Built in 1952 and named after the wife of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, this park covers an area of 4,000 square yards and from here one enjoys a magnificent view of Marine Drive, 'Queen's Necklace'.

The park has a decent children's playground and the constant source of enjoyment is the gigantic 'Old Lady's Shoe' meant for children to play in. From the top of the shoe one can survey the entire garden. Another feature here is the lovely pavilion, which is surrounded by beautiful flowers and huge lawns. There is also a map of the city engraved in copper.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Borivali National Park, now known as Sanjay Gandhi National Park is situated at about 42 Kms north of Mumbai. Virgin forests spread over 104 sq kms. are the home for various varieties of birds and is a bird watcher paradise. It is also the place where the Kanhari caves carved by Buddhist monks exist.

Notified in 1974, it offers a pleasant change from the usual sights and attractions of the big city. It is hence common to see the park teeming with school picnics, college picnics and other organized excursions.

The undulating green lands of the Borivili National Park are just the kind of surroundings to which one would love to retreat for some moments of quiet introspection or meditation. The great panoramic views of hills, valleys, lakes and open expanses can actually have a therapeutic effect on mind, body and soul. Rising from an elevation less than about 30 Mts. above mean sea level, the terrain park culminates in a series of peaks dispersed throughout the park - the highest, near the Kanheri Caves, being 468 Mts.

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park is unique because it can be visited all round the year. In the hot, dry summer months the jungle is a riot of colour as Golmohar known as “The flame of the forest and the flowering silk cotton give the otherwise harsh brown forest a crimson blush. Borivali in the rains has a charm of its own. The entire forest is a carpet of green and streams, swollen with rainwater tumble and meander down the slopes. The rains automatically draw trekkers, bird watchers and nature lovers of all ages to this verdant paradise. Visitors to Mumbai are rather surprised to see that there are 104 sq kms. of virgin forest within its borders, just waiting to be explored.

The recreational area of this park includes The Kanheri Caves, The Tulsi and Vihar lakes, The Lion Safari, The Deer Park, The samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi and gardens.

Fauna

The park is known to shelter wildlife right from the time urbanization began in Mumbai. One can have encounters with several species including Spotted deer, Black naped hare, Barking deer, Porcupine, Palm civet, Mouse deer, Rhesus macaque, Bounet macaque, Hanuman langur, Indian flying fox, and Sambhar. One is surprised by the density of leopards in this park, despite its nearness to an urban settlement. One can also encounter here a Hyena or four horned antelope. The reptilian world has 38 species to show off, tourists can see crocodiles in the Tulsi Lake, and Pythons, Cobras, Monitor lizards, Russell's viper, Bamboo pit viper and Ceylonese cat snake here. The invertebrate world has a wide representation - Crabs, Spiders and Insects of all kinds thrive within the green glades of the park. The Giant Wood Spider, Signature Spiders, Black Wood Spiders with their large net-like webs in monsoon are a fascinating treat. Last, but certainly not the least, are the 150 species of beautiful winged creatures that represent the amazing butterfly world.

Flora

The park is a tree lover's delight at all times of the year, with every changing season offering up its own distinctive beauty. The forest cover in the park can be divided into two main categories i.e. South Indian moist deciduous and Semi Evergreen. These two types can be further classified into four subcategories and they are moist teak-bearing forest, mangrove scrub, southern moist mixed deciduous forest, and western subtropical hill forest. The region has good biodiversity and major trees and plants include kadamba, teak, karanj, shisam, and species of acacia, ziziphus, euphorbia, flame of the forest, red silk cotton and many more varieties of flowers. During the monsoon, almost the entire park is awash with the rainbow hues of the flowers that bloom here and all over the Western Ghats. Among the many breathtaking sights, the sight that is definitely not to be missed is the seven-yearly mass flowering of the Strobilanthes (Karvi). A distinctive feature of the Western Ghats and of the park is that tourists can watch thousands and thousands of these wonderful flowers covering the hilltops, bathing the landscape in a magical purple.

Zoo

The Mumbai Zoo is housed within the landscape grounds of the Botanical gardens called Veermata Jijabhai Bhonsle Udyan. The Mumbai has collection of a wide spectrum of wild animals among which the most remarkable ones are the tigers, lions, elephants, bears and monkeys. The Mumbai zoo acts as a place perfect for a get away from the busy life of the city. The Mumbai zoo was laid out in the year 1861 and was known as Victoria Gardens and was the house of many rare and endangered species of animals and birds. The Botanical garden boasts of having numerous scores of rare species of plants and trees and some of them are more than a century old. Together with the Botanical Garden the Mumbai Zoo spreads across an area of 48 acres and is located in Byculla, that lions on the central side of the Mumbai. The area is located amidst low income housing colonies known as chawls and slums. The main entrance of the Garden is marked by a clock tower that is reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance. However due to lack of maintenance it has stopped clicking a long time. The Botanical Garden apart from the lively Zoo also houses the Albert Museum that hosts an array of local archaeological findings. Among them the elephant stone, which merits a huge stone elephant found in the Gharapuri Island in the year 1864 at the entrance of the Museum is very famous.

Closed On

It is closed on Wednesdays

Timings:

10:00 am to 5:00 pm

The Agri-Horticulture Society of Western India planted its landscape grounds as a botanical garden in the late 19th century. This is a pleasant place to get away from the city hustle-bustle, all while still within the confines of the city. Just inside the zoo's triple-arched Italaianate gateway is the bronze statue of Edward VII astride a black horse (kala ghoda) that used to stand at the junction of K Dubash Marg and MG Rd. Nearby is a delightful plant house with a skeletal iron framework and a wooden lattice skin.