Sanjay Gandhi National Park... A land of possibility?

My adventure today was a trip to Sanjay Gandhi National Park with fellow IMBA-ers, Rachel, Mike, Mark, and Nicholai. Our morning started early at 7:45 am. After a quick bite to eat we headed to the train station to embark on our first ever Indian train ride. An experience in and of itself. We opted for 2nd Class instead of 1st Class tickets (not my choice) because of a Rps 50 price difference. Luckily for Rachel and I we were able to take advantage of the Ladies Only car. This didn't make much of a difference. The trains here in Mumbai are packed! Even on a Sunday (which is the "not crowded" day in locals' eyes). The train stops at each station for approximately 5 seconds, long enough for a huge crowd to hop off and another to shove itself on. I have never been in such a crowded train... with people hanging off the side of the car. The trains are responsible for 1,000 deaths a year.

We finally did arrive! At the train station we attempted to catch a taxi to The Kharini Caves. All the taxis wanted to charge us Rps 600!! No thank you. We caught an auto rickshaw (a three wheeled glorified bike that runs on a diesel lawn mower engine) to the gate of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and then from inside got on a bus that took us to the caves. The caves dated back to 1 B.C. and there are 109 caves that were once occupied by monks. The caves rest high above Mumbai and are amazing feats of architecture. But talk about a lot of hiking!! We kept going up and up and up... and it was humid, so we kept sweating and sweating and sweating. A lot of locals inhabit the National Park and use the natural springs for bathing. The park is absolutely covered in trash, which is a shame, because with a few strategically placed trash cans and some natural preservation, the park could be breathtaking. Instead I found it filthy, muddy, and hot (well the heat wasn't its fault... it was Mumbai's). In fact, at one point Nic tried to find a trash can and one of the guards offered to take his trash, and promptly threw it on the ground outside these historical caves. So sad. After a few hours of hiking and exploring caves, we were off to find the Lion and Tiger Safari.

We discovered we had an hour to kill before the next Safari we opted to ride the "mini train" through the park. We missed the first train because there was no way we would all fit, so we sat around the station people watching for a little bit. Rachel took some pictures of some really cute kids, who were very excited to see their picture on the back of her camera afterwards. At this point in the day we were truly exhausted. After the train ride we headed back to the Safari but opted to skip out due to crowds. We were also pretty sure their version of a Safari was a glorified ride through a poorly constructed and maintained zoo (based on the conditions we found the leopard in... pretty sure the leopard wanted to end its misery).

We then made our way back to the entrance of the park via auto rickshaw... there were 7 of us in the auto rickshaw (the driver and driver's friend plus all 5 of us). Mark sat on my lap so he could fit, and I'm pretty sure it's a hilarious picture... I am trying to track it down. We then took another auto rickshaw into Sion (that's as far South as they are allowed, they are not allowed in the city) and it was a pretty wretched drive. Not only does an auto rickshaw not have much protection from the pollution without doors or windows, it also is a bumpy ride (kind of like an un-oiled old wooden coaster). Once we hit Sion, we took a cab back to Matunga. As soon as I got back to the hostel, I enjoyed a cold shower and actually looked forward to the bathroom here. You'll have to check out the pictures to see why.

The park was pretty crowded, and at various points we had a lot of little kids following us around trying to sell us chips, water, or unsanitary fruits and vegetables. We also had a lot of people calling out to us and trying to talk to us. I'm kind of miss the anonymity of walking down the street... with no one noticing your presence. Granted, I might have been asking for it, cause shortly after the cave hiking I took my cardigan off and did have a tank top on... but there were still a handful of westerners with less clothing on than me. But it's pretty exhausting and gives me a headache to deal with. Even at the train station, I felt surrounded at one point by a group of men just staring at Rachel and I. I am guessing no tourists ride the trains... and now I know why.

The highlight of the day was the monkeys!! Granted at one time I thought the monkeys were ganging up on me and going to attack me. I did have a protein bar with me (since I knew food would be hard to come by)... but I don't think the monkeys knew that. They were all over the caves and pretty precious. I'll post a video of a cute little monkey couple... couldn't decide if they were best friends or just courting... but one jumped in the water! I have a lot of monkey pictures actually... but I couldn't help it, they kept doing cute stuff.

Lots of new pictures are up from the day! http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld and more will be added in the week as I get pictures from others. So check back :-)

Train ride to Boliveri: Rps 10
Auto rickshaw ride for 1 km: Rps 10
Entrance Fee at Park: Rps 20
Ride up to Cave: Rps 20
Admit Fee to Caves: Rps 100
Cold bottle of water: Rps 15
Mini Train Ride: Rps 15
Auto rickshaw ride down from Mini Train: Rps 40
Auto rickshaw ride to Sion: Rps 100
Taxi ride to Matunga: Rps 35
Spending a sweaty humid day with a moment of peace at the top of a mountain: Priceless

(All in all, the day cost Rps 365... so... less than $10.00)