Rosie Brooke came to stay with us this weekend from Bangalore, so we took the opportunity to explore not yet visited parts of Mumbai. It is getting hotter here now (and will continue to do so until the monsoon) but the haze over Mumbai had lifted on Saturday morning, and we had a (relatively) clear blue sky at the start of the day.
On Saturday morning, we visited the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 100 sq km protected tropical forest to the north of the city. This is usually in the Mumbai news owing to threats to this region from urban development and slums at the borders, and hence its leopards have been moving into urban areas and causing trouble. It is though, still a large and wild area remarkably close to the city which we were enthusiastic to explore.
After an easy 30 minute journey to the park entrance, we decided to start our trip by going on the "lion and tiger safari". Upon arrival at the safari office, the 61 rupee per person price tag and rickety safari bus indicated that this was not perhaps going to be as authentic or extensive as our previous safari in the Serengeti, but we could see that we would get a classic Indian experience at least.
We were not disappointed. The bus careered along a narrow concrete track to the gates at the start of the 20 acre lion enclosure. We raced round but conveniently stopped by a lioness resting under a tree very close to the road. The lion didn't move much and wasn't bothered by a large bus - we suspect that it was held near the tree in some way. Excitement over, we then raced round the rest of the track, seeing nothing else whatsoever, and the 10 minute lion safari was complete. Tick. We moved onto the tiger safari, where there was both a white tiger and normal-looking orange tiger on the route, but these were in small compounds close to the road so we had no chance of missing them. They were pretty sedentary but just about visible from the bus. All major animal sightings had been completed in a 15 minute period, so we returned to base with a happy truck of tourists.
What happened next was a quintessential Indian experience. When driving away from the safari, we saw a group of monkeys and deer at the side of the road and stopped to watch, turning our engine off and keeping our distance. After a few minutes, a car came up behind us (honking its horn) so we assumed it wanted to pass, but instead, it drove up alongside us and parked directly alongside our car, blocking our view of the animals. Oblivious, the driver then got out, smashed his car door into our car (again oblivious) and carried his infant daughter out of the car to see the animals close up. After ploughing into the herd of deer (which scarpered), he then seemed to want his daughter to get a close view of the monkeys, including an aggressive male. The daughter look very scared (understandably!) and he eventually took her back to the car whilst we all looked on in amazement.
Anyway, we continued on to the Kanheri caves which are located further south in the park. These are a complex of over 100 Buddhist caves, some of which were approximately 2000 years old, and in excellent condition. The complex was large and we climbed to the top of the hill into which the caves are carved for a panoramic view of the park and Mumbai. It was hot though and the midday heat left me in need of an air-conditioned environment and some cooling refreshment. We stopped at a smart shopping mall on the way home and ate at the British Brewing Company, a faux British pub, the kind of establishment that I would usually avoid but was actually quite fun.
The highlight was the ordering system. Every table had a ipad where you could peruse the menu and place your order directly. A waiter did (prudently) come to check that your order is correct, but is was quite good fun.
Rosie and I had a late afternoon massage at Metta, the local social enterprise for blind people, before we headed out for a seafood dinner, at Mahesh Lunch Home in Juhu.
Mahesh Lunch Home is a Bombay establishment and is most famous for its crab, though everything that we ordered was excellent. We enjoyed a feast of crab, squid and prawns, although I'm ashamed to say that we did order boneless crab on the basis that we were all too hungry to bother ordering a whole one and getting the meat out of the shell. Following dinner, we went to Toto's bar in Bandra for a beer, which turned out to be a rather trendy American style pub with a car theme. The bar was covered by a car suspended from the ceiling which was rather novel and the waiters were wearing orange mechanic outfits. This was all great, although the staff were rather grumpy and wouldn't give us a table. We soon realised that all the free tables were reserved for people who hand money to the doorman...
Sunday has been a relaxed affair. We failed to have a game of snooker after finding that the tables have been removed from our club (very sad) but did manage a trip to the horse races in South Mumbai. This was excellent and we even won on a couple of races, although Rosie's strategy of going for the outsider in the hope of a big win sadly didn't pay off. We had a slightly expensive journey down to Mahalaxmi owing to a taxi with a dodgy meter, but the return journey was more straightforward.
The landmark event of the day is that we have finally changed our internet provider after months of Phil tearing his hair out owing to the lack of reliability of our previous supplier. The new one is working so far (we hope this will continue!) and should reduce the stress of lack of connectivity with any luck. The installation process was random as could be predicted (three men poking about with wires for three hours) but fingers crossed that it will all be worth it.
View from our bedroom window looking south - you can see the towers of South Mumbai in the distance
On Saturday morning, we visited the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 100 sq km protected tropical forest to the north of the city. This is usually in the Mumbai news owing to threats to this region from urban development and slums at the borders, and hence its leopards have been moving into urban areas and causing trouble. It is though, still a large and wild area remarkably close to the city which we were enthusiastic to explore.
After an easy 30 minute journey to the park entrance, we decided to start our trip by going on the "lion and tiger safari". Upon arrival at the safari office, the 61 rupee per person price tag and rickety safari bus indicated that this was not perhaps going to be as authentic or extensive as our previous safari in the Serengeti, but we could see that we would get a classic Indian experience at least.
We were not disappointed. The bus careered along a narrow concrete track to the gates at the start of the 20 acre lion enclosure. We raced round but conveniently stopped by a lioness resting under a tree very close to the road. The lion didn't move much and wasn't bothered by a large bus - we suspect that it was held near the tree in some way. Excitement over, we then raced round the rest of the track, seeing nothing else whatsoever, and the 10 minute lion safari was complete. Tick. We moved onto the tiger safari, where there was both a white tiger and normal-looking orange tiger on the route, but these were in small compounds close to the road so we had no chance of missing them. They were pretty sedentary but just about visible from the bus. All major animal sightings had been completed in a 15 minute period, so we returned to base with a happy truck of tourists.
Inside the park
On the battle bus
Spot the lion
Spot the tiger
Spot the other tiger
What happened next was a quintessential Indian experience. When driving away from the safari, we saw a group of monkeys and deer at the side of the road and stopped to watch, turning our engine off and keeping our distance. After a few minutes, a car came up behind us (honking its horn) so we assumed it wanted to pass, but instead, it drove up alongside us and parked directly alongside our car, blocking our view of the animals. Oblivious, the driver then got out, smashed his car door into our car (again oblivious) and carried his infant daughter out of the car to see the animals close up. After ploughing into the herd of deer (which scarpered), he then seemed to want his daughter to get a close view of the monkeys, including an aggressive male. The daughter look very scared (understandably!) and he eventually took her back to the car whilst we all looked on in amazement.
Monkeys and deer, pre-disruption
More deer
Alpha male...
Crazy man's car
Crazy man and child
Monkey 2
Anyway, we continued on to the Kanheri caves which are located further south in the park. These are a complex of over 100 Buddhist caves, some of which were approximately 2000 years old, and in excellent condition. The complex was large and we climbed to the top of the hill into which the caves are carved for a panoramic view of the park and Mumbai. It was hot though and the midday heat left me in need of an air-conditioned environment and some cooling refreshment. We stopped at a smart shopping mall on the way home and ate at the British Brewing Company, a faux British pub, the kind of establishment that I would usually avoid but was actually quite fun.
Entrance to the caves
Group shot at the entrance.
One of the biggest caves in the complex
A nice shady spot
Well-preserved carvings
A very big Buddha
Looking down across the park to the city
Another central cave, reminiscent of Ajanta
We liked the colourful t-shirts in the foreground
Group shot from the top
We found this script carved into the stone outside one of the caves, but don't recognise it. Any ideas?!
The highlight was the ordering system. Every table had a ipad where you could peruse the menu and place your order directly. A waiter did (prudently) come to check that your order is correct, but is was quite good fun.
Collection of British plaques
The BBC
Ordering lunch
Rosie and I had a late afternoon massage at Metta, the local social enterprise for blind people, before we headed out for a seafood dinner, at Mahesh Lunch Home in Juhu.
Mahesh Lunch Home is a Bombay establishment and is most famous for its crab, though everything that we ordered was excellent. We enjoyed a feast of crab, squid and prawns, although I'm ashamed to say that we did order boneless crab on the basis that we were all too hungry to bother ordering a whole one and getting the meat out of the shell. Following dinner, we went to Toto's bar in Bandra for a beer, which turned out to be a rather trendy American style pub with a car theme. The bar was covered by a car suspended from the ceiling which was rather novel and the waiters were wearing orange mechanic outfits. This was all great, although the staff were rather grumpy and wouldn't give us a table. We soon realised that all the free tables were reserved for people who hand money to the doorman...
Tasty, tasty food
Sunday has been a relaxed affair. We failed to have a game of snooker after finding that the tables have been removed from our club (very sad) but did manage a trip to the horse races in South Mumbai. This was excellent and we even won on a couple of races, although Rosie's strategy of going for the outsider in the hope of a big win sadly didn't pay off. We had a slightly expensive journey down to Mahalaxmi owing to a taxi with a dodgy meter, but the return journey was more straightforward.
The landmark event of the day is that we have finally changed our internet provider after months of Phil tearing his hair out owing to the lack of reliability of our previous supplier. The new one is working so far (we hope this will continue!) and should reduce the stress of lack of connectivity with any luck. The installation process was random as could be predicted (three men poking about with wires for three hours) but fingers crossed that it will all be worth it.
