Kanheri Caves in Sanjay Gandhi National Park

There is a national park in Mumbai as well. It is similar to the national park in Seoul, in that it provides a natural place for the people of the city of Mumbai to go and enjoy nature. However, where Bukhansan National Park in Seoul is a big mountain, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai is made up of jungle and low hills and is far more accessible for all people who visit.

There is also a set of Buddhist caves in the park. I have been mainly trying to go to and get into various places on my own lately, rather than having tour operators doing it for me. To that end, I bought a map of Mumbai when I got here and now I consulted it to figure out my best plan of attack to get to the national park. I had no exact idea of where I was headed but I chose what seemed to be the closest municipal train station and had a go.

The trip on the train was wild. I had been forewarned by my trusty Wikitravel page on Mumbai. It said that the trains are very well used and can get quite crowded. I was starting at the beginning point of the train lines, so I was able to just get in and get a seat. Then I didn't have to worry about what happened next.

After a few stops, the train filled up. It was so packed that not everyone was able to fully get on the train cars. In fact, people were at times hanging on to the hand holds inside the train while at least part of their bodies were hanging out of the train. The doors never got closed and so for long periods between stations, people could be hanging on, by the thinnest of margins, to safety and life itself. I would hate to try to ride a train if I were not at a station that was close to the beginning of its run.

At one station, I saw a bunch of people waiting to get on the train. I'm not exactly sure of the timing, whether the exiting people had finished leaving the train or not, but I heard one of the people on the platform say, “Go!” And then the people on the platform took a running go and launched themselves into the train car. I almost laughed. It was like a comedy movie, except it was real.

I arrived at my station and then walked towards where I thought I might find a way into the park area. I had chosen correctly and found the park entrance. The entrance fee was the same for me as for anyone else. Yea!!! And I didn't have to do much more than that to get to see the Khaneri Caves. A bus was running from the park gates to the caves, so I just had to wait for the bus to arrive and get on. I actually went with a more or less private van, but the cost was the same and it happened sooner.

I arrived at the Khaneri Caves area and bought my ticket to get in. These were Buddhist caves. The really spectacular caves were the first three caves.

The first cave was fairly simple, but was quite large. I seemed to be some kind of residential cave.

 The second cave was cut way back under an overhang. Again it wasn't overly elaborate, but there were some carved elements that were beautiful.

But the third cave was amazing. It was some sort of hall, at the end of which there was a large stupa. Even from the outside it looked magnificent.

The outside walls had all these amazing and well-preserved carvings of Buddha and others. It was hard to believe they were so well-preserved. And I hope that means that they weren't helped in their “preserved” state. But they didn't seem to be re-carved in any way.

The rest of the caves were just residences. They mostly had the same sort of design. There was a little water well at the front. There was an entrance area and then a living space. Off to the side of the living space was either one or two sleeping areas. Sometimes there was a bit of decoration in the form of carvings of Buddha, but most had the spartan sort of air that monks quarters would be expected to have.

Up above the whole living area there was a small water collection tank that was cut into the rock of the hill.

And there was a nice view of Mumbai over the tops of the hills surrounding the area.

There was one final spot that I found on the way down that was different from all the other caves. It seemed to be a meeting or prayer hall of some sort. There were pews inside and a number of cells along the sides.

After the caves, I headed back down to the entrance area of the national park. There were a couple of other things of interest I wanted to check out. One was a nature interpretation center. It was sponsored by HSBC. It presented a lot of things about how nature conservation is taking place in India and the initiatives that are in place to accomplish it. I was saddened that despite a fair number of people that I saw in the park, I was one of only a few people that I saw visit the center.

And in the center I saw this board with some interesting, and... I'm not sure what the third one qualifies as.

A final thing of interest in the national park, located in the city, was the tiger and lion safari. There are wild tigers, including white tigers, and lions that are in the park. And visitors can take a bus on a safari to go and see them. In view of the fact that there are people not that far away, I figured they couldn't be completely wild, with free completely roaming available to them. Otherwise someone would get hurt. But I took the chance to see them and went on the bus safari. We headed out of the ticketing place and into the tiger enclosure. As I suspected, there are large fences to keep the tigers where they are supposed to be. But it seemed to be quite a large enclosure. I was surprised how blasé they were about how they let the bus in. There were two gates through two fences, but both seemed to be open at the same time.

I figured out why later. The tigers in that enclosure were in smaller cages. Now I was a bit disappointed by the area. And then even that came clear. After the tigers in cages, I saw people doing some work in the enclosure. I suspect the tigers normally have the roam of the enclosure, but for whatever reason at that point there was some maintenance that needed doing. I hope they were sure all the tigers were in their cages though.

Then we passed to the lion enclosure. And there it seemed there were definitely lions out on the prowl. They made damn sure that the two gates were not open at the same time. And the guy opening the second gate was behind another fence, presumably in case a lion got into the small enclosed space between the two gates. Then he wouldn't become a meal. Alas, other than the two cages with tigers in them, I was once again out of luck in spotting big wild cats. They remained enigmatic, and possibly fictional.

I headed back to the center of Mumbai and got off the train before I planned. The train passed by the west coastal of the city and the sun was setting. It made quite a stunning sight as it set.