Saturday, April 11, 2009

Shilonda Trail

Thereby concluded another week. After the skin burning, dusty, nature-knight assisted trek to Kothligad last week(blog for it WIP), I was sure I did not want another trek again in the near future.

The nature knights were having another lip smacking back-packing trip to Alibaug-Murud-Janjira this time around but since this one was a little highly priced (at 950 bucks), I decided to look for places by my own :-D

So then I went to IM (http://www.indiamike.com/) and specifically mailed asking for weekend "hikes" this time around :-). The response wasn't tremendous in volume, but as you can expect with IM, there was a detailed mail next day from a guru about various places in and around Mumbai. And I realized I can spend the entire summer weekends going somewhere and still the places wouldn’t end!

I'd almost made up my mind to go hiking around rainy Igatpuri belt but then I thought I’ll check out the good ole forest around our backyard instead - The Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Next step was to scout for people who wouldn't mind joining in. But as everyone had other plans, I made up my mind to go alone till Kunal announced his willingness to join in. Now with a partner in tow, I was sure that am going somewhere this time as I couldn't back track, act lazy and carry on with my early morning slumber :-)

About SGNP:
Being a jungle so close to human inhabitation, the SGNP had always amazed me. More so after Anish’s talk. It truly is a haven amidst the hell. Some people have even called it the lungs of Mumbai – by the virtue of it taking in all the pollution and giving fresh air back, breathing life to the city. Getting into the park itself was a metaphor for me. I got down at the extremely busy Borivali bus stand kept walking northwards for about a minute when the board at SGNP greeted me. I couldn’t believe the city co-exists with the amazing jungle at such a close proximity.
The place is home to tons of different species of birds, butter flies, insects and animals.

City seen from one of the dense mountains of SGNP

It was in news recently for the innumerable cases of man-animal conflict but we all know it’s a small price we pay for intruding into poor animals’ territory.
After getting in, we kept walking – looking and asking directions for the Shilonda trail.

Shilonda Trail:
The trail is about 2 Kms deep into the forest. Finding your way is simple. Keep walking towards the Lion-Tiger safari but instead of taking diversion to the left, keep walking straight till you leave the chaos and sea of people behind to come across the villages situated within. 200 meters down, you would come across a dilapidated gate beyond which you wouldn’t find a single soul moving. I guess the trail is flocked about only by nature lovers. Further in, you would come across a board announcing the Shilonda Trail.

Dilapidated gate


Shilonda Trail

We got there by 9.15 AM when the others were on their way back :-). I was saddening to see stray water bottles and gutkha pouches lying discarded all around. After walking for about 30 minutes, we came across what in the monsoons would’ve been a very good river bed. We decided to sit there for a while when we noticed a movement around the shrubs. A closer look and it was a herd of spotted deer.

Stone age cricket bat discovered ;)
After a while, we got walking again and heard ghostly cries of some animal repeated about 3 times. We thought we’d pause and wait for something to emanate from the bushes but sadly the ghostly cried ended where it started :-)
After walking a few more, we came across a man made water body, which had no hint of water anywhere. Green vegetation suggested that water may’ve disappeared only some time back. There were innumerable butterflies lurking around in there. We thought a leopard might drop in there hoping for water but sadly, no one bothered to turn up.

Venturing further, the trail ended about a bone-dry river bed at the foothill of a mountain.

After much contemplation, we finally decided to get to the top of the mountain. Thereby also ended the littering and we realized that not much people venture into that corner of the jungle. On the way Kunal saw a big bird with bald scalp. My guess is that it was a grey jungle fowl or maybe a peahen – am not sure.
Reaching atop the mountain there was the best part of the journey. We could hear the peaceful sound of the forest along with the chirping of birds and blabbering of the langurs. We could also see human habitation far across on one side while dense forest on the other.

Colors

After sitting there for a while, we decided to descend when there was a movement behind the bushes and a hare-like animal ran away deep into the forest. Then we also saw birds like the Racket Drongo, magpie robin etc.


Trees atop the mountain


Slowly we were on our way back and the rays of the sun got even more scorching. We sat on the river bed where we saw deer for even longer this time ;) but there was no sign of life this time around there.
With our water reserve dwindling we decided to move back quickly. We reached the SGNP gates around 2 and then took the next bus home.

And then the trail ends


It was another good, peaceful, cheap way to spend the weekend for sure ;)






Cost: Less than 200 Rs.
Caution: Do take minimum of 4 liters of water per person especially if you plan to go there during summer. Please ensure you don’t litter around the place. Bring back every bit of you junk you've carried.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/n.rajitr/SGNPApr1109#

4 comments:

helen said...

Sounds good. Thanks for sharing your discoveries! I love exploring nature and off the beaten track... Pity you had to encounter other peoples rubbish along the way but other than that sounds a good day! x

Rajit said...

@ Helen,

Yes the trip was worth it. Definitely better than spending the day home or aroudn the city.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ajay Shah said...

How does one access the other trails within SGNP? In this case, the HSBC logo clearly alerts you to the starting point, so it's now accessible. How does one do the others?

Rajit said...

Hey Ajay,

I guess you need to go with any of the numerous nature trail group to get used to the various trails at the SGNP...once you've done that, you can venture by yourself...

I use forums to discuss and find my way to the different hills.

But you need to be aware that certain trails like the tulsi vihar and the bhootbangla is not allowed due to security reasons.

Let me know if you have a better suggestion!

Thanks for stopping by. :-)