A day in Mumbai (1 Viewer)

Hello
I'll be in Mumbia on a business trip in a couple of weeks and have a free day at the end. Are then any good places in or near Mumbia where I could spend the day birding? One place that caught my eye was the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, but I don't know much about it.
Thanks.

See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/birdsofbombay/

Is this your first time there? Mumbai doesn't contain a large number of great sites and travel is very time consuming. Drop a line to the birdsofbombay group and someone might offer to show you SGNP, which is the best site around.

OK thanks, I'll try that. It will be my third visit to India, but first to Mumbai.

Mumbai is incredibly crowded and it takes ages to get anywhere so the hotel where you are staying will be critical for where you can reasonably get to. SGNP is to the north of the city towards Thane so if you will be in the centre (Oberoi, Taj etc.) it is quite difficult without a 5.30 start. If you are further north, close to the airport or even around Juhu it will be slightly easier.

Reports recently are of numerous migrants returning to the area for "winter" (not like we know it) and particularly of the flamingos returning to the Sewri area where numerous other waders are found in good numbers, depending upon the tide of course.

I think my hotel is in the south of the city. Is there anywhere that is worth a visit around there?

When I said the "centre" this is the South - the main commercial district. For details of any sites in the South I would recommend contact with the Bombay Birders but I suspect there is not much. The shoreline at various places might be of interest, but possibly not as interesting as you would be to the local urchins who would be most "helpful" in your endeavours.

Alf King said:

When I said the "centre" this is the South - the main commercial district. For details of any sites in the South I would recommend contact with the Bombay Birders but I suspect there is not much. The shoreline at various places might be of interest, but possibly not as interesting as you would be to the local urchins who would be most "helpful" in your endeavours.

Click to expand...

Thats what I thought. Is Elephanta Island worth visiting? It at least seems to have some trees!
I have noticed that there is an express train from Churchgate that stops 1 km from SGNP, and takes 1 hour. The train may be a stupid idea but at least I would be going in the opposite direction to the commuter traffic - heading out of the center in the morning and back in the afternoon?

I should have referred you earlier to "A Birdwatcher's Guide to India" by Kazmierczak and Singh (ISBN 1 871104 08 4) which contains information on Mumbai along with many other places. In this he recommends Borivli (SGNP) if you have only one day and Elephanta Island as well if you have more time.

SGNP is about 1km from Borivli station where trains from Churchgate take about 45 mins - much quicker than a taxi which might take 2 hrs. At weekends unfortunately SGNP is very popular with Mumbaikers who do tend to make a lot of noise and enjoy very untidy picnics, so get there early, although I don't know at what time the park officially opens.

Elephanta Island can reputedly produce good birding, although I have never been there myself, with a number of shore and forest species as well as any pelagic species that may turn up. Avoid the tourist-infested caves themselves and concentrate upon the forest beyond.

HTH

Thanks. In the end I went to Elephanta. I put a brief report in the "Vacaton Trip Reports" section.