Mumbai's Nature Photography Spots: Maharashtra Nature Park

     Here is a kind of informative Photoblog I would like to try out with an intent to share more details about the various 'Natural heaven' for photography in and around Mumbai.This is to share awareness about the locations, the general details and what can be expected in case any one plans for a Photowalk or just a general family walks.

     The first in the series of 'Mumbai's Nature Photography spots' I would like to cover the beautiful 'Mahim Nature park' or 'Maharashtra Nature park'. Located very close to the Mumbai's biggest slum, Dharavi and sandwiched between the once a Holy and mighty river turned the centre of debate and filth(thanks to our own Carefree nature and taken for granted attitude), Mithi River and Dharavi Depot road. The location can be accessed from either Bandra or Sion Station and later by a rickshaw or any Bus heading towards Dharavi depot or easily by the Western Expressway too.

     I had visited this place in the month of July, being in the initial phase of monsoon the over feel of the park was really refreshing.

     The ambiance of MNP(Mahim or Maharashtra Nature Park) is quite calming and pleasant and what I loved the most is that its free of unnecessary distractions like a family spending their reckless weekends or the ever-growing 'Lovebird' youths trying to find some privacy in the open spaces, which can be seen at any locations in and around Mumbai.The timings of the park is also comfortable with its starting timings being somewhere around 7/7:30a.m. (cant recall exact timings) to 3:30p.m. during weekend and the entry fee also seems decent with the facility to park your vehicle also available inside the park, but I would recommend using the mass transportation medium to reach as its easy to ply and have good frequency(both towards Bandra or Sion). The procedure for entering the park seems a bit lengthy where one has to take an entry ticket near the main gate and later head towards a beautiful circular(cylindrical) building where one has to share the entry ticket to get another ticket and some essential instructions are shared. 

     The whole MNP is not exactly a natural jungle but probably more of an open space turned into a natural heaven with 'planted' trees and plants(may be wrong), but the enclosed location and huge area helped it to have a variety of visitors in form of a vivid variety of butterflies, various insects and some potential migrating birds too(havent spotted them but have seen some posts) and also not to forget a whole range of reptiles.

     Below are the images about the nature park, most of them clicked by me, a few, not physically possible, are from the internet.

     I would like to Thank my colleague Lalitji for his curiosity to experiment with his new DSLR and learn a few tricks encouraged me to travel all the way to Bandra in the morning and enjoy the beautiful location.

The satellite view of the nature park

The Central Building

     The variety of butterflies I encountered at MNP, reach early and you shall have the luxury to catch few of them still sleepy and easier to frame.

Painted lady, my first encounter of it after a long time, though it wasnt the most healthy form of it

Tiny Grass blue seen nourishing on the nectar of the small flower

Palmfly, spotted near the entrance area of the NP. It tried its level best to evade me or my camera but eventually got few snaps of it after almost an hour.

Yet another view of it

Spotted this beauty fluttering around few plants at not settling down for more than a fraction of seconds, this behavior seemed a bit unique, only to realize that it was laying eggs on the host plants that were kept along the pathway

The close up of a freshly laid egg of the Lime butterfly

A beautiful Tawny Coaster seen lazily lying around in one of the area of the park

     The main central area had over 20-25 varieties of butterflies which had become more and more active as the day progressed and where a bit difficult to capture in frame due to the high sensitivity/alertness.

     The area also had a variety of flower, most of them being the planted/garden variety but that gave a pleasing visual and inn some areas also pleasant fragrance.

   

A beautiful flower on one of the tree.

Yet another beautiful flower

This particular one had a unique presence, almost as big as a rose flower it dispersed its beautiful smell all around it making the area near it really serene

 
 

Yet another white beauty, it seemed very delicate but very striking

Few beautiful variety of roses can be seen near the central area of the park

The weather, early days of monsoon, brought out the fresh green shade all around the park

The paved, yet, natural pathway. Loved that essence

But this view is what broke the ambiance with really strong filthy smell engorges you

     The park aslo showed us a huge variety of insects and reptiles, most of the reptiles were camera shy and kept themselves out of our reach

Here's an example of an elusive 'huge' rat snake, could have been over 6ft long

Some strange form of shield bug, was well camouflaged with the green shade of the leaf

Some nymphs/newly hatched bugs

A beautiful damselfly

A rare sight, a yellow crab spider with a male crabby on its back busy with their intimate moment

A busy bark mantis, all gorged up in self cleaning

An interesting Wasp, held itself underneath the leaf

A grasshopper nymph, luckily was patient enough to pose for a frame

A strange looking bug, when I tried to reach close to it, it squirted some liquid from its backend

A beautiful ant mimicking mantis

An interesting colony of ants, it had infested a whole branch of a tree

  

    Overall it was a good 3-4 hours spent in the MNP and the whole interaction with nature was fruitful enough to charge us up from the inner-self, despite the physical exertion and tiredness. Would love to visit this place once again during the monsoon and would like to explore few more areas of the park.

     DO share your thoughts on the blog and any suggestions to improve the blog.