Trip to Karnala Bird Sanctuary - Mumbai

We were in Mumbai from May 7 to 11^th. It was a good trip … family get-together, Pooja, Snow world in Phoenix Mall. The true fun was still missing. A quick check on Google pointed that Karnala Bird sanctuary will be a good place to visit. Some of the reviews were not looking good. So it was kind of risk … many people not knowing what and where to look for, generally give bad reviews. My view … birds don’t visit you in bird Sanctuary, one has to explore and look out for birds.

We started at 6:45am from Thane. We had packed 2 bottles of water and cookies. The journey was quiet ok, with lot of truck traffic on the way. We reached the sanctuary by 8am and had to pay Rs. 130 for car park + entry for 5 people.

After couple of minutes of walk, we saw the caged peacock which was a little sad. After this, we saw a snake on the platform. It raced to the hole as it saw us approaching. That was not very comforting … but what else can one expect to see in the jungle? Immediately, we had a fly past from 2 Yellow birds (I couldn't make out the specie) and 1 from kingfisher.  It was already looking good but had nothing captured in camera.

We then started trekking towards the Karnala Fort.

As it was reasonably dense forest with greenery, it is not very easy to spot birds. Imagine this bird on a tree full of green leaves J.

Most of the birds were out there seeking nectar or fruits.

In the short trek of about 45mins, we saw atleast 4 – 5 varieties of birds … which in my view is good.  The kids had a nice time during the short terk as it was quiet different than usual. Of course we had our regular visitor … Mr. Langoor. 

I would recommend this place if you need to get away to the bustle of the city and have  a little adventure. Do pack enough water and snacks. There is hardly any thing available once you enter sanctuary (at least early in the morning).