IMAGES: ALAMY; GETTY


NEIGHBOURHOOD


Sanjay Gandhi National Park I’ve always loved Indian English and the way it clings to archaic verbs and half- forgotten idioms. Indians don’t argue, they quarrel; they don’t think someone is nuts, but that they ‘have bats in their belfry’. It’s a variant of the language that bathes in hyperbole and quirky idioms, whether that’s a ‘best exotic hotel’ or a ‘cryptic and elusive predator’ — the latter is a phrase naturalist Sagar Mahajan uses to describe leopards. We’re in the north of Mumbai, on the edge of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, just 20 minutes from the international airport. This is one of the very few national parks in the world that falls within a city’s boundary, and it makes up the majority of Mumbai’s green space. Amazingly, it’s also home to an estimated 50 leopards — it’s difficult to believe that they have 20 million people for neighbours. “We’ve 46sq miles of wooded areas


and so this is the densest population of leopards in India — normally they’d require a lot more space,” explains the guide from the Bombay Natural History Society as we follow a two-hour nature trail from the Society’s Conservation Education Centre.


As well as the big cats, the park is home


to four types of deer and over 170 butterfly species. Around 250 species of bird have been spotted here too. Unfortunately, this includes the crow, the ugly call of which seems to drown out other more melodious songs. Elsewhere in Mumbai — as is the case in all of India’s megacities — these scavengers are usually accompanied by stray dogs, but they’re not in evidence here. There’s a good reason for this: “When we study leopards, we have to look at their diet. Around 60% of what they eat is dogs, mostly strays,” Sagar tells me. The leopards have been observed hunting


rats. “What I like about the leopards is how adaptable they are,” says Sagar, when I ask him about this. Were it not for the danger they also pose to humans, leopards would surely be a very welcome form of pest control in other parts of the country. But on our trek, we don’t meet any. This is


partly because it’s daytime and leopards are mainly nocturnal, but also because only 25% of the park has been made accessible to the public. The rest remains wild and, although we might be on the fringes of India’s most populous city — and an abundant supply of canines — the felines, when given a choice, will always prefer to go unseen.


FROM LEFT: the ubiquitous Mumbai sandwich; the Gateway of India; Kanheri Caves, a popular attraction in Sanjay Gandhi National Park; spotted deer, one of four deer species found in the park


MORE INFO


tajhotels.com khakitours.com sgnp.maharashtra.gov.in


G ADVENTURES offers a four-day


Mumbai itinerary, including a guided nature walk, Bollywood city tour and Fort area heritage walk as part of its TailorMade tour offering. From £999 per person, B&B, flights and other meals not included. gadventures.com


Jul/Aug 2020 53


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