Tiger safari in SGNP redesigned, reopened for visitors

The tiger safari in Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park has reopened after five years. The enclosure has been redesigned to resemble the tigers' natural habitat and now covers 20 hectares. The park is also planning to redesign the lion safari and develop a leopard safari. Additionally, the forest department is seeking permission to replace the mini train with a battery train at a cost of ₹40 crore.

MUMBAI: The tiger safari in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), which has been shut for the last five years, was formally reopened on Wednesday by state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar. The 20-hectare safari enclosure was closed after a chain link fence collapsed in 2016, leaving visitors with access to just one hectare. The enclosure will now cover the entire 20 hectares, with the tigers in a space resembling their natural habitat.

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In a bid to create more tourist attractions for Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray designed the tiger safari in the mid-1990s when the Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power in Maharashtra. It was opened to visitors in 1998. The then forest minister Chandrakant Khaire had brought in a pair of white tigers from the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar zoo and the project was built by the then deputy conservator Nitin Kakodkar.

The current conservator of SGNP, G Mallikarjun, said the redesigned safari, which has been rebuilt at a cost of ₹5.5 crore, will have new cages, a crawl area, and a secondary and primary safari. The tiger enclosure has two male tigers and five female tigers, including a juvenile.

Mungantiwar also launched six electric buses with a capacity of 30 passengers each for the safari and trips to Kanheri Caves from the main gate of SNGP. The buses were donated by the National High Speed Rail Corporation, since it has used forest land in Tungareshwar and a part of Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the bullet train. The corporation also donated five buggies. The next instalment of nine buses will come soon.

Meanwhile, SGNP officers have also started redesigning the lion safari, which currently has one male and one female lion. This is spread over 12 hectares and the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZMA) has asked the state forest department to have a safari spread over 20 hectares, as a 12-hectare safari does not fit into the CZMA norms. The state forest department is in the process of getting one more pair of lions from Gujarat for the safari.

The forest department is also seeking permission to develop a leopard safari, as it has many leopards which are trapped in various urban areas/ deserted by parents/ turned maneaters. This will also occupy 20 hectares.

The department has also finalised a proposal to replace the mini train with a battery train at a cost of ₹40 crore. The file is awaiting final clearance in Mantralaya. In this project, the forest department will get a new train and lay down new tracks. It will also remodel stations. The railway stopped functioning in 2021 when Cyclone Tauktae damaged the tracks of the mini train Van Rani.