The Primary students visit Maharashtra Nature park

SPENDING QUALITY TIME WITH OUR FRIENDS FROM NATURE!

-  Mrs. Sunita D’Souza & Ms. Queenie Aranjo

St. Joseph’s High School

Wadala

13^th March 2013

A visit to a natural park easily tends to elevate and instruct. That’s what it does to every nature lover, and more so the energetic, inquisitive young minds. 20^th and 28^th February 2013 were the two days set aside for the students of Std. IV and III respectively, for a visit to the Maharashtra Nature Park at Dharavi.

This park is Mumbai's first man-made forest which was developed on the garbage dump land in 1981-82. It was opened for the public on 22nd April 1994. Covering an area of 37 acres, it is home to about 15,000 to 22,000 plant species, 75 species of butterflies, 90 types of birds and 21 types of snakes! The Nature park is divided into nine sections viz. Education centre, Nursery, Wooded Area, Medicinal plants cultivation, Palm section, Fruit trees, Vegetable garden, Aquarium, Bird observation point and Vermicompositing section.

Upon arrival, the students were warmly welcomed by the staff members, Ms. Varsha and Ms. Sarita, and the guides, Mr. Prashant and Ms. Vanita. They were directed to a room to watch a slide show depicting the different kinds of species in the park. This was indeed informative and amazing. The nature trail thereafter was a lesson in observation about the natural process of the birth of butterflies. The students came across different trees - the flame of the forest, mulberry, bamboo, elaichi- and plants such as lemon grass, tulsi, mint, etc. They also learnt about vermiculture.

Walking ahead at the Bird Observation point, birds like flamingo, kite, seagull, kingfisher, cuckoo, etc. caught our attention. A beautiful pagoda ant-hill on the tree, fairy tale fungi, centipedes and millipedes made it a close to an 'Alice in Wonderland' kind of experience!

The sight of the Mithi River at close range, and the garbage dumped therein drove home the truth of the cause of the flooding that takes place in Mumbai during heavy monsoons.

A visit to the nursery was lined up next. It aroused the students’ curiosity and further prompted a few to carry along some saplings with them so that they could serve as precious memories of their visit to the park.

Soon it was soon time to bid farewell to our 'friends from nature'.  We all returned back happy for the enriching experience and acquaintance with nature and its inhabitants.