43rd Tree Appreciation Walk in MNP, Dharawi

The entire world of plants surrenders itself to the fluttering of the butterflies in the month of October & November. These “Daughters of the Sun” never seems to be tired of dashing from flowers to flowers for nectar or from plants to plants, to find the favorite food for their caterpillars……..Kadamb (Mitragyna parviflora) is not only the favorite of Lord Krishna for his raaslila with Radha but also the favorite food plant of the caterpillars of Commander butterflies…. It a fact that the Kaddi patta adds flavor to our food but the caterpillars of Common Mormon too wants their share of it and in most of our private gardens & balconies, there is this race to get the kaddi patta for the seasoning by us, before the caterpillars of Common Mormon chomp off all the leaves…….Red Silk Cotton (Bombay ceiba)’s flowers are the meeting joints for the birds but the leaves are relished by the caterpillars of Common Sailor………Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharawi has large number of food & nectar plants for these “Flying Spirits”………….we invite you all to visit MNP to check out the number of species visiting this park and their preference in nectar & food plants on 10^th November,13……

Tree Appreciation Walk  on 10^th Nov,13 at 7.30 am.

Venue:  Maharashtra Nature Park[Nearest railway station is Bandra[wr] and Sion[cr]

Opposite Dharavi Bus Depot [Following buses halt at MNP [dharavi bus depot] 11,255,348,355,356,375,448,455,505,476,75,76,165,166,180,181,371,408,473,376]

Time:  7.30 a.m.      Duration of walk:  2 hours

Meeting Point: Main gate, near the ticket office.

Very Important—- there will be other groups present for other activities so please inform at gate that you are for Tree Appreciation Walk….Don’t take gate Pass which we have taken in advance. Please give Rs.10/- to your group leader as we have paid in advance.

Please reach at MNP  before 7.30 am because cars are not allowed to park inside the park so you may take some time to park your car outside.

One more important thing……..there is a Farmer’s Market organized in the Park at Nakshatra Van on every Sunday from 10am to 3 pm……..people sell organic vegetable & other items…….its gets little crowed so we will start our Walk 1^st from the Nakshatra Van.

Please carry bags if anybody wants to buy vegetable etc as they do not provide bags……..its worth a visit to this market, of course after the Walk !

List of the plants will be send later.

Please go through the following websites for more information http://www.mmrdamumbai.org/projects_mnp.htm

See beautiful photographs of MNP BY Maneesh Goal at his website http://mybioscope.blogspot.com/2010/07/maharashtra-nature-park-mahim-nature.html