Tulsi Lake trek

This is one post from at least 5 different treks to Tulsi lake. It is pretty close to home, so keep going whenever the chance permits. Started from Thane side. There is a way up from the Ayappa Mandir near Vaishali Nagar. The route is short but tiring. 

This is the only slightly challenging bit in the whole trek, a rock patch that can get slippery during the rainy season. This is a view of the rock patch from top to bottom. Up to this point, the rule of the thumb is always take the path on the right, which is just the shortest way up. You cannot go wrong no matter which path you follow, the left paths follow a less steep gradient, but is considerably longer.

This is the view from the rock patch of the Tulsi Lake. Looks pretty far away, but can be reached in half an hour. The real deep part of SGNP starts from here. You can see little bits of the city on the far side, this is Thane / Mulund and that side is Borivili / Goregaon. 

This is the view from the top, near Taramati temple. This is a pretty popular spot, and there is a crowd at this spot even on regular days. Everyone going up and down this route says "Hari Om" or "Bum Bum" to each other. 

This is Taramati itself. There are two temples, one a Shiva Temple, and one a multi faith religious shelter that has jain, sikh and christian iconography but is a devi Temple. Both Temples have regular devotees coming up daily to perform ablutions and pooja. I suspect one of the worshipers comes from the far side, from towards Borivili, because spotted him going back down while we were coming up from Tulsi. At times monkeys take water and prasad from this temple.  

The troops of monkeys traverse the place between late afternoon and evening. It is amazing to see wave after wave leaping through the branches, in a highway of sorts among the trees. 

From Taramati Temple, the route goes down towards Amba paani, which is a 24x7x365 spring. The water is potable, but not very clear.

The road to Tulsi goes down from Amba Paani.  

Possible to reach Tulsi lake about an hour and a half from starting easily. 

On the way back, there is a spot to the far left of Taramati that is very windy and a good place to chill.

Or become a human flamethrower.

Or Watch the city lights (be sure to take along a torch, and watch out for leopards)

Gallery of some insects