A host of walking tours across the city have cropped up, allowing you to know every inch of the city
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Know indigenous Mumbai
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Co-founders Aslam Saiyad and Gopal MS believe in walking slowly, slowly. Their two-man company, Go Hallu Hallu, takes you on walks across Mumbai revealing stories of indigenous peoples. Each walk will leave you craving to know more about the city. Their signature Dahisar River Walk, for instance, takes you along the Dahisar River, it’s led by Dinesh a member of the indigenous Warli tribe, and ends with a meal at his home along with a Warli painting workshop. Other walks include exploring Chimbai with an East Indian Catholic, and Ambu Island & Versova Koliwada with a Koli fisherman.
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To register: WhatsApp + 91 9867403957
Explore the shore
Bombil, surmai, pomfret, rawas: you know of Mumbai’s local fish. But what other marine life lives on our shore? Marine Life of Mumbai is the Coastal Conservation Foundation’s flagship project that conducts walks along the city’s shoreline. You will discover Mumbai’s marine biodiversity and encounter species we share the shore with. They also conduct walks through mangroves and dockyards.
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To register: Follow @marinelifeofmumbai on Instagram
Take a whiff of Mumbai
Naturalist Abhishek Khan will help you explore Mumbai through your nose. His venture, Mumbai Vann conducts botanical explorations which help you explore a garden through fragrances and the Telepathy of Trees, a narrative about experiments that lead us to discover how trees communicate with each other. Khan first led walks in Bengaluru, and a few months ago launched walks in Mumbai. At present, the walks are conducted in Rani Baug, Byculla’s botanical garden which Khan describes as a tree museum.
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To register: DM @mumbai.vann on Instagram
Learn how Mumbai drank
Drinking stories are fun, but Gurgl Walks does them a little differently. Hosted by alco-bev journalist, Priyanko Sarkar the walks tell you stories of how the city drank during the prohibition era. His other walks will tell you about dairy farms.
To register: Head to www.urbanaut.app
Discover a primitive forest
Wildnest Mumbai is yet another initiative that hosts nature walks. But one particular walk will take you into the depths of Mumbai to a forest that conserves the city’s indigenous flora. In the dense greens of the Film City area in Goregaon, lies the Bombay Natural History Society’s Conservation Education Centre. This piece of land was given to BNHS as a token of gratitude by the Government of Maharashtra. The 33 sq km area is now a protected forest that has the aura of the primitive jungles that once covered our city. Other species including leopards, deer, reptiles, and amphibians are found here too.
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To register: Head to www.urbanaut.app