Officials from the mangrove cell, who are supervising the project, said it is feasible and will be done keeping all the essential eco-friendly tourism norms in mind and could attract a lot of tourists.
If all goes as per plan, a boat service will be started from Gateway of India to Airoli to watch flamingoes in the recently declared Thane Flamingo Sanctuary, with a possible break at Elephanta Caves. This is expected to give a major boost to tourism in Mumbai as well as raise awareness on the pink birds that annually visit Mumbai and Thane creek.
Officials from the mangrove cell, who are supervising the project, said it is feasible and will be done keeping all the essential eco-friendly tourism norms in mind and could attract a lot of tourists.
"Even as the sanctuary was planned, we knew that it could be approached from the Gateway of India. Keeping that in mind, a proper itinerary can be planned — tourists can take a boat from Gateway and go to Elephanta Caves, and after sightseeing, another boat could bring them to Vashi, from where they would be taken towards Airoli to view the flamingoes and other migratory birds in the creek or directly to the sanctuary," said N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forests of State Forest Departments Mangrove Cell.
According to him, travelling on the boat and seeing the dense mangroves and the migratory birds will have its own charm. This tour can also be used to inform tourists, especially children, about the conservation of marine eco-system and the need to protect the mangroves, he said.
Vasudevan added that he has discussed the project with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), which was keen to work on this together, as a lot will have to be done, including making different packages and getting all the necessary permissions as well as infrastructure in place.
As per calculations, it will take around 30 minutes to travel from Gateway of India to Elephanta Caves, from where it would take 25-odd minutes to reach Vashi, and then, tourists can see the sanctuary, visit the interpretation centre and return.
It was on August 6 that the state declared 1,690 hectares area on the western side of Thane Creek between Airoli and Vashi creek bridge as flamingo sanctuary. Currently, work is underway for construction of a state-of-the-art and visitor-engaging Airoli Marine Interpretation Centre. The project is being carried out with help from the Indo-German Project on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Marine Protected Areas.
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