Dear Local Guides Community,
Sharing an insightful recap of the recent meet-up held in Asola Wildlife Sanctuary. Although @Ssiddharth2000 and me reached at 5 am and enjoyed the cool breeze and sunrise at the entrance of the wildlife sanctuary We waited for @Hemendu @Manishhh @Nomad_Enkay and made some new friends, played with dogs. Finally, we gathered at the venue early morning at 5:30 am. The Wildlife Sanctuary has three components:
1. Neeli Jheel - A 2 km long and 100 feet deep man-made lake which formed out of the deep pit left behind after mining. Earlier, this region used to be mined for Red Bharatpur sandstone. Now it has been converted into this man-made lake. It is also known to harbor many tortoises which live in and around the lake, though we couldn’t view them during our visit.
2. Butterfly Park : There is a beautiful butterfly park here which has all the trees, plants and flowers which are conducive for the growth of caterpillars and butterflies.
3. Natural Jungle walk : This is a nature trail where we can walk or cycle amidst the beauty of plants and shrubs.
The only way to visit the Neeli Jheel is to take an early morning Golf cart ride 16 kms into the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary. We booked our tickets Rs 10 per person and with no advance booking as it was first come first serve basis and limited to 25 people(5 golf carts) and got the cart ride which took about 90 minutes to reach the lake. We observed many different kind of birds, peacocks and peahens, variety of monkeys, spotted deers, neelgai. There was a whole section of this sanctuary dedicated to black leopards and snakes upto 8 ft long and weighing 80 kgs. We also stopped at a high view point to capture the beautiful sunrise and lake view which was incredibly gorgeous. After discussing the greenery, ways to conserve our environment and helping local businesses achieve sustainable business goals, we took some group pictures and made our way back.
Once back, we had a much needed break to beat the heat and enjoy Mountain Dew beverage as it was very hot even at 9:30 in the morning.
We then visited the butterfly park.
We concluded our meet-up by appreciating nature and offered our gratitude to the government Forest department for keeping this place away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
I hope you all will visit such a serene and peaceful landscape some day.
