Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary

Mayureswar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Tehsil Baramati in Pune district inMaharashtra, India. It is 72 Km from Pune and 35 Km from Daund.
The sanctuary contains deciduous forest with interspersed grasslands. Main species of plants present at the sanctuary include Acacia catechu (Khair), Acacia sp (Hivar),Dalbergia latifolia (Sisoo), Ziziphus mauritiana (Bor), Carissa opasa, Alysicarpus bupleurifolius, Cyathocline purpurea, Eriocauion diane, Merremia marginata,Cucumis melo, Cyperus kyllingia, Striaga densiflora and Mereilea minuta. The main animal species found in the refuge are Gazelia (Chinkara), Hyena, Canis lupus (Indian Gray Wolf) and Vulpes bengalesis (Indian Fox).

One fine Sunday morning !my friend Balkrishna Jamdar(Who is an arden, avid & very enthusiastic in pursuit of an interest in wild life )called me  suddenly very early  morning at about 4.30AM  morning and asked me  whether I would like to join him  for Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary visit  and the answer from me  was an instant “yes” with out even second thought from me. So I got up at 3.45 AM and took a auto ride from Hinjewadi and reached Hadapsar at 4:45 AM.Balkrishna was waiting impatiently with his Wagon R  car and we  took Pune-Solapur Highway.

To reach Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary:
Start from Swargate and take Solapur highway.

1. Cross Hadapsar, Manjri etc. Pay Toll at “Loni Kalbhor” Toll plaza and obtain  return receipt of  Rs. 22.50/- 
2. Cross village “Yavat” and travel straight till you reach village called “Chowphule”.
3. From this junction, take right turn to go to village “Supe”. Drive approx 5-6 Kms. After crossing a small ghat you will reach “Supe”
4. From “Supe”. Take right hand road and drive more 2 Kms, and  on right side there is an arch with "Mayureshwar  sanctuary.)written on the board.
5. You can park your vehicle at check post as vehicles are not allowed inside.
6. Total distance is approx 70 Km.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   As we explored the sanctuary, we saw varieties of birds like Eurasian Collared Dove, White-throated Kingfisher, Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark, Shrike, Laughing Dove, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Indian Silverbills, Eagle, Babblers, etc. We waited at few places to capture them. The landscapes too were beautiful.
   Finally Indian Gazelle a.k.a. Chinkara gave us its first glimpse. I took out my binos and watched them. Then we found few more herds of Chinkaras. They were very shy and fast-runners, and we could not click much satisfactory snaps. After walk of 3-4 Kms we reached ‘Machaan’. We climbed up and the view from top was awesome. We did spot few more herds from top and enjoyed watching them. We rested there for half an hour and munched apples. We decided to take different route while returning.
   And our wise decision paid-off, a Chinkara itself came on the hilltop to check us out. It was really wonderful experience. We clicked few snaps. Later on, we found many Chinkara herds on the way back.
   I was really happy to see Indian Gazelle in wild. Their glimpses themselves are rare and we could see them in numbers. .
   We started back after 4 pm  after havind had a nice sumptous lunch Bakri and very tasty fish curry and thak.