Thursday 16 August 2012

The Dolphin Fish Aquarium



There are so many places to see in Mumbai and, in these past two years, I have never managed to find the time to cancel off some of the items on my bucket-list. This week, I decided to awaken the touristic spirit that was sleeping inside me and set off to explore those parts of the city where I had never been.



I had come across a list of #41 things to do with your child in Bombay (malls not included) and the third item on this list had caught my attention - The Dolphin Irla Aquarium. The name really fascinated me - I really thought this was a place in Mumbai where there were dolphins and I wondered why no one had bothered taking me there! I was even more surprised to learn that no one knew where this place was! Despite a number of Google searches, I could not get much information about this place except an address. Finally, Sanika and I decided to just set off on our own and uncover what this place is really about!

 Reaching the place was an adventure in itself! For starters, even though we were in the vicinity, not a soul knew where the Aquarium was - even the auto-walas had no idea where this place was! My gMaps application was also not helping much! We tried calling on the number listed on the site which had the address, and we were fortunate enough to get the correct directions to the place; although, in hind sight, we were luckier to, finally, get an auto-driver who knew where the aquarium really was!


 It lies tucked in a corner, away from the madding crowd. There were no dolphins there - thankfully, I had unravelled this bit of information a day before setting off for the aquarium; hence, I was not too disappointed!     The Dolphin Fish Aquarium has a boating pond and an aquarium in the middle of the pond. In addition, there are lots of ducks, some rabbits, white mice, turtles, love-birds and even emus! We even found some glorious cats and a friendly dog named Twincy!
The collection of fish is not magnificent - you'd probably find more variety at the Taraporewala Aquarium - but it is a place that children will definitely love. They can ride the toy-train, go boating, and the animals and birds will not fail to amaze them!

I really had a marvellous time and, if I get the chance, I would love to go there a second time. It's a pity such serene places are not known to the public - most people spend their weekends in malls or movie-theaters!

So, all those people who live in Mumbai, do visit this place. It is at Tanaji Malusare Road, Irla Chowk in Vile Parle (West).

Are there any places in your area that you love visiting? It need not be a popular tourist-site but I am sure we are all surrounded by places that are spectacular even if they aren't very well-known. Let me know - I would love to pay a visit!

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for the nice intro to this aquarium. If you are visiting California, please visit Monterey Bay Aquarium. Will be glad to be your guide.

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  2. I love this post!!!
    Its the best one till now...........I love animals but i did not have any pet other than a rabbit and an aquarium. I would love to visit that Aquarium when I next visit Bombay.
    The pics are awesome especially the turtle!! who clicked it?
    Taraporewala Aquarium is not so good but its ok and its strange that even GOOGLE did not had much info about the aquarium.
    Keep Posting!!!!

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    1. I clicked the pictures :) :) Glad you liked them :)
      I love animals but not a big fan of keeping them as pets - dogs are of course an exception :P

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  3. Agree about the mall culture Divya .. Visiting zoos, aquariums and museums have become a thing of the past ..
    We took my nephew to a rail museum in chennai sometime back and he simply loved it!! We all enjoyed too ..
    And the pictures you have posted are very beautiful .. So you are a good photographer too huh? Keep it up!!

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    1. I don't even understand what people like in malls - it's ok if you want to buy something or eat but the culture of window-shopping irritates me...I see so many babies in prams being driven by their parents and I wonder why in the world would parents even bother bringing kids there...

      As a kid I remember being fascinated by visiting zoos and museums - I think I still like doing those things :) :)

      And I am glad you liked the pictures :) I still think of myself as a rather amateur photographer :)

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  4. Hey, I am quite familiar with Mumbai, but even I had never heard of this aquarium. That was a super introduction. You write very well. Keep it up.

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    1. Thank You :) :) Hope you enjoy your visit there :)

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  5. Such a cute post Divya...reminded me of childhood when I used to wait for weeks together for such a s visit on Sunday with my father and brother...made me nostalgic!

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    1. Ha!Ha! Glad this post made you re-live those good old days :P :P I remember waiting for Sundays to come - my father would take me and my brother out on trips to amusement parks, zoos...shopping malls did not exist back then :P

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  6. My first visit on your blog. I liked this post. In the rush hours of city life, we naturally flock to malls because everyplace else seems either too far off from where one's staying, or one's too exhausted to venture outdoors after a super busy week. Reasons can be many but yes, like you have mentioned, there are places we could find near by that are worth visiting with our loved ones.

    I got thinking about the question you asked at the end of this post...I am thinking of writing a post as an answer to it..let's see, meanwhile, do keep writing. Mumbai is one of my favorite cities and I do try to visit it at least once a year.

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    1. I am so glad you liked this space :) :) Waiting to read your post :) :) Do keep visiting :)

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  7. I think such kind of actiivties helping us to do some thing for the other creatures. and these creatures must bring beautiful colors in our life.
    Fishing in Dubai

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    1. I think interacting with other creatures increases our sensitivity levels and we learn immensely from observing them!

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  8. Nice post about planet fish aquarium. We are also sellers and Dealers of planet fish aquarium in Chennai,India.

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  9. Hi..Thanks for sharing info about The Dolphin Fish aquarium. However, if anyone is planning to visit Mumbai anytime soon, then do explore Taraporewala Aquarium as it has impressive variety of marine and freshwater species.

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    1. The Taraporewala Aquarium is quite famous - this was something I accidentally discovered :-)

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