Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre – BNAC
A centre for environmental learning and self-growth, in the heart of the Mumbai urban jungle
Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre (BNAC) is part of Bharatya Vidya Bhavan, a 75-year old non-profit educational trust recognized by the Government of India as a Centre of National Eminence. As a proud member of the Bhavan’s family – comprising over 300 constituent institutions across India and abroad – BNAC aims to reach out to the masses through its activities and programmes aimed at building a beautiful India.
Working towards Social Change
Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre stands out as a patch of beautiful greenery along with a water body spread over three acres of land housing and nurturing many forms of flora and fauna. What stood as a dumping area for non-biodegradable waste is now a mini sanctuary to over 300 species of plants, trees, insects, birds, animals. Knowledge and practical training on protecting and conserving our planet and all forms of life is freely imparted to light up the minds of the younger generation. We work at building a responsible and compassionate mindset for the youth so that they can work and contribute diligently to conserve and beautify this planet in order to combat global warming.
The adventure activities aim at building strength in children and youth by teaching them to harness their energy in a mindful way. Here endurance over aggression forms the base of a strong body and mind. Anyone who visits Mumbai, the financial capital of India with its overwhelming pollution, traffic and crowd of people, gets a pleasant surprise when they enter BNAC which is located ten minutes away from Andheri station.The key person Mr Lalit Shah of Bhavans Cultural Centre was instrumental force in realising this project on ground under the guidance of Dr. M. L. Shrikant, the then Chairman of Bhavan’s campus, Andheri . Here their lungs are treated with fresh air, their eyes with enthralling greenery, their hands with providing compassionate care for birds and animals.
BNAC as an Official Partner of the UN Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020
Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre has been an official partner of the UN Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020 since its onset in 2011. It is one of 18 partners in India, and one in only two located in Mumbai. BNAC as an NGO has been active in the field of nature and environment awareness-raising, protection and promotion of the biodiversity, and education for environmental sustainability, mostly among the youth. As such, it shares and supports the UN DB’s vision, and hope, that “by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”.
People irrespective of their age, caste, creed, religion or status in society were taught to coexist peacefully with nature without depleting or destroying its natural resources. Further, the idea of nurturing all forms of life and carefully using natural resources without completely exhausting them was constantly emphasized on. Groups of volunteers were outsourced to national tribes to teach them to make utensils and other objects which they could use for their house or sell in the market thereby considerably eliminating the use of plastic and ensuring their livelihood. Dried leaves, fallen sticks, dry flowers and rotting fruits were used constructively thereby avoiding wastage.
Bringing everybody on board for change!
Over the years, the centre has reached out to many different target groups, with the aim to bring every category of the society on board of sustainable change. BNAC target groups have included:
Students: Children from the age bracket of 3 to 25 visit us when their schools, colleges or educational groups organize a one or two day visit and stay with us. They participate in various adventure sports, arts and crafts using natural resources, animal rescue and care, tree plantation, compost and vermi-culture.
Families: The center is open to families on every Sunday, where they enjoy nature at its best and participate enthusiastically in activities which suit them. The grandparents enjoy sipping on tea and take a quiet walk on the nature trail, the parents choose to accompany their children in most of the activities while the children gleefully opt for rock climbing, flying fox, tyre walk, commando net, Burma Bridge and many more adventures. Animals interaction continues to be a common favorite.
Mahila Mandal: Organizations for and by women for equal rights and empowerment also visit us. They enjoy our simple hygienic stay, facilities, breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks and display keen interest in learning about interdependence of species, herbs and Ayurveda, first aid, food chain, evolution and arts. Animal and bird interaction also is usually a fascinating topic.
Social groups: Like minded organizations and religious groups that have been formed for social causes and service visit and stay with us for a day: learning and observing what was taught so that they can implement it in providing unconditional service to humanity and all forms of life.
Senior citizens: All the elderly who loved nature and do not wish to travel far for adventure, trekking and bird watching but enjoy being in greenery visit us. They share their wisdom, observe happily, enjoy their stay learning new things about biodiversity and conservation, and promise to pass on a legacy of knowledge to the younger generation.
Underprivileged sections: Children or students who come from lower income groups, or those who are living below the poverty line, are welcome to learn on field trips without charge, and work with us. Here we support them in developing a set of skills, as well as basic food, so that they can be employed by us or similar organizations. The skills set empowers them with dignity of labor, and they in turn help us maintain and develop various life forms. They return home with knowledge and employment, which not only benefits their families but the society and the environment too.
Corporate management: People working in the corporate sector visit us, participate in strength and endurance-building activities, observe the biodiversity in our center and decide to implement it back at their office by keeping small potted plants. Some have also been influenced to organize corporate tree plantation drives.
Partner Organizations
BNAC is an active member of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s entity, and a well-integrated member of the environmental NGO landscape of Mumbai. Here are some of the institutions and organizations BNAC has been closely cooperating with.
Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan
Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan is a 75 year old non-profit educational trust, recognized by the government of India as a Centre of National Eminence. It was founded by Shri Kanaiyalal Munshi with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi. It would be instructive to remember that Kulapati Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi founded the Bhavan, a full decade before the advent of Independence. 7th of November 1938 was the beginning of an “Adventure in Faith”. A Faith in India’s Past, Present and Future. The founding of Bhavan was based on the preservation and propagation of Bhartiya Sanskriti (Indian culture) and Sanskrit – the mother of languages, the “akshaya patra – the inexhaustible reservoir.”
S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research
As one of the Asia’s finest business schools, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has persistently built on its unique strength of imparting high quality management education through pedagogic innovations, encouraging business-academia interface and emphasizing on its twin objective of Influencing Practice and Promoting Value based growth. SPJIMR has acquired the reputation of meeting societal needs of under-managed sectors by offering unique, purposeful and relevant programs. SPJIMR displays a differentiated approach across the entire academic flow of activities in higher management education.
Bhavan’s Cultural Centre Andheri
Over the past ten years, Bhavan’s Cultural Centre – Andheri has entertained, informed and enthralled its elite members by offering quality programs of music, dance, drama and other allied arts and cultural events. Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, the parent body, established by Dr. Kulapati Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi. 7 decades ago has been a highly respected international center of education, literature and culture. Promotion of fine arts, classical music, dance, drama and theatre, as also spiritual and environmental awareness – has been an important item on Bhavan’s agenda. It was Dr. Kulapati K. M. Munshi’s belief that – “A man does not live with culture but he lives for culture.”
Wild Holidays
An Eco-Tourism activity company based in India,the low profile Wild Holidays promotes a nature-friendly lifestyle with a focus on simplicity, and it propagates joyous co-existence of all living beings.
Wild Holidays’ Director Himanshu Prem Joshi has been active in the field of Camping, Trekking, Adventure and Environment Education since 1982. Remote regions, mountains, forests, tribal areas, deserts and sanctuaries of Ladakh, Arunachal, Himachal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Lakshadweep, Andamans, Rajasthan, Kashmir, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, etc are on the itineraries of the excursions organised by Wild Holidays.
Emphasis is on being close to Nature, survive with bare necessities, explore wilderness, discover own strength & potential, gain insight into our “being” and the limitless power of self.