Lions Park / Garden is a historical landmark located in Santacruz west, Mumbai. People of all ages , almost three generations ,would have fond memories of this park. Before the 1990′s this was probably one of the very few parks in Mumbai city. It is well known as the aeroplane garden as it has a concrete replica of an actual plane.

Starting in February 1960, Air-India (back then it was called Air-India International) had acquired six Boeing 707-437s, named after Himalayan peaks. These had Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan engines (they called them by-pass turbojets back then) with the distinctive scalloped silencers. Later Air-India added five Boeing 707-337s with the more conventional Pratt & Whitney JT-3D turbofans. Sometime in the 1960s, Air-India donated a concrete replica of their Boeing 707-437 registration: VT-DMN named: Kanchenjunga (coincidentally the original VT-DMN crashed on 24th Jan 1966 at 08:10 in the morning on the rocks of the Tournette, near the summit of Mont Blanc in the French Alps killing Dr. Homi Bhabha, 105 other passengers and 11 crew). The original Rolls-Royce Conway engine weighed 2000 kg. On March 22, 2009, Abhishek Jamjade: an 8-year old child was playing on the toy concrete Boeing 707-437. He swung from the intake of the #1 engine when the entire concrete engine collapsed on him crushing him to death.

The park has a jogging track with many other play structures for children like slides and swings.

The park has a very nominal entry fee and is closed in the afternoons.

How to reach Lions garden?
At the signal of the Linking road juhu tara road crossing, opp the santacruz west police station, next to Balkanji Bari. It is 10 minutes walking distance from the santacruz station on the western line.

Image source: Flickr