Journalism & Media Convergence students visited Botanical Garden and Zoo at Byculla
23-September-2025
By Muskaan Rathore & Alister Augustine
On 23 September 2025, students of Journalism and Media Convergence from St. Xavier Institute of Communication (XIC) visited the Mumbai Botanical Garden and Zoo at Byculla, one of the city’s most remarkable heritage spaces. The visit was organised by Richa Pinto, visiting faculty for the Journalism students at XIC and Assistant Editor at The Times of India, Mumbai. Spread across 60 acres, this garden is not just a green patch in the middle of Mumbai, but a living archive of history, culture, and biodiversity.
Popularly known as Rani Bagh, inaugurated in June 1861 at the cost of Rs 433 crore, the garden has evolved into a rare blend of a heritage botanical garden and a zoo, with more than 4,131 trees and 256 species, including the iconic ‘Baobab’ tree, also called the “upside-down tree.” Every tree here has a GPS coordinate, and the gardens showcase unique species like the Ghost Tree, Guest Tree, and even cacao and rubber trees.
We also learned about its amazing Renaissance-style architecture, from the triple arches to the Palladian pathways, giving the place symmetry and grandeur. The garden is home to sculptures, fountains, and monuments donated by philanthropists such as Rustomjee Jeejeebhoy. With around 8,000 visitors every day and nearly 40,000 on holidays, Byculla’s garden remains one of Mumbai’s most visited public spaces.
Our visit was guided by Hutokshi Rustomfram, a member of the Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation, and Sweedl Shidkar, a trained botanist and part of the Foundation. The Foundation, a public charitable trust set up in 2007, has been instrumental in saving this heritage site. It opposed a massive redevelopment plan that threatened the trees and historic layout, and after years of advocacy, ensured that the garden’s botanical wealth was protected. Their efforts were rewarded in December 2022, when the word “botanical” was officially included in the site’s name.