Aarey Milk Colony is a 3,000-acre area of forest and grassland on the northern edge of Mumbai, bordering Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The area contains hundreds of tribal (Adivasi) villages, open grasslands, a large dairy, and extensive forest that shelters leopards, deer, birds, and the occasional sambar deer. Aarey's preservation has been the subject of intense civic controversy — battles over proposed metro construction through the forest made it a symbol of Mumbai's environmental struggles.
Morning walks and cycling through Aarey's forest roads are popular with Mumbai residents seeking a forest experience without going to the national park. The tribal villages within the forest are largely self-contained, and some community tourism initiatives allow visitors to interact with Adivasi communities. The Filmcity studio complex borders Aarey to the south.