Hyderabad zoo set to enhance Safari experience for visitors

The Nehru Zoological Park will roll out 10–12 new electric buses and add more free-roaming animals. Plans for a night Safari, bio-luminescent park, and tunnel aquarium are also underway to boost visitor engagement

Hyderabad: Visitors to the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) can soon look forward to an enhanced adventurous experience at the popular Safari with new buses set to be rolled out besides increasing the number of free-roaming animals.

Telangana Zoo Parks Director Dr Sunil S Hiremath told ‘Telangana Today’ that 10 to 12 electric buses will be added soon to enhance visitors’ experience in the Safari complex. “The new buses will have larger windows for viewing the animals. At present, there are five buses,” he said.

Plans are afoot to release more animals into the Safari area which is currently categorised into four zones – Lions, Tigers, Bears and Bisons. It has a collection of eight lions, five tigers, eight bison, and four bears. However, at a given time, only a pair of animals is released into the Safari. In addition, a large number of deer and peacocks, which are free range, can be spotted in the safari journey. According to a senior official, more animals from their closed enclosure will be released into the Safari.

Hyderabad zoo has also drawn up plans for setting up a night Safari and a team of officials from the zoo and Forest Department will visit the Singapore Zoo to seek their guidance on night Safari. Other plans under consideration include a bio-luminescent park, and tunnel aquarium, which is proposed near Mir Alam Tank abutting the zoo park.

“The visit around mid-October is aimed at upgrading the zoo infrastructure besides introducing new facilities,” Dr Hiremath said. Last year, the zoo had a total footfall of 22,93,192 and the visitor numbers till August this year have reached 9,76,253.

World Wildlife Week

The Nehru Zoological Park commenced the 71st World Wildlife Week celebrations with a series of programmes aimed at creating awareness among visitors and competitions for children here on Thursday.

Drawing and painting competitions were organised and about 500 children showed keen interest in drawing and painting wild animals in their natural habitat.

Snake awareness show was conducted at the reptile house amphitheatre on the second day of the celebrations on Friday. The Education officer gave a live demonstration on venomous and non-venomous snakes, explaining their habit and their role in maintaining ecological balance, to over 3,000 visitors. The NZP has also scheduled a series of events until October 8.