Plan for herbivore safari put on hold

Initially it was proposed as a part of the ₹ 36-cr. World Bank funded project at zoo

Giraffes feasting on the leaves at their enclosure at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam, which is located amidst natural forests.

The plan of a herbivore safari in Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) has been put on hold.

The safari was being envisaged within the zoo park wherein the visitors could get to view animals like deer up close from secured vehicles.

According to officials of IGZP, the future plan of action on the safari will be decided after a high-level meeting headed by the AP Minister of Forest along with Forest Department officials, AP tourism department and IGZP officials planned to be held later this month.

“The plan for the herbivore safari has been slowed down. The initial idea was to include the herbivore safari plan in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the developments to be carried out in the zoo under the World Bank funded AP Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP),” zoo curator B. Vijaya Kumar told

The Hindu .

Under APDRP, ₹ 36 crore was allotted to IGZP for carrying out redevelopment works. Chhattisgarh-based M/s Learn Nature Consultants has been finalised to prepare the DPR following which the project will be kick-started.

As of now, the developmental plans to be carried out at the zoo park include improvement of day and night kraals such as construction of new night enclosures for primates, internal design and furniture modification of moats, improvement and enhancement of visitors’ amenities and finally one of the critical areas to be addressed is interpretation of the zoo.

Spread over 625 acres, IGZP saw a record number of visitors for 2016-17. From 5.43 lakh visitors in 2014-15, the zoo park saw 8.55 lakh visitors, the highest number of visitors ever recorded, in 2016-17.

Last year, the zoo welcomed three chimpanzees as gift from Israel, which were one of the highlights of IGZP.

This apart, an emu bird from a pharma company, five geese, 10 pairs of love birds, six pairs of parakeets were received from local volunteers; nine peacocks and 115 tortoises were sent from Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals, Kakinada; a spotted baby deer and a barking deer from the forest department, a rescued sloth bear aged 12 years was moved to the zoo.

Amenities

During the last fiscal, Vizag zoo added several visitor amenities like WiFi connectivity, souvenir shops, bio-toilets, knowledge centre and new visitor shelters. In its bid to ‘go green’, more number of e-rickshaws were added.

This year, the zoo is gearing up to welcome new species like chapman zebra, olive baboon, pygmy hippos, greater flamingos, lion-macaque among other additions, the curator added.