Saturday 6 June 2015

Mysuru : Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens/Mysore Zoo

Mysuru : Brindavan Gardens

Mysuru was preparing for its annual festival Dasara. In the morning city looked fresh and clean. Wearing a new look Mysuru was shining like a new bride. It was all prepared to welcome visitors from all over the world.
Our next destination was Mysuru Zoo also called Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens.It is one of the oldest and most popular zoos in India. This zoo was originally created in 1892 by Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar. It already completed 123 yrs. The zoo was opened to the public in 1902. Now it is spread over 157 acres of land and has more than 150 species.We entered the zoo around 10.30 AM by paying entry fees and camera fees.
Mysuru zoo is well maintained and clean. There are many exotic animals and birds. Many animals are brought from countries like Africa, America, Australia etc and also from here animals are sent to other countries under Animal Exchange Program.
In the zoo we can see animals like African and Asian elephants, white tigers, Bengal Tigers, Rhinos, Hippos, Reptiles, Anaconda and other snakes, white deer, Giraffes, Exotic birds like Macau, Emu and others.




Whenever I visit any zoo I feel sorry for the animals. The way they are kept in cage without proper food makes every one feel sad. But here in Mysuru zoo animals are well taken care of. They are given good food.We feel that animals are in their natural habitat. African elephants and Asian elephants are kept separately.




One more specialty of the zoo is its Adoption scheme. One can adopt animals and has to give expenses of adopted animal till its death. Many celebrities, politicians, Industrialists, Cricketers, and even some corporates have adopted animals. Name plates, displaying names of those persons who have adopted animals have been kept infront of respective animals area. There are also information boards infront of animals area from which we can have all information related to that animal.





Here I must mention about one Gorilla that attracted the attention of  the crowd. From the information board we understood that his name is Polo and he was India's only Gorilla and listed as one of the critically endangered species in the world.  He was very aged. Sitting on a tall tree he was waiving hands to tourists. People were clicking his photos and he was happily posing to the camera. There was a wooden swing and playing with it was his favorite time pass. Everyone was cheering for him. We enjoyed his actions for a while.
Polo Gorilla

Last year I heard the sad news of Gorilla Polo's demise. He was suffering from old age related ailments. He was an apple of zoo workers eye and was tourists favorite too. I also heard that during his last days he stopped taking food and entertaining people. Rest In Peace Polo. You will be in our memories forever.

There are some other facilities in the zoo. For elderly people, for physically disabled and for those who dont want to sweat there are battery operated small cars which take a round of the zoo. But if you really want to enjoy the wild life then better to see the entire zoo by walk (on foot) which covers almost 4 km distance.
Inside the zoo there is a museum where things related to the wildlife are kept and a library which has many books related to the wildlife. Zoo also has a food centre where we had our lunch.
Mysuru Zoo is an excellent zoo I have seen so far. It is engaged in research on wildlife, conserving wildlife, breeding of animals and educating people about wildlife. Kids really enjoy a visit to the zoo because they can get entertainment as well as knowledge about wildlife.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures and a very interesting post on Mysore zoo. Its a well maintained zoo and visitors should know about Mysore Zoo entry fee, timings etc before visiting to enjoy the trip to the fullest.Thanks for sharing the post