Wednesday, May 5, 2010

1-May-2010: Vandaloor Zoo, Chennai

Vandaloor Zoo is one of the largest zoo in India. It is situated in a village called Vandaloor on the outskirts of Chennai. The new name of this park is Kalaignar Anna Zoological Park. The zoo is so big that you must spare at least one day to enjoy all the animals in the zoo.

From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Entrance to Vandaloor Zoo



It was the first zoo to be established in India in 1855. It is now spread over 1260 acres. It remains open on all days except Tuesdays from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Chennai also has another attraction for nature lovers - the one and only one Madras Crocodile Bank. It was established by Romulus Whitekar. It breeds all kinds of reptiles. The reptiles are loaned to other zoos around the world. Lot of researchers are attached to study behavior of the reptiles. Due to the available time, we could see only Vandaloor Zoo. Initially I was bit sad that we will miss the Madras Crocodile Bank. But in the end, I was happy with the Zoo.

Chennai has other attractions very nearby - Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram to name a few.

Getting there
The place is well connected by both road and rail.The zoo lies on 6-lane Chennai-Tiruchi Highway (National Highway 45), also known as the Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road. Public buses A18 (Vandalur Zoo to Broadway), B18 (Vandalur Zoo to Korukkupettai), PP66 (Vandalur Zoo to Poonamalle), PP70 ((Vandalur Zoo to Avadi), 114 (Vandalur Zoo to Red Hills) apart from this other buses which goes to Guduvanchery, Chengalpet, Maraimalai Nagar, Mahendira City, Thiruporrur, Mamallapuram also stops at Vandalur Zoo. Chennai suburban railway network has a convenient stop named "Vandalur" which is at a distance of 1 KM from the zoo. Taxi is a preferred mode of transport for those not comfortable with public transport.

Since the zoo is very large, there are bicycles provided in the zoo at nominal charge. This is a wonderful concept, which can be implemented across all the places.

The zoo has lion safari. However the tickets are closed early. Unfortunately, we missed this part. Be early in the zoo to enjoy the safari.

There is good amount of information provided in the zoo about the directions and about the animals. However it is not maintained properly.

In some of the zoos in India as in Vandaloor Zoo, animals are kept in open area surrounded by a ditch. The animal gets little freedom. The enclosure can be tailor made to suite the animal. This is a good way to balance the animal and human interactions.


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Nilgiri Langoor



From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Lion Tailed Macaque




From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Barking Deer



From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Spooted Deer


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Bison


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Tiger


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Indian Wild Ass


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Leopard (Pregnant Female)


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Flamingo


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Painted Stork


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Baby Elephant


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Hippopotamus


From Trips - Vandaloor Zoo May 10 Ostrich




The arrangement of animals is not logical. The enclosures of animals and birds are intermixed. A section of the zoo could have been kept aside for similar animals or birds. Birds can be kept in some enclosure which can be accessed by the human without disturbing the birds. The snakes portion is not well maintained.

In Singapore Zoo, there are clear instructions not to use flash of your camera. This is to avoid damaging the eyes of the animals.

A lot of improvements can be made on the lines of Singapore Zoo and Bannerghatta National Park, where some of the animals are kept in open.

Due to lack of time, we had to skip some portion of the zoo. Butterfly, and aquarium section had to be skipped.

Overall, this zoo is worth seeing once provided you can spare the entire day for the zoo.

26-Apr-2010: Bannerghatta National Park Bangalore

Bannerghatta National Park is situated at nearly 20 kilometers from Bangalore. It is one of the major biodiversity region. It covers an area of nearly 100 square kilometers. It is connected to the Satyamangalam forests in the Nilgiris.

How to reach
There is a very good connectivity to the National Park from Bangalore. Any city bus bearing 365 should go to the National Park. Most of the routes to the National Park should converge at Bannerghatta Circle (Jayadeva Hospital).

8:30 AM Started from house
We started early from house so that we could avoid some rush. However we did not reach early enough to beat the traffic. We took an auto to Jayadeva Hospital in Jayanagar 9th Block.

10:30 AM Reached Bannerghatta National Park
After alighting from the bus, we got the tickets for safari. We had to wait some time in the queue. When our turn came, we were in a caged vehicle with some openings to view the animals.

11:00 AM Safari
The safari took us through different enclosures. In each enclosure, different kind of animals were kept. The vehicle travels very near to the animals. These animals are fed their natural diet.

The first enclosure consisted of all vegetarian animals like Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer, Bison.



The second enclosure consisted of bears. There is only one species of the bears.



The third enclosure consisted of tigers including white tiger.



In an hours time, the safari ended. We were dropped at the Butterfly Park.

This butterfly park is the first Butterfly Park in the country. It was established in 2006. It consists of an enclosure with controlled humidity. Several trees conducive to breeding the different species of butterflies are planted in the enclosure. There are 20 different species of the butterflies.

There is a museum which gives a wealth of information about butterflies. This is where, I learnt to recognize some prominent species of the butterflies.





2:00 PM Lunch
We had our lunch at one of the stalls in the Park. It is advisable to carry your own food.

3:00 – 5:00 PM Different birds and animals
There are different cages and enclosures all over the garden. Various animals and birds are kept inside these cages.

We saw many different birds, deers, zebras, hippopotamus, monkeys, snakes, and cheetah.



From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Red Crested Pochard



From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Marsh Crocodile


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Ghadial


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Ghadial


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Jackal


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Leopard


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Elephant


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Zebra



From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Emu


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Iguana


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Red Eared Turtle


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Indian Porcupine


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Rusell's Viper


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Rat Snake


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 Star Tortoise


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 White Goose


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 White Goose


From Trips - Bannerghatta National Park Apr 10 White Peacock



5:00 PM Started back home
After we were satisfied, we started back home. The buses were crowded. Somehow we managed to get into one of the bus.