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.
