Nagpur, Jan 23
The Indian Safari at Gorewada International Zoo, which has been recently renamed as Balasaheb Thackeray International Zoological Park will start from January 26.
The park is a prestigious project which will give boost to the tourism in Nagpur and the Indian Safari will be dedicated to public.
Spread over 1,941 hectares, the huge project is stretches from Katol Naka to Fetri. An international zoo will be built in an area of 564 hectares. As 25 per cent of the work is completed, the Indian Safari is starting. The remaining 75 per cent work will be completed soon.
The state government had allotted land for the project in the year 2006. A forest of 1,941 hectares adjacent to the Gorewada lake was selected for this. The construction of the zoological museum was started in December-2017 after the approval of the Forest Conversation Act. On March 10, 2019, the Central Zoological Museum got approval from the authority for the development. The state government sent a proposal to approve the Indian Safari to the Ministry of Forest and Environment on August 12, 2019. After this, the Indian Meteorological Department gave approval to zoological museum on August 30, 2019.
The Indian Safari will be spared across 145 hectares. For this, the forest department has released 33 animals of five species in Gorewada. It includes a tiger-tigress pair, seven leopards (two males and five females), six bears (three each males-female), 14 blue bulls and four chital. The animals were released after the permission of Wildlife Authority. There is a separate exposure for all these animals.
An area of 25 hectares has been demarcated for tigers, leopards and bears and 40 hectares for herbivores. In total, exposures of 115 hectares have been created for the animals.
Gorewada project highlight
Under this project, Indian Safari will be on an area of 145 hectares. There will be separate exposures for animals. Night Safari in 45 hectare area, African Safari 90 hectare, Bio Park in 30 hectare, Bird Park in 7 hectare, reservoir in 20 hectare, 16.5 hectare area has been earmarked for entrance. Apart from this, animal treatment center and rest room facilities for tourists.
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