Visakhapatnam: Now, visitors can experience wild adventure in the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park as the zoo authorities are gearing up to reopen its deer safari by August. If everything goes well as planned, the zoo would also open tiger and lion safari as the World Bank which is for the first time funding and directly involved with a zoo is reviewing the proposals of safaris seriously and seeking help of the experts to materialise it.
The zoo is opening the deer safari not only to attract more visitors but to ensure that staff members gain adequate experience to handle safaris as the tiger and lion safari proposals are in demand.
The visitors were missing the safari experience in the zoo as the first safari housing deer faced closure, more than a decade ago, owing to financial crunch and management issues.
Assistant principal chief conservator of forests N. Prateep Kumar said, “We are developing the zoo in every aspect to ensure more footfalls. At present, we are trying our best to revive the deer safari by August.”
The zoo houses about 500 spotted deer and 200 sambars and the deer safari allocated area is spread over eight acre. Zoo curator B. Vijay Kumar said some works are pending at the safari such as repairing racks, cleaning the area and also other facilities before opening it for the public.
