Readers - please excuse my poor English :)
Everyone in the world has the wish to travel and explore new places, but not everyone fulfills this because of family and job commitments. Though being in Chennai for 10 years I haven't been to many places around, particularly the local tourist spots. My Recent visit to such a spot is 'Arignar Anna Zoological park' one of the largest biological zoo in India, which is also addressed as 'Vandaloor Zoo'. We can't get into the jungle and see the animals nearby in their habitats, and this is the place where we can enjoy our stay watching all the species and other endangered animals nearby only with a small wall or an iron net in front separating them from us.
One fine Saturday myself and my friend joined together and commenced our journey from Egmore to Vandaloor by train. As this is an technology era, I usually had the habit of googling places to know "how to go, where to go, procedures and to know the do's and dont's" if i decided to go somewhere which I haven't went it before. When exploring google maps for the way to vandaloor from my place I noticed that there is a distance of just about 1 km between the Vandaloor railway station and the Zoo entrance which we need to cover that by walk or by an auto. The 2nd stop next to Tambaram and Perungalathur is Vandaloor. So without any hesitation and asking the way to somebodies on the street we started walking to cut across 1 km. On the way nearby railway station, even some families asked us the way to the zoological garden. We guided them explaining the routes :) Thanks to the google maps and smartphones.
When we reached the entrance at 12.00 pm we saw few sellers sold some food items to the visitants. While entering inside after ticketing we noticed that the zoo securities examined the bags of visitors and got rid of the food items from their bags which were bought outside. They removed foods that packed with plastics.
Entry tickets are Rs.30.00 for one Adult person. Also paid Rs.25 for the still camera, whether it is a DSLR, Point and Shoot or Mobile camera. But for candy camera they are charging more.
For more inside information about the ticketing its better to refer their website directly as the fee structures may change frequently.
Before taking up the exploration there are three options for the transportation inside.
1) By walk.
2) By cycle.
3) By battery operated vehicle carries around 8-10 persons.
Battery operated vehicle suits for older people (or) a group of peoples around 10. If we choose for this battery operated vehicle we can't explore many places in zoo as there are limitations in stops (spots) inside and also it operates in hourly basis. The best way to explore more is by walk or by taking cycle. Cycle rent is Rs. 10.00 per hour and Advance is somewhat Rs.100.00. We both decided to walk around the zoo and started away from birds sections. There are white arrow signs on the road down guiding us to go to the next spot and to the other one as a chain. To explore the zoo fully it will take full day, so it's better to reach there on morning around 9.00 so that we can finish it off before evening 5.00 as this is the closing time for visitors. For lunch we have to come to the Tamilnadu tourism Hotel situated at the entry.
It is good to carry water as we have to walk around many kilometers inside. At the entryway there is an Tamilnadu Tourism Hotel. This is the only hotel that offers food. In deep inside the zoo there is a 'Tea Shop' with snacks, Samosa and tea' and there are more water tanks build inside for our thirsty.
There are sufficient number of toilets available, but not in a good condition. Also this is a pay toilet.
The spaces allotted for all the species and animals are really small in size, which makes us feel sad. Think how they live in a jungle in a vast area to roam, walk around, jump, fly. Even animals like tigers, cheetah live in a small, isolated land which is not enough for them. The only creature in the zoo, which has more area to live is Lions. Also the other one and the only one which is free to drift in the zoo is Samba Deers.
The annoying thing we observed in the zoo premises are Lovers and the few visitors who make sounds in order to attract the animals. At that place are no forest guards or officials nearby to control this or warn them. On every few meters we can assure a one or two Love Couples making this as a Lovers Park spoiling the environment. Some of these lovers staged romance more leisurely in public creating a embarrassment for family and children.
Once passed over most of the area's, we left some aquarium type in order to go for a Lion Safari. The Ticket is 30.00 for one person. We are transported in a covered mini van like in the picture shown below.
Van reaches the entrance of the Safari gate in 5 minutes. There are two gates at the entrance and the break between the gates has the place for a Van to stand. Once the first gate opened and the Van enters into it, the guards closed the first gate and then unfolded the second gate which is inside the lion habitat area. Van driver acted as a guidebook to the safari visitors and reached a place where a group of lions seen in a Yard nearby. There are approximately 8-10 lions, most of them are lean and older in age, also dull and inactive. Visibility of Lions from the van is not good as we are covered both by the glass doors as well as the Iron nets on windows.
After waiting around 10 minutes Van left the situation and reached the Safari office. As the time reached 4.30 pm we decided to end this exploration and began walking towards the Hotel clicking the flowers and Greenery's through my mobile.
Once refreshed there with dosa's and poori's(good taste with a little bit costly) we headed towards our home :)
