Arignar Anna Zoological Park

It’s just a 45mins drive from my home (with Jeevi) to Vandalur along the GST road to explore one of the India’s largest zoological parks, the “Arignar Anna Zoological Park”. This zoological park also known as “Vandalur Zoo” is maintained by Tamil Nadu Forest department. The Zoo is opened throughout the week except on Tuesday and the timings are between 8.30AM to 5.30PM. We reached there by 9.45 Am and got the entrance tickets which cost Rs. 20/- per head. Outside Food and snacks are allowed inside the park, but they say big no to any kind of Polythin covers. In case if we happened to carry any kind of food stuffs within the polythin covers, the staffs over there will force us to transfer them to a paper based container offered by them.

The first and foremost thing we did on entering the Zoo was the LION SAFARI. It costs about Rs. 20/- per head and is served on First come First server basis. The Lion Safari starts from 10AM and is scheduled for every half an hour. It was a 5 mins drive from the entrance to the Safari location in a 12 seater Safari van. The driver, who also acted as the guide gave few interesting info. This place is prohibited for the visitors by walk and the Lions which dwells in the forest visits this place for food and water. In morning, it’s for sure that the lions visit this place for food and this is one of the reasons why this place should be visited in the morning. We were luckier to see couple of lions. In case if we cannot find them here, we have to go deep into the forest to find one. After the lion safari, we thought of exploring the zoo.

There are 3 ways to explore the zoo.

1. Using the Battery operated vehicle

2. Using Bicycle

3. By Walk

Exploring the zoo using the Battery operated vehicle is a 1hr drive through the zoo which hardly stops at 3 places. It costs Rs. 20/- per head and is also served on first come first serve basis. I wouldn’t recommend this, unless you are sick and short of time coz you can’t have a feel of having explored the place. The second best option is using the rented bicycle and the availability depends on the crowd. The best option is exploration by walk, which we choose.

The park has wide variety of Birds, Reptiles and mammals. It also has special infrastructure for Snakes, Aquarium and Nocturnal animal (Night time species). In addition to this, the zoo has exclusive children’s park with play stuffs like seesaw, etc. Though this vast place is reasonably well maintained, it still lacks to provide good drinking water and couple of snacks shop for refreshment. There is a restaurant and snacks shop (organized by Tamilnadu tourism department) located only at the entrance of the shop and hence you should be very conscious before entering the zoo to have enough food and water.

At around 1 PM, we were done with exploring the zoo and by this time the park became crowded. This is the second reason, why we should visit it early. It would require around 3 to 4hrs max to explore the complete Zoo and we did really enjoy the eco-friendly atmosphere offered by the Zoo.

Before signing off, let me put few important tips to visit this place:

1. Start Early and explore the park during the morning session between 9 AM to 1 PM

2. The best way to explore the park is by Walk.

3. Do carry plenty of water, snacks and food.

4. Lion Safari is the highlight of the zoo and never miss it.