ARIGNAR ANNA ZOOLOGICAL PARK, a.k.a VANDALUR ZOO
This park was named after the then CM of Tamilnadu ARIGNAR ANNA.
This park is commonly known as Vandalur Zoo in this part of the world.
How to reach here?
Its 32 km from chennai city on the eastern side of the Grand Southern Trunk Road in Vandalur Reserved forest of Kanchipuram district.
Its 18km from the Chennai Airport and 1Km from the vandalur Railway station.You have good Veg restaurants around 1-2Km from this area.Ill give you a step by step info as much as I can from my previous trip to this place.
Inside the Zoo
When we entered this place we saw a parking lot, and they charged us around 10-20 rupees to park our vehicle.
We found a counter to purchase the entry tickets. It costed around 15 rupees for adults. Shocking information here was people had to pay 150 if they had a video camera with them at this counter. A normal still camera attracted Rs.25 at the counter.
I was informed that there was a battery operated train which runs inside the park. Once we came out of the counter we walked a looooong distance to reach the end of the road. There was a sign board pointing to the direction of another counter where we purchased the tickets for the train.
Now the day I went to this park with my family, was a state holiday, so as expected it was crowded.The park usually opens at 9 a.m in the morning, I believe it closes around 5 pm in the evening.
The Lunch break is from 1-2 pm. Now since we reached the counter around 1.30 pm we had to wait for 30 minutes for the counter to be opened.
Since it was a State holiday there were advance bookings prior to 1.p.m for the next Road train(as it was called). I didnt know that, so when I asked for my tickets I was informed that it was only for booked persons. Luckily after much pestering I got tickets for everybody.
During the half hour break we checked around the the Moat type cages, which had some langoor monkeys, a chimpanzee and baboons . There was huge attraction next to these cages, it was the cage which housed the White Peacocks, the peacocks were so excited that they gave a unique sound which attracted all the passerby's. Luckily the time we were near, we saw their graceful dance with their beautiful white feathers.
The Rides
We also came to know that there was another ride called the Lion Safari, which can accomadate 12 persons per vehicle. With this ride one can watch the lions at close proximity.
Each ticket costs Rs.12 for both Road Train and Lion Safari.
I was also informed there is ride called The Elephant ride, which I dont have much information, and there was no other information pertaining to it in the ticket counter office.
The Road Train
Now exactly at 2.00 pm we had two Road Trains. (A three seater 4 row vehicle run on battery which can accomodate 12 persons).
Since there was a heavy rush those who came with their children were asked to keep them on their lap, much to the annoyment of their parents.
The much awaited Train ride starts with loud thump, everybody was frightened to hear that kinda sound, the drive comforted us by saying itz how the vehicle starts.
We saw huge varieties of deer's on both sides of the park, we enjoyed watching them. The train moved slowly so that we can look both sides.
Now suddenly the driver stopped the vehicle and pointed us a direction informing that anybody who liked to checkout the lion and tiger cage can move there. We rushed to the place to find some people staring at a bush beyond a wired fence. It took us couple of seconds to spot 2 lions resting beyond the fence. Since they were very far it wasn't that much interesting. We walked a little more and found a tiger, a huge one. It was a superb site watching it closer.
We went back to the train, the driver took us through some more species of deers and finally stoped in front of a bear hill. We found a big clawed bear very closely sitting like a human, with both of its legs in front. I missed my camera very much, as I had not taken it with me. Opposite to the bears cage there was a wild dog which attracted criticism with its foul smelling cage. Nobody dared to go near its cage.
We headed back the way and now we were taken near a big cage which had the JAGUAR, which looked like a cheetah and a tiger cross breed(LOL). The the driver took us to a bird cage, Once I saw that cage I could not stop myself from remembring Jurassic Park 3(Remember the bird cage scene!!).
At the left side of the road we found the reptile arena, which housed snakes & crocodiles.
The best thing was the Snake building which housed almost many varieties of snakes, ranging from the Green snake,the viper,common indian cobra,..to the pythons. (Dont expect Anaconda's here....). Best part was all of the snakes were in active mood. Everybody was moving around. We definitely enjoyed here.
Right opposite to this Snake building we came across couple of cement tanks which had 2-3 crocodiles in each of them. Since we saw a huge number of crocodiles prior to this trip at a placed called Crocodile bank, we gave it a miss. There's nobody around to guard these reptiles, as some kids were throwing stones and sand at these crocodiles. We saw a rare scene of 2 Siamese crocodiles in mating, but a kid threw some stones and separated the couple(Damn the kid!!!).
There was a broken amphibian glass tank which contained a decomposed frog, and a struggling turtle.
Way back to the exit we saw some Wild boars,Giraffes and always attractive Elephants.
There was a guy sitting next to me with his kid, and a woman before him, the woman looking at the wild boar mistook it for a rhinocerous and started to scream excitedly, but the guy next to me heard it mistakenly as a Dinosaur and told her that it went extinct 3000 years ago. The woman was stunned and kept repeating she saw it on TV the day before, but the guy kept repeating it was extinct. I could not control my laughter. The woman again was so excited went on to call the Giraffe a ZEBRA.
The entire Road Train Trip lasted 1.30 hours, it is good for kids and family people, not so comfortable but ok, It does not tire you out. Itz Cheap.
The Lion Safari ride is just half an hour, costs 12 rupees per person, and there's no guarantee that you would come across a lion in close proximity.
If you'r planning to visit this place, come early in the morning so that you can enjoy this ride comfortably, you can also tip the driver so that he stops wherever you feel itz important.
Remember 1-2 pm is lunch break. And try avoiding to visit this place on state or national holidays, if not come early so that you can enjoy better.
Remember Tuesday is a holiday.
Comments and Suggestions are all Welcome
Regards
Robert

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