Zoological sights in India
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Himalayan Zoological Park
From the gompa, follow the access road north-east around the base of an unmissable tele-communications tower. An initially obvious path scrambles up in around 15 minutes to Ganesh Tok viewpoint. Festooned in colourful prayer flags, Ganesh Tok offers superb city views and its minicafe serves hot teas. Across the road, a lane leads into the Himalayan Zoological Park. Red pandas, Himalayan bears and snow leopards roam around in extensive wooded enclosures so large that you’ll really value a car to shuttle between them.
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Van Vihar National Park
The best time to visit the 445-hectare safari park is at 16:30, when animals including two white tigers, an albino sloth bear and a lion pace the edges of their cages waiting to be fed. You may want to hire a rickshaw - it's 5km from the entrance to the basic interpretation centre at the end.
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Bird Hospital
At the eastern (Red Fort) end of Chandni Chowk is the 16th-century Digambara Jain Temple which houses the fascinating bird hospital run by the Jains, who believe in the preservation of all life.
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Alipore Zoo
Kolkata’s 16-hectare zoo first opened in 1875. The spacious lawns and lakeside promenades are very popular with weekend picnickers (hence all the rubbish). Grass is so high in the moated Bengal Tiger enclosure that it’s hard to spot the animals but it’s better than several more confining cages and the aviaries whose thick rusty-black wire-mesh rather obscures viewing.
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Mini-Zoo
Some of the 200 animal species unique to the islands can be seen in rusting cages at the small and rather sad Mini-Zoo. These include the Nicobar pigeon, the Andaman pig (the staple diet of some tribal groups) and the crab-eating macaque. Feeding time is 08:30 to 09:00, and there's a short film shown at 10:00 and 15:00.
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Katraj Snake Park & Zoo
There’s a mediocre selection of Indian wildlife on show at the Katraj Snake Park & Zoo. But a trip to this faraway park on Pune’s southern outskirts makes sense if you want to know more about snakes, of which there are plenty. Most snakes are housed in open pits; don’t lean over!
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Aquarium
You found Nemo! Or his formaldehyde-preserved corpse, which screams in silent accusation at you from the rows of glass jars that constitute this ghoulish aquarium. There’s also tanks of living tropical fish lining the walls that are about as impressive as a decent pet shop.
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Camel Research Institute
Eight kilometres north at Jorbeer, you'll find the Camel Research Institute. Between 16:30 and 17:00 you can watch a cavalcade of camels returning, in biblical fashion, to their enclosure after a day's grazing. A small shop sells the usual knick-knacks, including jootis of camel hide.
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National Zoological Gardens
Popular with families and courting couples, this is India’s biggest zoo. It’s a bit forlorn, in the way of zoos, but there are white Bengal tigers, Himalayan black bears, rhinos, hippos, wolves, elephants, giraffes, and some spectacular birds.
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Zoo
The large, shady zoo is somewhat depressing, with animals pacing up and down in their small enclosures, but you must enter it if you want to visit Lucknow’s fine State Museum.
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Mysore Zoo
Mysore’s zoo, set in pretty gardens on the eastern edge of the city, dates from 1892. A range of primates, tigers, elephants, bears, birds and rhinos live here.
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Himalayan Nature Interpretation Centre
The Himalayan Nature Interpretation Centre in the middle of the zoo has tacky wildlife dioramas featuring the snow leopard and clouded leopard.
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