Welcome back to another episode of Incredible India. In the previous episode, I took you to one of the natural paradises in Rajasthan, the Keoladeo National Park.

In this episode, we will explore more controlled natural habitats, the National Zoological Park, Delhi, one of the biggest zoos in India.

National Zoological Park

The National Zoological Park (or Delhi Zoo) is a 176-acre zoo located in New Delhi, India. It was first opened in 1959 as Delhi zoo and later in the year 1959 renamed National Zoological Park. According to their official website, it hosts around 1350 animals from 130 species of animals and birds from around the world.

^{source - Guide map on NZP's website}

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How to reach

You can easily reach the National Zoological Park, located close to the famous monument Old Fort in Delhi, one can take a metro to reach the Supreme Court metro station and from there you can take a private cab or auto rickshaw to reach there.

You can land at the Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) and can take a private cab from there, which will take you an hour or so. Or take the metro to reach the Supreme Court station.

Being the capital city, New Delhi is well connected by air, road and railways.

It is an hour's drive from Gurugram by road.

History

According to the official website's page of the National Zoological Park:

An ad-hoc committee of some prominent nature lovers of Delhi, including Smt. Indira Gandhi, was constituted under the Chairmanship of Chief Commissioner, to formulate a proposal for establishment of Zoological Park for Delhi. Mr. E.F. Bowring Welsh, Secretary of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was appointed as its Secretary. The committee met on 9th September, 1953 and approved the site between Purana Quila and Humayun's Tomb for the purpose. It also prepared an outline of the project.

This Park was inaugurated on 1st Nov, 1959 by Mr Punjab Rao Deshmukh, Hon'ble Minister, Government of India. In the year 1982, it was given the status of the National Zoological Park with the idea of it being the model zoo of the country.

It received many gifts of animals from various state governments and private individuals during its initial years.

Exploring the Park

You have to go through a security check that makes sure you are not carrying any food with you, once you are allowed to enter you will see a big board of all the animals that you will find in this zoo.

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You can also book a battery-powered vehicle if you don't like walking. They will give a nice and quick tour of the park as well.

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I went to the left side and the first section was for migratory birds and other water birds. I have seen those birds in Keoladeo National Park as well. If I am not mistaken they are called Painted Storks.

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Try to spot a Lion-tailed Macaque in this next picture. (Sorry for the bad photo quality)

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My favourite section was the next one where you get to see deer.

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Look at those Sambhar deers, they are the largest Indian deer. Males have huge antlers and as I got there it was their lunchtime. They all came close to their shed to eat the hanging grass. I spent some time standing right outside the enclosure watching them eat and making sounds. They were not afraid of the huge crowd that now gathered there. Even some excited school kids couldn't bother them.

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After this close encounter with the largest deer species in India, it was time for some smaller ones.

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Meet the beautiful black bucks, a native deer species, having long and curled antlers and a brown-black coat on the upper part of the body. Blackbuck is the official state animal of Haryana (my home state) and has to be one of my favourite deer species. Males have darker coats and antlers while females and juveniles have lighter brownish coats.

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While I support the conservation programs and breeding programs run by the Zoo to conserve endangered species. On the other hand, I hate to see animals trapped inside cages, especially those who travel large distances to hunt their prey.

One such predator is the Golden Jackal, who was confined to a small place and the visitors were not nice to him, especially the school kids who love to see animals react to their actions.

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Back to deers, on my right in a large open field, I saw a herd of Brow-Anltered Deer resting. Look at those majestic antlers. They are also commonly known as Sangai and Thamin Deer of India.

This park has been breeding these deer for a long time. They are one of the highly endangered species.

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Moving on to the large mammals, there were two Indian Rhinocores relaxing in the water. They had no intention to leave their pond. All the visitors were hoping that they would come out of the water but they didn't move a muscle.

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Now I moved to the next section, this section had some of the exotic birds inside big glass cages for visitors to see.

The first one was the famous Blue and Yellow Macaw.

^{Blue and Yellow Macaw}

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Military Macaw	Red and Blue Macaw

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The Illiger's Macaw is a member of the mini macaw family. There was a couple eating some fruit when I get to this beautiful macaw. All these macaws make up for a great pet.

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There were a few beautiful Pheasant specials as well. I love these two the most: Golden Pheasant and Silver Pheasant.

^{Golden Pheasant}

^{Silver Pheasant}

There is a new adoption scheme that the National Zoological Park started from the last year, in this scheme, one can adopt an animal from the Park by paying x amount of money for a period of one year and you will have a "thank you board", displayed next to the animal's pen and also you will be given constant updates about the animal and their detailed reports. I love this idea to increase the funds and it also helps in the education and conservation of endangered animals. Kudos to the NZP team for this brilliant idea.

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You will also find big crocodiles around the middle of the park. There were two resting on the sand. They did not move at all, I came back here after 15 minutes and they still had that same position. A moat was filled with water and it had a lot of fish as well. No doubt they were resting after having a nice meal.

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A large African elephant was roaming inside this enclosed section. I didn't think that fence will be able to stop him if he decides to get out. Luckily he was calm and was just roaming calmly.

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Let's see if you can spot a tiger in the below picture. He wanted to get away from all the human eyes.

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A jaguar was sitting close to the back fence and like most other animals was resting. It attracted the biggest crowd I saw outside any animal's fence. Truly a majestic cat.

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I loved watching a pack of wolves, they were excited as if they are waiting for their lunch to arrive. They were smaller than I expected them to be... I am not sure if these were just juveniles or adults.

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There was a section of flightless birds as well. Emus and Ostriches were there. Ostriches are rightly the largest living birds, they are so massive. It was their lunch time as well.

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So many schools in and around Delhi take their students to this Park. And on the weekends it is full of school children. It remains closed on Fridays though.

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One must come and visit this zoo at least once in their lifetime. It is a perfect place for young minds and family time. I would highly recommend it to any wildlife lover.

My favourite section of the park is when you see different deer species. How about you?

Let me know what are your thoughts about the place. Would you like to visit this place when/if you come to Delhi? I know I would come back again. Do you like visiting zoos? or are you the guy who loves to see the animals in only their natural habitats like reserve forests and parks?

Namaste 🙏

Stay tuned for more episodes...

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Ep - #14 Keoladeo National Park

Ep - #13 Lohagarh Fort

Ep - #12. Alwar's Moosi Maharani Ki Chattri

Ep - #11. Red Fort

Ep - #10. Jamali-Kamali Mosque and Tombs

Ep - #9. Feroz Shah Kotla

Ep - #8. Jama Masjid