Tiger, lion, bear, elephant safaris to come up in Odisha’s Nandankanan

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government is planning to expand the size of Nandankanan zoological park for making it a suitable hub for a number of wildlife here.

A blueprint has been prepared to expand the zoo by three-fold. Nandankanan, which is built in an area of 400 hectare, will be expanded by 700 hectare more, informed Odisha Forest & Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray.

Talking about proposed expansion of Nandankanan, Routray said that the zoo will cover an area of 1,100 hectare housing a number of species to attract visitors.

There will be bear safari and elephant safari. Separate safaris will be built for tigers of all genres in the expanded zoo, where, only safari of white tigers is found now. There is also plan for lion safari, which has been closed recently, he said.

As per the reports, the government will acquire 700 acre in Chandaka-Damapada forest for expansion project of Nandankanan. The wall will be built after indentifying the land and enclosures will be constructed in different places.

A special safari will be made for country’s national bird peacock in Chandaka-Damapada forest where thousands of peacocks are currently roaming free. No enclosure will be built for them; rather they will be kept there without any boundary.

As the number of crocodiles of gharial and mugger species is more in the zoo, the reptiles will be kept in wide area. Apart from constructing a new lake, focus will be laid on crocodile breeding. There will be special arrangement for visitors to view the crocodiles near from their habitat.

Similarly, the visitors can see the tigers, bears and lions and their activities in safaris. Like other countries, arrangement will be made here for them to view the wildlife very closely.

The government is also planning to make arrangement for the visitors for night halt on premises of the zoo.