A Visit to Nehru Zoological Park (Zoo), Hyderabad

TrueDreamer · 20th January 2008, 23:46

Hello,
This may be a place most of you at Hyd had already visited. But surprisingly i didn't find any travelogue of this Zoo here. So posting it here. As mentioned yesterday, this visit was planned yesterday. We had relatives here from VZA and one of them wanted to check out Zoo here. Hence the visit. This time, we started from my cousin's place in their Zen VXi

Distance Traveled : ~40 Km (both ways)

Route Taken : Lower Tank Bund - Telugu Talli Flyover - LB Stadium Rd - King Koti Rd - J.Nehru Rd - NH 7 - Mukhram Jahi Road - High Court Rd - Purana Pool Rd - N.Z.P

Info: Nehru Zoological Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map : Map from Yahoo India Maps Actually, we took Telugu Talli Flyover for easy accessibility at Lower Tank Bund which is NOT mentioned in map.

Car : Zen VXi (Old Model)

Date : 20th January 2007

We started at 10:30 AM and moved through the Telugu Talli Flyover and route mentioned above. It took us about 35 minutes to reach Zoo.

The traffic wasn't hard but had equal number of morons and damn cops lazing around the cafes around the junctions and footpaths.

We maintained a average of 40 Kmph and reached about 55 Kmph on the higher end on one empty stretch on TT Flyover.

Once we reached Zoo, we parked the car (Costs : Rs 25/- and can be paid while leaving.) and went for getting tickets. Each Ticket for adult costs Rs 20/- and about Rs 10 or Rs 15 for a child. You are also supposed to get a ticket for taking your camera in for Rs 20 and another Rs 100 for taking your Video Camcorder in. Also you are not allowed to carry in any food materials in polythene / plastic bags inside. There are paper bags sold outside for Rs 2 for big and Re 1 for medium size and you get 2 smaller ones for Re 1. Better get something wrapped in Newspaper or related rather than buying this stuff. Also you need to spend Rs 5/- to get your water bottle in. Better use the flask type bottles which can be carried in along with your luggage. After a brief checking, you are let in after you swipe in the ticket.

Once you are in, you see the SAFARI and VISITOR Vans waiting. Don't get into any of them. Move further and you see a Kids' Train and don't get into it as well at the beginning. You can choose to get into them at the end of your walk through the Zoo. If you are able to see about 60%~75% of the zoo, its a great thing for the day.

By 11:15 AM, we saw our National Bird peacock and then various races of monkeys. These are always around you wherever you go. Just like the earlier hutch advt. "Where ever you go our network follows you"

Lot of types of monkeys from Chimpanzees , Apes, Olive Baboons, Common Indian Monkey and so on...

Then we came across Tortoises, White Tigers, Spotted Deer, Jackals, Indian Fox, Spotted Deer and many others well located in their own lands.

Then we came across the extremely dangerous Jaguar, Leopard, Lion, Lioness, Cheetah and other wild cats in their own enclosures.

By now, its about 12:30 PM and we started feeling hungry. We looked for some food courts and found one near the Hippopotamus enclosure. We went in and ordered 1 Pav Bhaji and 3 Veg Puffs and Cool drinks. The veg puffs were horrible.

Had one bite and threw it in the first dustbin that came into sight. It wasn't hot and they had no sauce as well with them. It seemed like the puff was at least 3 days and tasted terrible. Drank Thumbs Up and moved on for another close look at Hippopotamus.

We then looked at Swans, Pelicans and other look alike. Then move on for Wild boars, Himalayan bears and entered the reptile kingdom. Saw Russels Viper, Python, Cobra, Chameleons , Toads , Tadpoles, etc; The entry to the World of Reptiles was great.

Once past this, we find Nocturnal Animal museum (dark room for Bats and similar classes). Then we came across crocodiles and Gharials and Sambas (Wild Deers).

Seems like this park runs on green. Seen a wind mill for power generation. Also the vans and taxis runs on CNG.

Was waiting for Safari for all of us being Safari newbies. Safari costs Rs 25 per head. You get to see Indian Tiger, Royal Bengal Tiger, Bears, Sambas.

Was unable to locate Zebras or Giraffe or elephants all the way. The Safari didn't even last for 10 minutes and the drivers seemed very experienced. The safari has its gates closed to ordinary private vehicles. You can do well without this as well.

I know pictures speak more than words and we captured a lot of pictures using my cousin's Sony digital still camera. Will post them on 27th Jan 2008.

Return Journey:

Spent about another 30 minutes here and returned back once its 5:00 PM.

Pics and Vids : Excuse me for now again. Due in next 1 week. Will post these along with those of the initial car pictures in the https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...-bhp-club.html (Another Xeta comes in to T-BHP Club :))

I know pictures speak more than words and we captured a lot of pictures using my cousin's Sony digital still camera. Will post them on 27th Jan 2008.

Please don't mind and do let me know if i was too detailed than required. Now very much sleepy and excuse me for any spell or grammatical errors.

pjay_in · 21st January 2008, 09:13

It's a nice change to read about a trip to the zoo. I had visited the place some time in 2002 and it was certainly a place worth visiting. Certainly one of the better planned and better maintained zoos in the country, if not the best.

Looking forward to the pics, Dreamer.

deetee · 21st January 2008, 19:05

TD, thats another quite useful (esp. for me) write up from you; i myself am wanting a trip to zoo but had been postponing . Thanks for all the info , it will help me a lot to plan what to take and what not. As you mentioned in another thread, thanks for the rates(prices) mentioned as well.

VJ_MAVRICK · 21st January 2008, 19:16

Good write up True Dreamer and i think this is a famous zoo if am not mistaken

TrueDreamer · 21st January 2008, 19:23

BTW, i forgot to mention something i thought to say about Safari here. The person issuing tickets say that the safari will be completed in 30 minutes when you ask him the time. But actually it gets done in 10 minutes. Also if you go with your family or friends, make sure someone reserves the seat(s) in the Swaraj Mazda CNG Mini bus for you while you go and fetch the tickets. Else once the bus gets fulled (probably it can seat ~25 and the person will queue you up for next round). Once you are about to get into forest or whatever it is, you see very huge boundary walls with iron gates and a gate keeper at every gate would open two gates at each stop (for every 3 minutes each) and you have to be very quick in capturing the photos as the bus won't stop for more than 15 to 20 seconds at each stop. From the beginning of the Zoo a driver brings the bus to the first gate and then an experienced driver will take charge. Also don't keep your face too close to the window as the trees twigs come in sometimes through the window grills and the thorns may hurt you. The Royal Bengal tiger is the one you should not miss. However you will only be seeing one tiger on the right in the first stop and then 3 Royal Bengal tigers on the left at the second stop and then you will be seeing Bears on the right side in the third stop and at the fourth stop you see the Samba deers.

Also i forgot to mention the Nocturnal Animal park / museum which is the dark room costs Rs 10 per adult. Don't use flash of your camera inside this room. Use NightShot feature of your cameras to capture anything here.

deetee · 22nd January 2008, 11:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrueDreamer

Once you are about to get into forest or whatever it is, you see very huge boundary walls with iron gates and a gate keeper at every gate would open two gates at each stop (for every 3 minutes each) and you have to be very quick in capturing the photos as the bus won't stop for more than 15 to 20 seconds at each stop.

i couldnot picturize the wall and gates thing TD,can you please elaborate on this. I can not figure out why bus stops only for 15 to 20 secs when gates are open for 3 min each?

TrueDreamer · 22nd January 2008, 15:32

Hello,
Sorry for the confusion above. I couldn't present it well before.

The forest is about 10 acres or so and is divided into sections. Each section has huge wall type structure for the entry with two iron gates on each side of the boundary with space sufficient for a bus in between two gates. The first gate is opened when the bus comes in and once the bus goes inside the the boundary the first gate is closed and the second gate is opened and the bus moves on and this is done in less than 20 seconds and this is the time bus stops. This holds good for the second section where the Royal Bengal Tiger is seen just next to the gate and the entire process is done very quick. Even for other stops whether its near the gate or inside the forest area also its only for 15 to 20 seconds.

I meant to say that each section is covered in 3 minutes interval. I hope this clears the confusion. If not the pictures will clarify once i post them.

akroy · 22nd January 2008, 16:01

Nice update, this is the zoo I visited probably 3 or 4 times during my stay in Hyd between 1988 - 98, Nice hangout it used to be for a family picnic for a day...

Abhi

snaronikar · 22nd January 2008, 17:57

Nice experience. BTW, how do you compare Mysore Zoo (if you have visited) to this? Just for my understanding.

akroy · 22nd January 2008, 18:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Nice experience. BTW, how do you compare Mysore Zoo (if you have visited) to this? Just for my understanding.

Mysore Zoo by far is the best zoo I have seen so far...I have mentioned that in my travelogue as well...Out of Alipore (Kol), Nehru Zoo (Hyd), Banerghatta, Mysore Zoo is the best !

Abhi

mobike008 · 7th February 2008, 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by akroy

Mysore Zoo by far is the best zoo I have seen so far...I have mentioned that in my travelogue as well...Out of Alipore (Kol), Nehru Zoo (Hyd), Banerghatta, Mysore Zoo is the best !

Abhi

Nehru Zoological park is the largest in the country. It is just not possible to cover the entire zoo in one single day and it has the largest specimens of animals in the country. Kind of similar to Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, which happens to be the largest single man collection in the world and again it is not possible to cover the entire museum in a single day.

TrueDreamer · 8th March 2008, 00:18

Firstly sorry for the delay in getting pictures up early. "If 1 Picture speaks more than 100 words, how many words are spoken by more than 100 pictures here?"

At last here are 130 Snaps in three different resolutions

2592 x 1944 => Very High Quality snaps
940 x 705 => Average quality snaps resized in proportion to minimize any change in object position.
940 x 750 => Average quality snaps resized

Thumbnails:

Available Watch as Slide show Options :

Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in a Very High Quality of (2592x1944)
Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized in proportion to minimize any object position.of (940x705)
Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized without proportion (940x750)

Available for download as ZIP file options :

File Size of Zip Files :

2592x1944.zip is 156,653 KB (152.98 MB)
940x705.zip is 38,957 KB (38.04 MB)
940x750.zip is 40,892 KB (39.93 MB)

Camera Used: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W55

Enjoy!

20th January 2008, 23:46	#1
TrueDreamer BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 277 Thanked: 19 Times	A Visit to Nehru Zoological Park (Zoo), Hyderabad Hello, This may be a place most of you at Hyd had already visited. But surprisingly i didn't find any travelogue of this Zoo here. So posting it here. As mentioned yesterday, this visit was planned yesterday. We had relatives here from VZA and one of them wanted to check out Zoo here. Hence the visit. This time, we started from my cousin's place in their Zen VXi Distance Traveled : ~40 Km (both ways) Route Taken : Lower Tank Bund - Telugu Talli Flyover - LB Stadium Rd - King Koti Rd - J.Nehru Rd - NH 7 - Mukhram Jahi Road - High Court Rd - Purana Pool Rd - N.Z.P Info: Nehru Zoological Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Map : Map from Yahoo India Maps Actually, we took Telugu Talli Flyover for easy accessibility at Lower Tank Bund which is NOT mentioned in map. Car : Zen VXi (Old Model) Date : 20th January 2007 We started at 10:30 AM and moved through the Telugu Talli Flyover and route mentioned above. It took us about 35 minutes to reach Zoo. The traffic wasn't hard but had equal number of morons and damn cops lazing around the cafes around the junctions and footpaths. We maintained a average of 40 Kmph and reached about 55 Kmph on the higher end on one empty stretch on TT Flyover. Once we reached Zoo, we parked the car (Costs : Rs 25/- and can be paid while leaving.) and went for getting tickets. Each Ticket for adult costs Rs 20/- and about Rs 10 or Rs 15 for a child. You are also supposed to get a ticket for taking your camera in for Rs 20 and another Rs 100 for taking your Video Camcorder in. Also you are not allowed to carry in any food materials in polythene / plastic bags inside. There are paper bags sold outside for Rs 2 for big and Re 1 for medium size and you get 2 smaller ones for Re 1. Better get something wrapped in Newspaper or related rather than buying this stuff. Also you need to spend Rs 5/- to get your water bottle in. Better use the flask type bottles which can be carried in along with your luggage. After a brief checking, you are let in after you swipe in the ticket. Once you are in, you see the SAFARI and VISITOR Vans waiting. Don't get into any of them. Move further and you see a Kids' Train and don't get into it as well at the beginning. You can choose to get into them at the end of your walk through the Zoo. If you are able to see about 60%~75% of the zoo, its a great thing for the day. By 11:15 AM, we saw our National Bird peacock and then various races of monkeys. These are always around you wherever you go. Just like the earlier hutch advt. "Where ever you go our network follows you" Lot of types of monkeys from Chimpanzees , Apes, Olive Baboons, Common Indian Monkey and so on... Then we came across Tortoises, White Tigers, Spotted Deer, Jackals, Indian Fox, Spotted Deer and many others well located in their own lands. Then we came across the extremely dangerous Jaguar, Leopard, Lion, Lioness, Cheetah and other wild cats in their own enclosures. By now, its about 12:30 PM and we started feeling hungry. We looked for some food courts and found one near the Hippopotamus enclosure. We went in and ordered 1 Pav Bhaji and 3 Veg Puffs and Cool drinks. The veg puffs were horrible. Had one bite and threw it in the first dustbin that came into sight. It wasn't hot and they had no sauce as well with them. It seemed like the puff was at least 3 days and tasted terrible. Drank Thumbs Up and moved on for another close look at Hippopotamus. We then looked at Swans, Pelicans and other look alike. Then move on for Wild boars, Himalayan bears and entered the reptile kingdom. Saw Russels Viper, Python, Cobra, Chameleons , Toads , Tadpoles, etc; The entry to the World of Reptiles was great. Once past this, we find Nocturnal Animal museum (dark room for Bats and similar classes). Then we came across crocodiles and Gharials and Sambas (Wild Deers). Seems like this park runs on green. Seen a wind mill for power generation. Also the vans and taxis runs on CNG. Was waiting for Safari for all of us being Safari newbies. Safari costs Rs 25 per head. You get to see Indian Tiger, Royal Bengal Tiger, Bears, Sambas. Was unable to locate Zebras or Giraffe or elephants all the way. The Safari didn't even last for 10 minutes and the drivers seemed very experienced. The safari has its gates closed to ordinary private vehicles. You can do well without this as well. I know pictures speak more than words and we captured a lot of pictures using my cousin's Sony digital still camera. Will post them on 27th Jan 2008. Return Journey: Spent about another 30 minutes here and returned back once its 5:00 PM. Pics and Vids : Excuse me for now again. Due in next 1 week. Will post these along with those of the initial car pictures in the https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...-bhp-club.html (Another Xeta comes in to T-BHP Club :)) I know pictures speak more than words and we captured a lot of pictures using my cousin's Sony digital still camera. Will post them on 27th Jan 2008. Please don't mind and do let me know if i was too detailed than required. Now very much sleepy and excuse me for any spell or grammatical errors.
	() Thanks

21st January 2008, 09:13	#2
pjay_in BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 396 Thanked: 22 Times	It's a nice change to read about a trip to the zoo. I had visited the place some time in 2002 and it was certainly a place worth visiting. Certainly one of the better planned and better maintained zoos in the country, if not the best. Looking forward to the pics, Dreamer.
	() Thanks

21st January 2008, 19:05	#3
deetee BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Mangalore Posts: 505 Thanked: 1,632 Times View My Garage	TD, thats another quite useful (esp. for me) write up from you; i myself am wanting a trip to zoo but had been postponing . Thanks for all the info , it will help me a lot to plan what to take and what not. As you mentioned in another thread, thanks for the rates(prices) mentioned as well.
	() Thanks

21st January 2008, 19:16	#4
VJ_MAVRICK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,239 Thanked: 34 Times View My Garage	Good write up True Dreamer and i think this is a famous zoo if am not mistaken
	() Thanks

21st January 2008, 19:23	#5
TrueDreamer BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 277 Thanked: 19 Times	BTW, i forgot to mention something i thought to say about Safari here. The person issuing tickets say that the safari will be completed in 30 minutes when you ask him the time. But actually it gets done in 10 minutes. Also if you go with your family or friends, make sure someone reserves the seat(s) in the Swaraj Mazda CNG Mini bus for you while you go and fetch the tickets. Else once the bus gets fulled (probably it can seat ~25 and the person will queue you up for next round). Once you are about to get into forest or whatever it is, you see very huge boundary walls with iron gates and a gate keeper at every gate would open two gates at each stop (for every 3 minutes each) and you have to be very quick in capturing the photos as the bus won't stop for more than 15 to 20 seconds at each stop. From the beginning of the Zoo a driver brings the bus to the first gate and then an experienced driver will take charge. Also don't keep your face too close to the window as the trees twigs come in sometimes through the window grills and the thorns may hurt you. The Royal Bengal tiger is the one you should not miss. However you will only be seeing one tiger on the right in the first stop and then 3 Royal Bengal tigers on the left at the second stop and then you will be seeing Bears on the right side in the third stop and at the fourth stop you see the Samba deers. Also i forgot to mention the Nocturnal Animal park / museum which is the dark room costs Rs 10 per adult. Don't use flash of your camera inside this room. Use NightShot feature of your cameras to capture anything here.
	() Thanks

22nd January 2008, 15:32	#7
TrueDreamer BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 277 Thanked: 19 Times	Hello, Sorry for the confusion above. I couldn't present it well before. The forest is about 10 acres or so and is divided into sections. Each section has huge wall type structure for the entry with two iron gates on each side of the boundary with space sufficient for a bus in between two gates. The first gate is opened when the bus comes in and once the bus goes inside the the boundary the first gate is closed and the second gate is opened and the bus moves on and this is done in less than 20 seconds and this is the time bus stops. This holds good for the second section where the Royal Bengal Tiger is seen just next to the gate and the entire process is done very quick. Even for other stops whether its near the gate or inside the forest area also its only for 15 to 20 seconds. I meant to say that each section is covered in 3 minutes interval. I hope this clears the confusion. If not the pictures will clarify once i post them.
	() Thanks

22nd January 2008, 16:01	#8
akroy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA Posts: 2,424 Thanked: 88 Times View My Garage	Nice update, this is the zoo I visited probably 3 or 4 times during my stay in Hyd between 1988 - 98, Nice hangout it used to be for a family picnic for a day... Abhi
	() Thanks

22nd January 2008, 17:57	#9
snaronikar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 2,845 Thanked: 31 Times View My Garage	Nice experience. BTW, how do you compare Mysore Zoo (if you have visited) to this? Just for my understanding.
	() Thanks

8th March 2008, 00:18	#12
TrueDreamer BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 277 Thanked: 19 Times	Pictures of Visit to Nehru Zoological Park (Zoo), Hyderabad Firstly sorry for the delay in getting pictures up early. "If 1 Picture speaks more than 100 words, how many words are spoken by more than 100 pictures here?" At last here are 130 Snaps in three different resolutions 2592 x 1944 => Very High Quality snaps 940 x 705 => Average quality snaps resized in proportion to minimize any change in object position. 940 x 750 => Average quality snaps resized Thumbnails: Available Watch as Slide show Options : Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in a Very High Quality of (2592x1944) Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized in proportion to minimize any object position.of (940x705) Watch a Slide Show of 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized without proportion (940x750) Available for download as ZIP file options : Download all 130 High Resolution Snaps (2592x1944) in a ZIP File. Download all 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized in proportion to minimize any object position.of (940x705) in a ZIP File. Download all 130 Snaps in Average Quality resized without proportion of (940x750) in a ZIP File. File Size of Zip Files : 2592x1944.zip is 156,653 KB (152.98 MB) 940x705.zip is 38,957 KB (38.04 MB) 940x750.zip is 40,892 KB (39.93 MB) Camera Used: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W55 Enjoy!
	() Thanks