Main Info
The Guwahati Zoo
The Guwahati Zoo is known as one of the best of zoos in the Assam state and the whole of India at large. It is however called Assam State Zoo Cum Botanical Garden but popularly known worldwide as The Guwahati Zoo. The zoo covers about 430 acres of land making it really big.
The zoo is situated deep in the heart of Guwahati in a place known as the Hengrabari Forest Area. The Hengrabari Forest Area is really a compact forest, it is a very green forest and its sometimes called “the green lung of Guwahati city” or “green forest”. It only proves the hands of mother nature is still very strong in the forest.
The Guwahati zoo lies close to the Brahmaputra river. The river traverses the state of Assam. It is also the biggest river in the North-East of India.
The zoo is also known to have very beautiful breathtaking landscape view and gardens, It also offer much when it comes to wildlife and a very calm environment. A trip to the zoo cannot be overrated as it offers wonderful wildlife, beautiful garden, a serene environment and so much more. It is without doubt a paradise for wildlife enthusiasts.
Since its establishment in 1958, the park has stayed as one of the peaks of tourist attractions in Assam State and the whole of North-east, it’s only rivals in terms of popularity, zoo features, etc, has been Manas National park and Kaziranga National Park. There are well over 113 different species of animals living in the Guwahati zoo and over 900 animals, reptiles, birds, mammals living in the zoo.
Over a long period, more animals have found a home at the zoo, the zoo also grew larger when it founded a beautiful botanical garden right in its premises.
Various calibres of people have always been recorded to visit the zoo, people like tourists, wildlife lovers, researchers, and many more, the number of people that visit the zoo yearly can’t be exact but the figures are said to be almost a million. Although most of the visitors are tourists Who are thrilled by the thought of seeing the numerous exotic animals on display. Animals like; the endangered one-day horned Rhino which is a native to India, tigers, giraffes, animals home to Africa like: ostriches, Australian Animal like Kangaroos etc.
Extras about Guwahati Zoo
Plants and Animals at Guwahati Zoo
The main part of the zoo that attracts tourists is the Varieties of animal species housed by the zoo but the zoo but the zoo doesn’t lack when it comes to what it offers, there is a Home for reptiles, a museum, a botanical garden, a collection of herbarium and much more. The zoo offers both animals home to India and animals from other part of the world. Animals that can be found at the zoo are: African white Rhino, kangaroo, black Rhino, jaguar, Royal Bengal Tiger, One Horned Rhino, Llamas, golden Langur, the pig tailed Macaque, puma and several more. Apart from the animals mentioned, there are also different kinds of mammals that live at the park, like; leopard, Asian elephant, striped nilgai, the Himalayan black bear tiger, black buck, sambar and more others. Gladly, the park does not leave put bird watchers and lovers of birds. The park is Home to birds like: silver pheasant, rosy pelican, macaw, bar-headed geese, storks, cassowary and much more. Another aspect not left out is the reptiles. The zoo has a reptile house where various snakes are kept for tourists attraction.
Due to the reducing population of some animals termed “endangered”, the authorities of the zoo have seen the need for Various breeding programs to increase the endangered species population. Animals in the zoo such as: gharials, white Tigers and the one horned Rhino are endangered species.
The zoo happens to be one of the most prominent conservation centres in the whole of India and it offers several programs such as Rehabilitation, rescue and numerous schemes for adoption. The essence of the adoption scheme is for animal lovers to be able to adopt animals and help them grow up. Apart from the adoption schemes, the zoo also offers Animal awareness programs, outreach, animal welfare and much more.
Guwahati Zoo Museum and Herbarium Collection
Tourists have another great places to visit in Guwahati. They can walk into the famous Guwahati Zoom Museum and Herbarium. In the zoo, museum, you can find Various extremely beautiful and delicate stuffed animal sample particular to one region like the Gharial.
The herbarium collection is a place every botanist would want to see, it has carefully preserved sheets that covers about 550 different species of flowers and plants home to India and they belong to about 106 family variants. The total number of collections of herbarium are well over two thousand.
People in the field who are interested in learning like: researchers, botanists, learners or beginners are provided with technical information by the museum and the herbarium.
There are about 345 indigenous plants and over 280 exotic type of plants, this makes the botanical garden one of the finest gardens in the whole of north India.
Guwahati Zoo History
The initial layout for the inception of the Guwahati Zoo was laid down in 1957. However, the plan to construct it was announced publicly only after a year, in the year 1958.
The idea of the zoo was birthed in the 64th National Congress of india which took place in Guwahati. The committee in charge after reassembling their political reasons, then made arrangements of an exhibition of some animals and birds to be held so the delegates can have some thrilling experience.
The main animal that attracted people during the exhibition was the inclusion of a female leopard cub, the name of the leopard cub was given as spotty. After the assembly ended, they all saw the Need to provide a home for the various animals available. The animals were then moved to a beautiful and serene environment in the Hengrabari Reserve Forest Area called Jalprigog.
Appropriate structures with facilities to make existence better for the wildlife had to be put in place. When the zoo first started, it had just 22 species of animals and about 31 bird species. Over a long period of time, the zoo grew and there was a Need to add more structures and provisions to sustain the place. Sometime In 1982, a botanical garden was included in its attraction list and a museum was added as well. With the inclusion of the botanical garden and the museum, the name of the zoo was then changed to Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden. There was a growing need for the zoo to be expanded, in 2002, a total of 45 hectares of the reserve forest area was included as part of the zoo, thereby increasing its already existing size.
The best season to pay a visit to Guwahati Zoo
Yearly, several tourists come to visit The Assam State Zoo. This place is also a Botanical Garden and one of the prominent zoos in the whole of North-east India. Although the beauty of the zoo doesn’t have a particular time it comes out because it is always a beautiful place to behold, there are just some better time to visit the zoo more than others, this is mainly due to favourable weather conditions. The best time to visit is during the winter season which is anytime between September and March. This season is the best because the weather is usually cool, this makes for a perfect weather to tour the environment. March to June which is summer, gets really hot and doesn’t make touring the environment very comfortable.
Some Pointers to Note when Visiting Guwahati Zoo
- Adhere strictly to all instructions
- Keep the environment clean, don’t drop dirts in the surroundings.
- Obey instructions from your tour guide.
How to Get to the Guwahati Zoo
The zoo is located deep in the heart of Guwahati and can be accessed easily, the zoo is also a location marker.
Guwahati is very well connected to major cities in the north like: Aizawl, Siliguri, Dibrugarh, Imphal, shillong etc these cities are connected buses or train. The railway station to the zoo is about 6 kilometers. The Guwahati Airport(Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport) is northeast’s main international Airport and the distance from the city to the airport is about 25 KM. Important cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolta and Hyderabad and much more are connected by the Guwahati Airport.