Nandankanan witnesses record footfalls

BHUBANESWAR: The Nandankanan Zoological Park, which is adding new attractions in its Golden Jubilee year, is making the most of the year-end festivities and holidays. A whopping 33,400 visitors turned up at the animal park on Sunday, marking the Christmas celebrations, creating a record of footfalls. The authorities said it was the highest turnout on a single day in the history of the Zoo. The park attracts huge tourists on the run up to the new years. The last highest footfall recorded was 31,000 on X-Mas Day last year.Interestingly, the record turnout comes a day after the Zoo unveiled a herbivore safari. Spread over 21 hectares, the safari was inaugurated by Forest and Environment Minister Debi Prasad Mishra on Saturday.The Nandankanan has spent over Rs 82 lakh in creating the safari which is the Zoo’s third - after Lion and Tiger safari. It is now home to spotted deer, barking deer, wild boars and peafowls. Nilgai and antelopes will soon be released into the herbivore safari where the park management has created two water holes and as many salt-licks. Visitors have been provided four buses to take a ride along the 2.1 km road.“One of the major reasons why people keep returning to the Zoo is because new features (such as the herbivore safari) and exhibits are being added on a continuous basis,” Director Sudarshan Panda said.In fact, tourist inflow into the Zoo has been on a continuous rise. Between April 1 and December 25 this year, the tourist footfall count is estimated at 15.5 lakh, at least 1.6 lakh higher than the corresponding period last year, Deputy Director Siba Narayan Mohapatra informed.The Zoo officials expect that the turnout will continue to rise this year. By March 31, the Zoo had recorded a footfall of 25 lakh and the year before, it was 21.29 lakh. Between 2003-04 and 2006-07, the visitors’ numbers at Nandankanan hovered around the 13 lakh to 15 lakh.While the herbivore safari of Zoo was funded from the State Plan, Nandankanan is now gearing up to add another - a Bear Safari. Over a 12 hectares area, the bear of the zoo will be released into the safari which will be funded from the Special Grant of 13th Finance Commission.“We expect the work to complete by March end,” Panda said.