Mumbai: Byculla zoo records highest monsoon footfall over extended weekend

The four-day-long weekend attracted massive crowds at Byculla's Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, with the zoo seeing a total of 43,420 visitors in the last three days and almost 20,000 visiting on Independence Day. The highest number of visitors (30,379) in one day was recorded in May.

The greenery and new additions to the zoo animals are proving to be the biggest attractions. Usually, the monsoon footfall declines due to heavy rains and the reopening of schools. The number of visitors on weekdays hovers around 3,000, while 8,000-9,000 people visit on weekends. However, the zoo recorded 6,819 visitors on Saturday, while 16,666 people visited on Sunday, with Monday seeing 19,935 visitors.

Popularly known as Rani Baug, the average weekday footfall at the zoo ranges around 3,000-4,000, while it swells to 12,000-15,000 on weekends. During the summer vacation, the average footfall on weekdays goes to 12,000, while on weekends it reaches 26,000-28,000. But the number of visitors went down after the summer vacation.

“The total number of visitors recorded in May broke all the previous records. But for the first time during the monsoons we noticed this much crowd in the zoo. The greenery and new exotic animals attract tourists the most. We had to increase security at the zoo to control the crowd,” zoo director Dr Sanjay Tripathy said.

Days Visitors Revenue Generated

Saturday 6,819 2,57,150

Sunday 16,666 6,16,575

Monday 19,935 7,97,350