Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will inaugurate an international zoological park in Nagpur on January 26, an official said on Sunday.
This project is named as Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park, he said.
"This is one of the largest zoological parks in India spread over an area of over 564 hectares. If the Gorewada Rescue Centre and the Gorewada Reserve are included, the total area of the park is 1,914 hectares," Managing Director of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) N Vasudevan said.
"Indian Safari, a major attraction of the zoological park, is ready for the people to enjoy. It has four different safaris- leopard safari, sloth bear safari, tiger safari and herbivore safari," he said.
The first animal which was released in the safari is a tiger called Rajkumar that was captured in 2017 from Tumsar in Bhandara district. A tigress called Lee will also be part of the safari, he said.
"There is a plan to introduce two more tigers in that safari," Vasudevan said.
The leopard safari will have seven leapords- two males and five females. These animals have been procured from different sources and shifted to Gorewada with the approval of Central Zoo Authority (CZA), the official added.
There will be six sloth bears in another safari, while 14 nilgai (blue bull) and 4 chital (spotted deer) will be part of the fourth one, he said.
Offline as well as online booking facilities have been made available for the tourists. The ticket rates for the Indian Safari are- Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 300.
"Visitors will be taken to the safari round in air- conditioned buses with broad glass windows with ancillary facilities like cafeteria and selfie points," he said.
According to Vasudevan, the CZA has granted its nod to the master plan of phase-2 of the project, which includes African zoo where visitors will be able to see zebras, lions, elephants.
