The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
We stood
on a platform and
looked at the woods. Beyond them was the city of Gangtok, and further ahead, we
could see the snow-capped mountains. A small
cabin up ahead and a wall partly visible between the pine trees was the only
indication that we weren’t really in a forest, but a zoo – the Sikkim Himalayan
Zoological Park in Gangtok.
Somewhere down there, was an Asiatic Black
Bear, or so the board informed us. The bear however, was nowhere to be seen. Someone
behind us muttered “What kind of a zoo is this, where we can’t even see the
animals we came to see?” He might have been right, for we saw very few animals
here, but for me, the vast enclosures, and having to search for the animals,
was probably the best thing about this zoo!
 |
| The Bear enclosure, minus the bear! But with a fantastic view of the mountains! |
The Gangtok
Zoo is spread
over 230 Hectares, on a hill, and the animals are housed in huge enclosures, in
an attempt to provide them some semblance of a natural environment. This attempt
is only partly successful, since most of the animals here are from even colder
zones and higher altitudes. We visited the zoo on a winter afternoon, and found
almost all the animals fast asleep, especially the felines. I have written
about it here.
 |
| The green cover in the zoo is beautiful! There is so much to see besides the animals! |
There
is a 2.5Km long road winding its way along the various enclosures, leading to the top of the
hill, where the prized inhabitant of the zoo is housed – the Snow Leopard. This
one, like its friends, was fast asleep too!
 |
| The snow leopard, fast asleep! |
There
is a watch tower
here which we can climb, to get a bird’s eye view of the entire zoo. We were,
however so tired by the walk uphill that we didn’t even try!
 |
| The watch tower |
Among
the interesting animals we saw here was the Himalayan Palm Civet….
 |
| Himalayan Palm Civet |
And a Bharal – Himalayan Blue Sheep…
 |
| Bharal |
The highlight
of our visit though
was the Red Panda… this one was busy walking around, entertaining the visitors…
 |
| Red Panda |
While
its companion
slept peacefully on a tree, least bothered by all the sounds and calls.
 |
| Red Panda |
And
once again,
this is what bothered me about the zoo. I appreciate the work which goes into
establishing a zoo like this, with huge enclosures and a natural setting. However,
a natural setting also means protecting the animals from the visitors. And this
is where we seem to fail always, which is true even of this zoo.
 |
| A purple rumped sunbird seen within the zoo |
There
were quite a
lot of visitors, including young adults, kids, couples, and grandparents. Across
age groups, people shouted, laughed raucously, and even threw stones, in an
attempt to wake the animals, and get them to approach the fence. When I stopped
someone from throwing a stone, they simply laughed, and to my infinite
disappointment, there wasn’t a single zoo official to do anything about it.
This is
a beautiful zoo,
one which can be so much better, with just a bit better management. When we
know that as tourists or spectators, we have no discipline, or even regard for
the animals we have come to see, it is up to the zoo to ensure that no one
disturbs the animals. It is meant to be their home, after all.
Information:
- The Sikkim Himalayan Zoological Park is located about 3 Km from Gangtok, on the hill opposite Ganesh Tok.
- Timings: The zoo is open from 9 AM to 4 PM every day, except Thursday, when it is closed.
- Vehicles are allowed into the zoo, till a point, after which we have to walk. Please check with the zoo authorities at the entrance if vehicles are allowed till the watchtower. They weren’t when we visited, but I have been told that it was due to additional security measures.
- Suggestions:
- Please, please respect the animals. Many of them have been rescued from poachers and traders, and the zoo is a place where they can live in peace, in an environment as close as possible to their natural one.
- Do not throw stones at the animals!!
- The animals are not here for your entertainment, so please do not try to get them to react to you by shouting/ laughing/ gesturing or any other means.
- Please look around and enjoy the beautiful sights the zoo provides, apart from the animals. The zoo is home to a variety of birds (not caged) and all you have to do is be quiet and look around. Also, the variety of trees and flowers is amazing. You will only notice them if you look!
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Glad to know about the large enclosures that animals are kept in. Nice post on Gangtok zoo.
ReplyDeleteThank you Niranjan!
DeleteThat is quiet a place to explore there. I visited Gangtok last summer and I must say that there are decent number of places to visit in Gangtok that one can eally explore on their trip to Gangtok.
ReplyDelete