The zoo was one of our favourite outing spots when we were kids. We kids and our mothers used to frequent the zoo and museum during holidays and spend a couple of hours there gaping at the monkeys, looking through the tiger's cage, watching the hippo and rhino in wonder, taking a walk through the snake park and later, just sitting under the shade one of the numerous trees and eating snacks. We grew up, we had our own set of friends and places to chill out and the zoo got forgotten. In fact, I don't remember the last time I visited the zoo. Since then, the zoo underwent several modifications and changes and I kept hearing about how beautiful the place is now. Now, with a kid of my own who loves animals and recognises most of them, I am again rediscovering my favourite childhood spots in Trivandrum.
So off we went to the zoo along with my friend, her mom and her two boys. The three boys had a lovely day together. We opted for the battery operated guide car (i missed taking its photo) to take us around instead of walking the entire zoo. The half an hour we waited for the car, the boys started getting bored. They poked each other, fought, made up and to entertain them, we took photos.
After all this drama, the car finally came and we got into the car all excited to explore the zoo. We started off by seeing the monkeys. Adhrith was way too excited to see the monkeys that he kept shouting "makkii"!
Then we saw pheasants, storks, vultures and swan. Of these, my favourite was this beauty in my favourite colour combination - white, black and red!
I was way too excited to see the hippos and rhinos. It rekindled old memories of the zoo and soon Adhrith too started calling "hippo".
As usual, wherever you go, you can't miss this large herd of deers. There were different varieties and our guide was excited to show us each, what they were called and how it is pronounced.
Then there was this beauty I never get tired seeing!
And this royal one too...
By this time, Adhrith slept off but it was ok (Thank god for baby carriers! If not for that, I would've had a bad shoulder and back for sure.) since there was just the snake park and the aquarium left. We thought of skipping the snake park but my friend's elder son was so excited about it that I didn't have the heart to say no to him. This park houses anaconda, a beautiful ornate snake, star tortoises, iguana amongst many others and is done quite well.
The aquarium is a small one and we just did a quick round there. This was a great miss for Adhrith since he is a big fan of fishes. He would've loved all the "pishes" (as he calls them) around him!
Since we went in the afternoon, we missed the bears, since it was their sleep time as the guide told us. There was no giraffe too (I was looking forward to seeing the tall guy!) and we didn't see the lion and porcupine as well. I am not sure if we missed them or if they are not there anymore.
We spent around three hours inside the zoo and we never knew the time pass. The entire zoo is so neatly kept, taking into consideration the natural habitat for the animals and brilliantly designed keeping in mind the animals as well as the visitors. There is a lot of greenery inside the zoo, providing shade almost all the while and very neatly maintained. Plastic is absolutely prohibited and there is no litter anywhere. There is a zoo hospital inside the campus and you can make out that the animals are taken care of too.
This is one of the oldest zoos in India and I am sure this is one of the well maintained zoos in India as well. We had a very good time this time around that I am sure this place is going to be a regular in our list of things to do while in Trivandrum!
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