Ranibaug sees only 1 pc hike in footfall over a year

Data procured from the civic body shows that while 28.59 lakh visitors arrived at the zoo between the financial year 2022 – 2023, over 28.97 lakh people poured in to the zoo in the financial year 2023 – 2024. With this, the revenue has also seen a miniscule increase, with FY 23 – 24 garnering an income of Rs. 11.46 crores.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr. Sanjay Tripathi, director of the zoo, said that while the zoo has seen the addition of many new exhibits in the past few years, including the penguin and croc trail, people are perhaps expecting to see newer animals at Ranibaug.

Tripathi added, “In order to cater to our visitors, this year, one of top priorities is to get the lions, as a part of an exchange programme. Recently, we also announced a dome shaped, walk-through aquarium within the premises, which will house more than 50 species of fish and Marine creatures. We are positive that we will be making developments this year.”

“Even though the rate isn’t very high, we have been recording a steady growth in our footfall in the past few years. Since we carried our revamp, the numbers have grown significantly,” added another official.

Ringing true to their words, civic data showed that prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, during which the zoo was shut, only 10.6 lakh people visited between April 2019 to March 2020 while, between 2018 and 2019, there were 12.7 lakh visitors, indicating that the recent years have fared much better.

In a bid to further enhance the zoo, the civic body has now launched phase III of its revamp project. Having acquired seven acres of land including the Mafatlal Compound and the rest in the Poddar area, the expansion plan proposes to create a special “exotic zone” housing exotic animals such as giraffes, zebras, jaguars, white lions, wallabies and chimpanzees.
As part of the first phase, a 1,800-square-foot exhibit of Humboldt penguins was added to the zoo in 2017.

Phase II, which launched in 2017, saw the construction of 17 animal exhibits as well as an aviary, which today houses over 100 bird species.