Lions, Tigers, and Bear! Oh My!
And elephants too! Saturday, we went to the Bannerghatta National Park, overall it was
a fun time. I am usually not one to go to national parks and zoos, but I
did want to go here. Why not? I am in India; I want to do everything that
I can do.
While we were there, we took a Jungle
Safari. The safari vehicle was a 20 passenger bus with cages for windows
and doors. At first we drove around a pretty barren landscape and we saw
a few wild buffalo off in the distance, and then we arrived at the bear
exhibit. This is when I first started to notice that the safari was not a
safari, but more like a Jurassic Park replica, just minus the dinosaurs.
After the 1992 incident, each section of the safari has been sectioned off and
fenced in. Also, there is a double gate needed to enter and exit the
animals section(s). This did take away from the realism in the whole
experience, but I guess it is for the better.
We made our way through the bears, then the lions,
and finally the tigers sections. We did get good views of all the
animals, but then the reality of the park started to set in. I imagined
the park as a wide open animal preserve with lots of room to roam freely.
No, that's not what I found. Instead it was quite the opposite.
Even though there was a lot of room, most of the tigers and lions were caged and
separated from each other. They had small concrete and chain link cages
to circle around in. Again, where is the realism? I want tigers
roaming around in the jungle! Not a drive up zoo.
After the safari, we went to the zoo to see the
rest of the animals. If the SPCA or PETA ever saw this place, there would
be hell to pay. Most of the animals were kept is small cages with
concrete floors. The best habitat for any of the animals there was for
the snakes. They had mansions and lush fauna compared to the rest
of the animals. I think the worst was the monkey habitat; they had a 30
foot circular, concrete cage with a single tire swing suspended in the middle.
Even I was in shock at how poorly most of the animals were kept.
I was really excited to go on to the next exhibit,
the elephants! We were all looking forward to an elephant ride. But, when
we got there, we were a little disappointed to see that an "elephant joy
ride" was just sitting in a crate on an elephants back as it walked in a
circle. I want to straddle and elephant and ride it like a horse!
Guess we have to go somewhere else to find that. Even if we wanted to
ride, it started to rain, and the elephant trainers, told us that there would
be no more rides. But, we could still stand next to them and touch the
elephants. Elephant skin is very unique; it is rough and wrinkly like
nothing I have ever felt before.
You may or may not have noticed the new link at
the top of the page. If not, I have made an image gallery available with pictures from my trip so far. Enjoy!
