Bannerghatta Biological Park near Bengaluru has received development works and visitor facilities worth Rs 38 crore, including new cheetah and wolf enclosures, an elephant viewing tower, electric vehicles, a café and a zoo shop. The facilities were unveiled on Monday by Karnataka forest, environment and ecology minister Ramalinga Reddy.
The upgrade has been undertaken by the forest department and the Zoo Authority of Karnataka, which manages the park. Officials said the new facilities are intended to improve visitor amenities while strengthening the park’s conservation infrastructure and its position as a wildlife tourism destination on Bengaluru’s outskirts.
The new animal enclosures cover wolves, cheetahs, emus, rheas and pheasants, expanding the range of species that visitors can see at the park. A viewing tower has also been opened at the Suvarna Elephant Care Centre, giving visitors a designated location from which to observe the facility and learn about elephant care and conservation activities.
The visitor-facing works include electric vehicles for internal transport, renovation of the main entrance, a zoo shop and the Suvarnamukhi Café. These additions are intended to improve movement within the park and provide basic visitor services alongside the wildlife attractions. The park’s location on Bengaluru’s outskirts makes the quality of internal transport and public facilities important to how visitors experience the spread-out site, although the source report did not provide visitor-capacity or footfall figures.
The development package also includes an administrative office named ‘Adavi’, residential quarters for forest staff, a central nursery, a live-feed preparation unit and a quarantine block for animals arriving from other parts of India and abroad. The quarantine facility is intended to strengthen animal health management, while the live-feed unit will support the preparation and supply of appropriate live feed for animals housed at the park.
The facilities therefore combine public-facing tourism infrastructure with operational facilities that are not directly visible to visitors. The administrative office and staff quarters are linked to the park’s management functions, while the nursery, quarantine block and live-feed unit support animal care and the movement and maintenance of wildlife within the institution.
During the inauguration, Reddy also directed officials to name the Hippopotamus Block and a baby hippopotamus ‘Sameeksha’. The naming is a tribute to Dr Sameeksha, a veterinary officer who died while treating a hippopotamus at Shivamogga Zoo.
The minister later undertook a safari at Bannerghatta Biological Park to review wildlife conservation, animal care and management activities. The newly opened facilities are now part of the park’s expanded visitor and conservation infrastructure, with the forest department and the Zoo Authority of Karnataka responsible for their management.
