During our last Christmas holidays we visited Bangalore, Ooty and Mysore and one of the places we visited while in Mysore was the Mysore Zoo (also known as - Shri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens).
Unfortunately, we visited the place during the long weekend (Xmas holiday being on Fri-25th) and it was very crowded. While we passed by the zoo, we saw a pool of people waiting at the entrance to get inside.
Location: The zoo is located well within city limits and easily accessible in local rickshaws or in own vehicle. There are signboards everywhere. The other tourist places, the Mysore Palace and Chamundi Hills are also located near-by.
Parking: Fortunately, the traffic cops had made parking arrangements at the near-by exhibition grounds, which was about 500mtrs from the zoo.
Entrance/Fee: After walking from the parking, we saw huge rush at the entrance, typical Indians, skipping queue, trying to climb over your shoulder to get tickets.
Adult Fees: Rs. 60/- Children: Rs. 30/-
About the Park: It is one of the biggest and well maintained animal parks in India. The whole area is about 2.5 kms walk and well organised so that you don’t miss seeing any of the animals. If you don’t want to walk, there is an option of a battery operated car, I am not sure of the price/ease of availability specially that day when the place was over-crowded.
It houses, variety of animals/birds. We had a glimpse of various Peacocks, including a white one, different colored parrots, chimpanzees, tigers, crocodiles, giraffes, elephants and many others. The park looked to be having abundant number of animals, as they have 3/4 animals of each type. Bird cage was very interesting to visit, you can easily enter and roam around the huge cage where you would see various different birds flying over your head.
The place is a paradise to visit for animal lovers. The cages also have signboards with names of donors and care-takers.
Restaurant/Rest-rooms: Drinking water, toilet facilities are available within the park and even a restaurant, however it is located at the end of the park and one is very tired by the time you reach the restaurant. The place is small and not up-to the mark - however we saw a huge restaurant being built next to it and also a board showing project plan of an amphi-theater/auditorium. So, the place would be more lively in another few years time.
Overall, I would say, if you are in Mysore, don’t give this place a-miss. The zoo will surely not disappoint you!