Essays

A visit to a zoo is one of the most enthralling and exciting things. It is an interesting way to help children get familiar with the animal kingdom by letting them see animals, which they cannot see otherwise. A visit to a zoo is an entertaining activity not Just for children but also for adults as it increases their knowledge and makes them wonder at the marvels of nature.

During our educational tour to Delhi, last month, we were also taken to the zoo near the Old Fort, The zoo is one of the largest in the country, spread in a vast area of 35 acres, approximately. The zoo is thickly vegetated with a large variety of birds and animals.

We first visited the Birds' section, which was a colourful treat to our eyes. This section was echoing with the chirping of the birds all over. The multi-coloured birds were' twittering all over; we saw the graceful Pelicans, lovely Kingfishers and the Cranes, the dignified Swans, and Peacocks, Peahens, Sparrows of different kinds, Nightingales, Siberian Cranes, Storks, Ducks, the wild Parrot and a wide variety of mountain birds.

Next we went to the Animals' section. It was amazing to see the Tigers, Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards, Bears, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamuses, Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Antelopes, Stags, Horses, and Rabbits etc. The Deer, Antelopes and Stags were very active and alert. The Hares and Rabbits were naughty while the tall Giraffes and twin-coloured Zebras were busy eating or grazing. The Rhinoceros and Hippopotamuses seemed to be very lazy. But they were interesting to look at with their huge and bulky bodies. We were hypnotized by their massive size. The Tigers, Leopards, Cheetahs, Bears were enormous and fearful to look at. Their sharp teeth and claws were very frightening. The king of the jungle looked awesome in his den. His loud roar echoed and reverberated up to the skies. We all could watch him for hours together.

The best attraction, however, were the Monkeys, Chimpanzees, Baboons, Gorillas etc. They were so amusing to watch with their pranks and swinging tails. We kept on watching them for a long time. Some other spectators gave them groundnuts to eat. We did not want to go ahead and leave the Monkeys' section, as we could never tire from watching them eat and swing from one branch to another. But, alas, we had to move on.

Lastly, we went to the Reptiles' section. We saw the Crocodiles lying in the sun and a wide variety of Snakes, Cripers and Cobras. Some of them hissed when we knocked at their glass frames and others were coiled up and did not bother to see us. We also saw many kinds of fishes, but they were not many in number.

We visited the entire zoo and it took us a few hours to enjoy the vast expanse. Walking around made us feel hungry, so we decided to eat. It took us another half an hour to get out of the zoo. We enjoyed the lunch and proceeded to see other places.

The visit was an extremely knowledgeable one. We saw so many birds and animals in real. Until now we had seen them only in books or on television. But when we saw them in real for the first time, we realized how wonderful and marvelous nature is. We wondered at the vast variety of beautiful gifts nature presents us with and how we, city people do not have much time and opportunity to see such marvels. We really enjoyed our visit to the zoo and made up our minds to visit many more such places.

When we returned, we also prepared a file. posted pictures of animals on internet whose snaps we had taken in the zoo and wrote our experience and information about the animals.