Guindy National Park is located pretty much right down town in Chennai. It covers approximately 1 square mile, making it one of the smallest national parks in India (or the world?) and one of the very few national parks located inside a city. Unfortunately, public access is extremely limited, so each year the CLO organizes a guided hike through. Our trip started at 6:30 in the morning (to avoid the heat), but ended up getting delayed a bit, due to some confusion with the gate guard.
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| Blackbucks |
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| Spotted dear, bounding off to the left, just after seeing a couple jackals run to the right. |
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| One of two "tamed" Spotted Dear stags that the park foresters feed. |
The walk was quite pleasant, albeit a little warm by the end. Even in March, things are starting to heat up. As we walked around, the foresters (think park rangers) continually pulled our their camera to show us how much nicer the park was over the previous few months. They highly recommended coming between November and February next year, which I think will be the CLO's plan. When you're in Chennai, it's a nice place to check out. You're almost assured to see some of the fauna, as the park isn't very large and there are a lot of animals in it.
Our hike ended with a walk through the Guindy Children's Park, a smallish but much more accessible zoo attached to the National Park. As with zoos everywhere, it was neat to see the animals, but kind of depressing to see their cages.
Our hike ended with a walk through the Guindy Children's Park, a smallish but much more accessible zoo attached to the National Park. As with zoos everywhere, it was neat to see the animals, but kind of depressing to see their cages.
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