Asia's largest safari park is now in Gazipur, Bangladesh

The Dhaka Times Desk Last Friday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the inauguration of Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur, which is Asia's largest safari park in terms of size and biodiversity.

The area of Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur is built on 3 thousand 690 acres of land. Most of the land in this park is government private land, but there are 550 acres of privately owned land, most of which has been acquired.

A total of Tk 263 crore has been allocated by the government for the implementation of the project. Initial work on the park began in 2010. The Ministry of Forest and Environment and related ministries have special master plans around this safari park. Initially, Bangabandhu Safari Park was planned to be built on the model of the safari park named Safari World in Thailand, but currently Bangabandhu Safari Park has got the status of the largest safari park in Asia.

Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur will be full of biodiversity, the authorities said. Among the various animals here, tiger, lion, white lion, bear, chitra deer, Maya deer, sambar deer, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, blesbok ostrich, emu etc. are already roaming in the free environment.

Different animal parks are also being set up in this safari park, such as Butterfly Park, Marine Aquarium, Crocodile Park, Lizard Park, Fancy Duck Garden, Crown Pheasant Aviary, Parrot Aviary, Dhanesh Aviary, Macau Land, Elephant Show Gallery, Bird Show Gallery etc.

In addition, Bangabandhu Safari Park has a separate animal hospital! All animals will be treated there. A separate animal research center will also be set up here and detailed research and breeding steps will be taken on various animals of the country including birds.

There are separate resorts, hotel restaurants and animal observation towers for visitors. There are various facilities including special observation towers to watch dangerous animals like tigers, lions. There will also be a children's park for visiting children. There is a mini coach service to explore the open biodiversity of the entire safari park. That is, the well-planned safari jeep tour of the park, just like the safari jeep seen on Discovery Channel.

Now let's know how the entry fee of the safari park is kept:

• Each adult: 50 rupees

• Minor: 20 taka

• For students: Rs. 10 per person

• Student group 40-100 people on educational tour: Tk 400

• If the group of students coming on educational tour is more than 100 people: 800 taka

• Foreign tourists: 5 dollars per person

Now let's take a look at the fees that you have to pay to travel around the park in different vehicles on hire or take along after entering the park:

• Each Bus/Coach/Truck: 200 Tk

• Minibus / Microbus: 100 Tk

• Car/Jeep: Tk 60,

• Autorickshaw: 20 taka

If you do not have a car with you, if you are alone, then the fees you will need to visit the park in a park vehicle i.e. safari jeep are:

• Each minor: 50 taka

• Each adult: 100 taka

Now let's know how you can go to Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur:

Bangabandhu Safari Park is only 40 kilometers from Dhaka. You can first go to Dhaka from any part of the country and from there take a bus to Gazipur and come to Bangabandhu Safari Park in Indrapur (Bagherbazar) area of Sreepur, Gazipur. And if you want to come as a picnic group with educational tour, then there is no problem, in that case you can come from any part of the country by bus minibus scaffolding to visit this largest safari park in Asia.

Park closing time: You can visit the park on any day except public holidays.

Special thanks for the main photo: Bengali pix