Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park, known earlier as the Gorewada Zoo, is a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

in the

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

district of the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Upon completion, this is likely to be one of the largest captive zoo safaris in India, covering over 1914 hectares of land adjoining Gorewada Lake.

History

In 2006, the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

identified approximately 1,914 hectares of forest suitable for establishing the project, adjacent to Gorewada Lake and from the city of

. The project was entrusted to the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra. To make the zoo financially viable, the state government transferred an additional 26 hectares of non-forest land for commercial utilization. The zoo was inaugurated by the erstwhile Chief Minister of Maharashtra,

Uddhav Thackeray Uddhav Bal Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022 and the Leader of the House, Maharashtra Legislative Ass ...

, on 26 January 2021. The project was renamed from the Gorewada Zoo to the Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park.

References

Tiger reserves of India Tourist attractions in Maharashtra Tourist attractions in Nagpur Tourist attractions in Nagpur district Zoos in India Zoos in Maharashtra {{Nagpur-geo-stub