3 January 2020, Kathmandu
Online Zoo Ticketing has continued to increase
The number of people purchasing tickets online has continued to increase at the Sadar Zoo in Lalitpur, which opened after eight months of meeting health standards.
The zoo had organized online tickets for visitors for the first time. In the early days, only one or two people used to purchase tickets online, but now they have reached 10 people a day. The zoo has been closed since Chaitra 7, 2076 (20th March 2020) because of the risk of coronavirus. The zoo has been re-opened since Mangsir 25 (10th December 2020).
Arrangements have been made to purchase tickets via the Zoo website or the E-Sewa network. Although the management met the health requirements and prepared to open it after the festival, it could not be opened due to a lack of decision by the Crisis Management Center of Covid-19.
Dr. Chiranjivi Pokhrel, Chief of the Zoo Management, said that the visitors were delighted even though the zoo was reopened by taking health safety steps because the possibility of Covid-19 was still high.
The zoo, which reopened after a long closure, had a maximum of 500 visitors in its early days. Up to two thousand observers are coming every day. Manager Pokharel said, “We were worried that the observers would come or not, even if we open it as the risk is still there, but it has come as expected. Observers will be added.”
Visitors complained that even after entering the zoo, sporting events for children were not carried out. Sushila Khadka, who came to visit the zoo with her son after a long time, complained that it wasn’t fun for the kids when the playground was closed. Khadka said that they should be provided with a playground in accordance with health standards.
Security requirements include a mandatory requirement for observers to wear masks, to allow only 800 people to visit at a time, to sit inside the zoo to eat and feed animals, not to touch, to leave one person in at most two to two and a half hours, and not to play with children. The number of people coming in will be counted, as will the number of people going out.
Although the criteria have been set for the observation every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm as before, only a limited number of people have been admitted at a time. At present, the zoo has 1,068 animals of 110 species.
