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Recreation |
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Bal Bhavan |
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This is a children's Park
within the Cubbon
Park which is an imaginatively planned amusement park and recreation centre. It is a place where children can enjoy a 1.5 kms ride on a toy train through
the park. They can also see the Doll's museum which has an interesting collection
of dolls and toys from all over the world. A mini park has swings, horse rides and
tree houses. To trigger the enquiring mind there is a 20 million year old tree,
a gift from the Geological Survey of India. The Vijayaranga Theatre screens
children's films and stages plays. Craft and hobby classes for children are also
conducted in Bal Bhavan.
Recently Tata Council for Community Initiatives
(TCCI) in association with the Government of Karnataka renovated the Bal Bhavan
mapping the 12-acre area, and then breaking it into different activity areas. Architects
and designers have come up with signage that looks like foliage, litter bins with
dry leaf motifs, and lamp-posts that resemble trees. Beyond the clock tower and
the colourful canteen is the lovely grassy amphitheatre that is a visual delight.
Then there are open pavilions or activity huts with teracotta roofs, all arranged
in a crescent.
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And there’s the lovely fort
in stone.
This is no imposing structure, but a friendly fort you would
like to run up and down the steps of, and hide in the turrets. In front is a life-size
chessboard, and children can actually take on roles of chess pieces like pawns,
and kings and queens. Alongside are similar life-size hopscotch and noughts and
crosses in stone. |
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Bannerghatta National Park |
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Going to a zoo can be a vastly different experience from seeing animals in
the wild. Although the Bannerghatta park is not on the scale of Big Zoos or Safari
Parks, it does give nature lovers a glimpse of wild animals in their natural habitat. The Bannerghatta National Park was opened in the year 1974.
This park is situated in a picturesque surroundings. Situated 25 kms
from the heart of the city, its main attractions are bisons, lions, elephants and
panthers among other wildlife. It also has a Serpentarium and a crocodile farm. Being a picnic spot it is always teeming with people.
It also has a Lion Safari through which one can have real free view of Lions in
the forest. The other attractions are the Lion tailed monkeys, the snake park,
the museum, the collection of birds, the cheetah and other wild animals, it has
also a very old ancient temple of Champakadharmeswara built by the Hoysalas in the
12th century AD. Very close to the National Park is the Pearly Valley where one
can enjoy a refreshing bath. It is also surrounded by pictursque valley.. The park
officials organise a Lion Safari for those interested. |
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The Bannerghatta
National Park (BNP) will now be home to 31 lions and lionesses and a sloth bear
which were rescued from circuses in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. After travelling
the 2,300-km long journey from the nation’s capital, the animals were given a fresh
lease of life, away from the pathetic conditions in circuses. The BNP, which
started a lion safari park as back as 1979 and a tiger safari park in 1987, has
planned to start bear and white tiger safari parks from this year. |
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Intel recently launched a year-long
environmental programme at Bannerghatta Biological Park. The initiative, ‘Intel
for a better Bannerghatta’, is in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature, India (WWF) and the park. The objective is to make the park a litter-free area. |
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