Ambardi Safari Park to be opened for tourists today

AHMEDABAD: The Ambardi interpretation zone, the second one in state, will finally be inaugurated on Tuesday. The new interpretation zone will draw tourists heading to Diu who want to catch a glimpse of the Asiatic lions.

This June, the union ministry of environment forest gave its final approval to the interpretation zone at Ambardi in Dhari taluka. The interpretation zone had hit a roadblock, after officials of the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) refused to give their final approval to the park due to inadequate fencing.

Last Wednesday, the interpretation zone had got the green signal from the Gujarat high court, which dismissed a PIL opposing the park's creation .

The interpretation zone will boost eco-tourism on the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar-Amreli-Dhari-Una-Tulsishyam-Diu route. Officials said the state government had in 2005 decided to set up another lion interpretation zone at Ambardi, like the Devaliya Park in Junagadh, to ease the tourist pressure on Sasan and Devaliya. After getting in-principle approval from CZAI, the forest department was ready with the Ambardi Interpretation Zone in 2013, but the CZAI's objections halted further progress. A final inspection of the zone by CZAI officials revealed that the fencing was 12cm short of the approved 4.52-metre height and work on shifting lions to the zone was stalled.

Officials said that there would be two lionesses and a lion at Ambardi and tourists can view the lions in an forest department bus. The ticket cost will be Rs 150 per person on weekdays and Rs 190 on weekends.