Rajaji Park spruced up to welcome visitors from Nov. 15

Hardwar, Oct 26 (UNI) After remaining closed for 6 months for renovation of facilities, the Rajaji National Park will be reopened for visitors on November 15, park director G S Pandey said today.

The park has been spruced up to welcome the tourists. All the rest houses, including the two at Chilla range, which attracts the highest number of visitors, have been revamped to provide a comfortable stay to the domestic and foreign tourists.

According to the park sources, nearly 15,000 tourists visited the park last year. The park authorities hope that in view of facelift of the rest houses and better facilities, the number of visitors is likely to go up this year.

The problem, however, facing the park is the lack of enough elephants for safari and patrolling. It has only two elephants, Arundhati and Raja. Arundhati is quite old and has become unfit for taking the tourists around the park.

The sources said the park authorities had contacted some elephant owners in Rajasthan. Failing in their attempts to elicit a positive response, they were now in touch with some private parties in Assam. They are also holding talks with the Delhi zoo authorities to procure two elephants for safari and patrolling.

"The talks with the Delhi zoo authorities are in the final stages and we are confident that before the opening of the park we shall have two more elephants for patrolling and pleasure rides for the tourists", the park director said.

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