In Nature 's Lap - Lucknow Zoo

The Zoo is located in the heart of the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. It is being managed as a Trust, by the Zoo Advisory Committee with Forest Secretary to the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh as Chairman, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttar Pradesh as Vice Chairman and Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttar Pradesh as Administrator. An officer of the rank of Deputy Conservator of Forests is posted as Director, for over all day-to-day management of the zoo.

The Central Zoo Authority, Govt. of India, categorizes the Lucknow Zoo as a large zoo. It has an area of 71.6 acres. It has two veterinarians who look after the health and general up keep of the zoo inmates. The diet is properly checked, sterilized and supplemented with vitamins from time to time. The animals are regularly checked for diseases and worms and preventive and control measures are adopted accordingly.

The Zoo has one head keeper, keepers and sweepers who work under the supervision of the two veterinarians. The Zoo receives annually around 12-13 lakes visitors of which around 40-50 percent are school children. The Zoo has 447 mammals, 348 birds, 57 reptiles and a total of 97 different species of wild animals. Some prime possessions are the Royal Bengal Tiger, White Tiger, Lion, Wolf, Hoolock Gibbon, Himalayan Black Bear, Indian Rhinoceros, Black buck, Swamp Deer, Barking Deer, Hog Deer, Asiatic Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Common Otters, Hill Mynahs, Giant Squirrels, Great Pied Hornbill, Golden Pheasant, Silver Pheasant etc. The Zoo is successfully breeding Swamp Deer, Black Buck, Hog Deer and Barking Deer, White Tiger, Indian Wolf and several Pheasants.

The Zoo has a newly constructed Nature Interpretation Center where "Touch Table Programmes" are held every Friday for school children. Here, children are given hands-on experience and information about the skins of various animals, eggs of birds/pheasants, tusk of elephants, plaster cast of Tiger pug marks, etc. and also shown one wild life movie. The nature Interpretation Center also houses trophies of various wild animals, a press gallery giving information about the present and past status of the zoo. The site available outside the Nature Interpretation Center is developed as Jurassic Park where different animals/birds, that are extinct or are on the verge of extinction, are displayed in the form of models.

To Provide additional entertainment to the visitors in the Zoo, especially the children, a Toy train was started since 1969. The rolling stock consisting of engine and two coaches is the gift of Railway Board. The train was inaugurated on the Children's Day Nov. 14, 1969 by the then Chief Minister, U. P. the length of the track is 1.5 km. and has crossings and signals. Rides start from Chandrapuri station and this toy train is attracting huge visitors and has proved to be an asset for the zoo over the years.

State Museum, LucknowThe UP state museum

 in Lucknow, once was situated in the historic Choti Chattar Manzil and the Lai Baradari. It moved in 1963 to its new premises, a modern structure in the Prince of Wales Zoological Garden (Lucknow Zoo).

The initial collection centered around the arts of Avadh and objects related to the customs, habits and mythology of India. Gradually, it expanded to include excavated antiquities from Piparahawa, Kapilavastu, where the Buddha grew up. Today, this has evolved into a multipurpose museum with sculpture, bronzes, paintings, natural history and anthropological specimens, coins, textiles and decorative arts. From the vast number of displayed objects, some hundred are rare and of great value. These include an inscribed wine jar bearing the name of Aurangzeb Alamgir (17th century), a jade chamakali with the name Jahangir and the date 1036 AD, a 16th century painting of a scene from the Kalpasutra depicting an elephant rider and a Jain mum, a 16th century copy of the Harivansha in Persian with nine illustrations, rare silver and gold coins, a prehistoric anthropomorphic figure and a fossilised plant. However, what thrill visitors most are the Egyptian mummy and wooden sarcophagus (1000 BC).