The zoo in the city of Almaty is a unique attraction of Kazakhstan. Here you can see many wild animals, including those listed in the Red Book, admire rare birds, fish and reptiles. Despite the fact that the administration of the institution has been criticized and attacked by the public in recent years, authorities claim that a bright future awaits the zoo in Almaty and its inhabitants.
History of the complex
The history of the zoo dates back to 1937. The founder is Murzakhan Tolebaev, who was not only a professional hunter and connoisseur of wildlife, but also a great enthusiast. As the platform for the future menagerie, he chose Gorky Central Park. On an area of more than 30 hectares in a fruit forest on the banks of the river began large-scale construction work. Tolebaev not only personally monitored their progress, he was engaged in the selection of animals. He traveled to Moscow to buy some species, such as a bear and a lion. And the animals living in the Kazakh steppes, the director of the zoo caught personally. He replenished the collection with saigas, gazelles and mountain goats.
In November 37, the zoo opened to visitors and worked for free for the first 2 days. Here you could see, in addition to local ungulates, also a tiger, exotic snakes, a crocodile and other animals, birds and fish. The director’s plans were to buy an elephant, organize an apiary and other projects, but only 2 months later Tolebaev was arrested, documents on the scientific and financial work of the zoo were seized, and in 38 he was shot. Later it turned out that the accusation was false, and the name of Murzakhan Tolebaev was entered into the Book of Remembrance and rehabilitated.
In the future, the zoo continued to replenish its collection of fauna. So, animals from the Red Book of the USSR, for example, the Tien Shan bear, Pallas, flamingo, black stork, pink pelican and others, were kept here. Of the exotic animals, Soviet citizens could see the black panther, Amur and Bengal tigers, jaguar, cheetah, Indian elephant and other rare and small representatives of the animal world. In Soviet times, the Almaty Zoo numbered 2 thousand copies, of which 95 species of mammals, more than 100 species of birds, 80 species of fish and almost two dozen species of reptiles.
Park today
Back in the 80s of the last century, the zoo was allocated a large amount of additional area on the nearby hillside to expand the territory, but until the year before last these lands were not developed, moreover, they were sold for the construction of residential complexes. This did not allow the ambitious plans of the still old government to turn the Almaty zoo into the largest in the country.
In addition to the area, the zoo has financing problems and even larger ones with its own image. Increasingly, the administration falls into scandalous headlines, connected either with the death of animals, or with the felling of trees, or with corruption. The biggest scandals in the recent history of the zoo are the long-hidden death of snow leopards and the dead tigress. Nonetheless, pleasant events taking place in the zoo in Almaty among these scandals, for example, replenishment of local giraffes in the family, are taking place in the Almaty zoo.
Reviews about the zoo from residents and visitors are often contradictory. Someone scolds the leadership for the lack of change and poor care for the animals, but there are many reviews with good comments. Many note that the zoo is developing, offering visitors new interesting objects.
Despite problems with financing, new modern aviaries without cages are being built with money from the treasury and donations from philanthropists, new animals are bought, and existing ones look generally good. Therefore, the modern zoo in Almaty is worthy of visiting it, for example, with children or taking a walk on a pleasant sunny day.
Collection of animals and birds
There are 7 different sections in the zoo, of which animals are presented in 4, these are:
- predators;
- mammals;
- primates;
- ungulates.
And 2 more sections are devoted to birds - exotic and local. Many waterfowl live in six local reservoirs with which the zoo in Almaty is equipped. Photos of birds, especially those as picturesque as flamingos, always delight visitors to the park.
The most interesting animals that invariably delight visitors are elephants, zebras and rhinos, giraffes and hippos. A large number of diverse ungulates and a lot of representatives of predatory feline live here.
Aquarium
In the pavilion of the "Sea Aquarium" is always crowded, which is not surprising. Here you can look at bright and unusual fish, such as piranha or bright parrot fish, angelfish and goldfish, as well as the variety of colorful Asian fish. In addition to fish, live in the aquarium:
- mollusks;
- crustaceans;
- amphibians.
Exotarium
The relatively recently built indoor pavilion housed a large number of different turtles, reptiles and even insects. At different periods of time, an additional fee was required for entering the exotarium, or admission was free with a single ticket to the zoo.
Turtles contain as many as 11 species, so you can compare how the Caspian differs from the Seychelles, and the red-eared from the red-nosed. Lizards and snakes await visitors in the reptile department. Here are pythons, and cobras, and chameleons.
Of the insects and other small animals - spiders and different types of cockroaches, which are bred here as exhibits, and as food for other inhabitants of the zoo.
activity
Almaty Zoo, like many other entertainment and educational institutions, conducts a variety of events aimed at attracting attention to their work and just for the rest of citizens on their territory. In addition to events dedicated to various holidays, state, public, religious, traditional Kazakh and dedicated to animals (for example, World days of the polar bear or birds), interesting concerts, exhibitions and lectures are held here.
For example, in winter there was a whole exhibition of drawings prepared by a local chimpanzee named Tomi. In the summer, the whole zoo celebrated the birth of a new giraffe, because the appearance of the baby is an event in any zoo in the world. And every Sunday you can participate in the interactive “Following the tracks of mysterious animals”.
How to get there
When you are in the southern capital of Kazakhstan, be sure to visit the zoo in Almaty. Address - 166 Esenberlin Street.
If you are coming from Salem Station, you will have to change trains. First, look for bus number 16, and then at the Zhetysuskaya stop, transfer to bus number 20 or 31.
Departing from the Sairan international bus station, look for bus number 16, the road will take a little more than an hour.
From Sayakhat Station, you can get to the park by bus number 135 in just half an hour.
If you are taking a taxi, then just focus on the Gorky Central Park in Almaty, the zoo is located on its territory.
Ticket price
A ticket for adults to the zoo costs 700 tenge, a little more than 134 rubles. Children's ticket (from 5 to 12 years old) - 200 tenge, that is, about 40 rubles, and for children under 5 years of age, as well as for pensioners, military personnel, disabled people and orphans, admission is free when an appropriate certificate is provided.
Almaty Zoo: working hours
The zoo awaits guests daily without lunch and weekends all year round. True, the exotarium is always closed on Tuesday, it is a sanitary day.
In winter, namely from October 1 to April 15, the park is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and in summer it starts working at 9 a.m. and closes at 21 p.m., however, remember that ticket offices always finish their work an hour earlier.