GUWAHATI, July 7 - The Assam State Zoo authorities in association with North East Wetland, an NGO, have started Nature learning camps including tracks to the forested zoo hilltop for school students on Sundays.
The first camp was conducted from 6 am to 9 am on July 1. It started with a fruit seed throwing trekking along the woods up to Zoo Peak, which also offers a lovely view of the cityscape below. Thirty schoolchildren from Silver Oak School, Dispur, comprised the learners� team, which was led by North East Wetland president Alakesh Sam Kashyap and Zoo DFO Tejash Mariswami.
�The aim of the camp � to be held on the first and third Sundays of the month � is to acquaint our children with the region�s invaluable natural heritage and inculcate in them love and respect for Nature and wildlife,� Kashyap said.
The Zoo DFO also briefed the children on the zoo located amid a 175-hectare sylvan setting on the Hengrabari reserved forest right in the middle of the city. He told the children how the zoo greenery has been acting as an oxygen chamber for the city. The total length of the track is 14 km.
�The response from the children has been overwhelming. The trekking has given the children a first-hand exposure to urban biodiversity and its management. We have been in touch with various school authorities of the city for bringing more students into the camp and popularising the camp,� Kashyap said.
Also on the offing is a collaborative venture between the zoo authorities and the NGO that seeks to conserve indigenous fish and tortoises in a natural water-body in the zoo campus.
�It�s a five-hectare area and the water-body is now being cleaned for the purpose. We have requested the forest department to assist the aquatic species conservation project by involving the fishery department as well,� he said.
