As a part of our ‘’week of delight’’ programme, we decided to take the kids on a one day educational trip. We gave the choice to the kids themselves and they unanimously chose the Vandalur Zoo. The children belonging to day care centres in Vyasarpadi and Kodiyanur, were thrilled to be on this trip. We took 50 of these children (aged between 7 and 12) on this educational cum fun trip. This trip was completely sponsored by the UHF.
The visit was confirmed to take place on the 7th of February and we commuted by vans to get there. The students arrived at the zoo with their staff faculties at 10.00 am and we divided the students in groups of 5 each under a UHF member. And.... the trip began!
We started the tour with the birds section. The kids got to observe a variety of birds like the flamboyant peacocks, colourful parrots and huge ostriches at close quarters. Since this was the first trip of its kind for them, they enjoyed every second of it.
The next part of the tour was the in the wild animals section. The kids were enthralled by the crazy sounds of the monkeys, the lightening like roar of the tigers and so much more! Getting to see tigers at such proximity initially scared them, but they got over the initial shock and this part of the tour ended with them waving goodbyes to the lions, cheetahs and tigers. We took extreme care, to keep the kids safe under our guard and this part of the tour ended well.
After this, we had a break for some time when lunch and cold drinks were served to the kids. The trip then resumed with paying a visit to the crocodiles and snakes. The kids were ecstatic and bewildered at the same time seeing the crocodiles moving on the wet sand without even lifting their bodies! After that they caught a sight of a king sized hippopotamus, then some giraffes too. They also got to see many nocturnal animals like bats, wild cats and the like. Finally we took them to the aquarium where the children got to meet the great creatures of the underwater, a variety of tortoises, fishes, et all!
After the trip, the kids were given some time to play at a park nearby till the evening. The kids, when asked, said that they enjoyed the trip to the core and thanked us for the trip! We are very sure that this trip proved to be useful for the young minds and will create many a zoologists in the future!
The UHF members also thoroughly enjoyed this day out with the kids!
