It’s a common knowledge that karachiites do not have many nice recreational places where they can go and enjoy themselves. If there are few, like dream world, they have memberships or tickets worth thousands of rupees. So, when Bahria town announced about the cool places they are going to build like their theme park, dan zoo, carnival and dancing fountain, everyone became a little excited expecting a lot from Malik Riaz as he is known for making everything best in his tiny city.

In the past, whenever Bahria town celebrated different events like independence day, new year’s eve, by fire works I used to think that Malik Riaz is such a selfless person, providing joy to people of Karachi who otherwise don’t get much opportunities to enjoy. Now that I have visited Bahria town myself all I can do is laugh at my ignorant self.

My whole family including my cousins decided to visit Bahria town Karachi. I was reluctant at first but then my mother blackmailed me a little reminding me how I never spend time with my family and most of my outings are with friends. So I agreed to go with her on term that I’ll watch perwaaz hai junoon while others can do whatever they want. As I had heard great things about its cinema I was super excited.

Running out of time and luck:

We left one and a half hour before the movie timings but unfortunately we got stuck on highway in traffic jam. Traffic was due to some protests about something I don’t know as I have zero interest in politics. To make the long sad story short, by the time we reached there, it was useless for us to go to cinema as we had already missed half of the movie.

One important thing you have to pay Rs.30 just for entering the Bahria town. Which I think is stupid. You all can say that they have to keep it clean, pay employes and all but I think Bahria town is already earning enough to do all these things without asking for Rs 30 from each car.

Bahria town is really aesthetic and beautiful. Everything is in order. There are separate blocks for flats, houses and plots. It feels like you have been transported from Karachi to some other beautiful city (ehm Islamabad ehm) with greenery and no garbage on every other corner. Being a Karachiite, bumpless roads were enough to impress me. The roads were squeaky clean and they were actually being washed. There were separate lanes for cars and bikes. Everyone was following traffic rules. In short it was everything Karachi is not.

My experience of DAN zoo:

My cousins (who are all grown ups) and all my khalas wanted to see the DAN zoo. As I wasn’t watching the movie, I thought it would be impolite of me to stay outside while everyone is excited to experience the zoo. Hence I decided to pay for my entrance ticket and go with them. Entrance ticket for the DAN zoo is Rs. 450 which I think is A LOT. It’s not a safari, I’ll be walking around on foot to watch animals then why do they want me to pay 450 I have no idea. Then again some people will argue that the food of animals and animal care is expensive. For this I’ll mention it again that Malik Riaz is earning enough (masha Allah)  to take care of all effing animals himself while all I am asking is reasonable price for the ticket.

With all the hype and amount of entrance ticket I was expecting something jaw dropping and grand but to be very honest the DAN zoo wasn’t even close to what I was expecting. The inside was obviously very clean. There were a lot of trees and greenery which I appreciate a lot. The cages were pretty big and there were basic animals which are normally seen in zoos like zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, crocodile, ostrich, monkeys, different kind of birds, bears and different species of deer. They were all in cages. Really simple cages nothing even close to the animals’ original habitat. I know I sound way to bitter. It could have been good, if the entrance ticket wouldn’t have been this much. With this amount least I was expecting is something similar to safari. There were buses in which people can ride around and see whole zoo as the area is very big and it can be difficult to cover the whole area on foot if you aren’t used to of walking, but even for those buses there were extra charges.

Related Article: “Travelling and all it’s glory“

There were huge lights which at night looked absolutely beautiful.

I did enjoy watching lions up close. Well that’s the only part I enjoyed to be honest which my father pointed out I could have enjoyed on television for free.

There was also a carnival in Bahria town where different food items were available. It also had entrance ticket worth Rs.100. Finally we had to pay Rs.30 again on toll on our way back home.

Why i don’t think we should fund zoos.

I’m kind of not in favor of funding zoos. We humans are so cruel that just for our own entertainment we put wild animals, whose natural instincts are to live in jungles and wide open spaces, in cages which are tiny as compared to where they should be living. Despite of warnings there are children who still pick on animals in cages. Safaris are kind of okay as the animals are provided space somewhat similar to their natural habitat but from now zoos are a big no for me.