India's First Night Safari Approved in Lucknow

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The **Supreme Court** has allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to build India's first night safari and a new zoological park at **Kukrail Reserve Forest** in Lucknow.
This project will make India the fifth country in the world to feature a night safari, joining **Singapore**, **Thailand**, **China**, and **Indonesia**.
The project has already obtained regulatory clearance from both the **Central Zoo Authority** and the **Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change**.
In the judgment of **Ashok Kumar Sharma (IFS) vs. Union of India**, the Supreme Court mandated that no final clearance for any zoo or safari can be given without prior court approval.

Notified in **1950**, the **Kukrail Reserve Forest** spans roughly **4,500 acres** in Lucknow, making it the largest continuous green patch in the city.
The reserve forest derives its name from the **Kukrail stream**, an important tributary flowing into the **Gomti River**.
It houses the **Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre**, established in **1975** as **India's first gharial conservation centre** to protect critically endangered gharials.
The forest serves as a vital urban green lung for Lucknow, helping in carbon capture, temperature control, groundwater recharge, air filtering, and climate resilience.
It protects significant urban biodiversity, including bird species, reptiles, butterflies, and small mammals, while maintaining the ecological health of the local stream.

A zoo keeps captive animals for daytime public viewing, a night safari offers guided after-dark tours of nocturnal animals in open enclosures, and protected areas safeguard wild species in natural habitats.
Animals in both zoos and night safaris remain in captivity, whereas animals in protected areas live freely in undisturbed natural habitats.
Zoos feature artificial or semi-natural enclosures, night safaris build naturalistic enclosures with controlled dim lighting, and protected areas preserve entire natural ecosystems.
Zoos and night safaris practice ex-situ conservation outside natural habitats, while protected areas focus strictly on in-situ conservation within native habitats.
Zoos focus on education and research, night safaris highlight nocturnal animal behavior awareness, and protected areas aim to preserve overall biodiversity and ecological functions.
Zoos and night safaris operate under rules set by the **Central Zoo Authority (CZA)** under the **Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972**, while protected areas are directly declared under the same act.