Guindy National Park

Guindy National Park, probably the smallest national park in the country is located within the city limits of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

The park with an area of 2.82 sq. km has a strong historical background. Originally a game reserve of 400 hectares, it was owned by Gilbert Rodericks, a British citizen. When Gilbert died, in 1821 the Tamil Nadu government purchased it and the surrounding wooded property for a sum of Rs. 35,000/. The place was declared as reserved forests in 1910. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allotted a portion of the Guindy forest as a park for children. In 1958, it was handed over to the Forest department and in 1978 the entire forest area was declared as Guindy national park.

Guindy National park consists of various vegetation zones mainly tropical dry evergreen flora with over 350 species of plants including trees, shrubs, climbers, herbs and grasses. 24 varieties of trees including Amona Squamosa, Atlanta Monoplylla, Feronia Limonia, Azadirachta India and many others are found in this park.

The animals found here include spotted deer, black bucks (also known as Rare Indian Antelope found only in India), white bucks, river otter, hyena, bonnet monkey, civet cat, jackals, pangolin, hedgehog and common mongoose. Birds which can be seen here are the black winged kite, the buzzard, olden Backed Woodpecker, Crow Pheasant, Yellow Wattled Lapwing, Red Wattled Lapwing, Blue Faced Malkoha, Shrikes, Koels, pariah kite, Minivets, Munias, Barkets, Parakeets, Grey Partridge, Tailor Birds, Robins, Drongos, Quails, Beak Paradise, Flycatcher, Stone Curlew and so on.

How to Visit

Place : Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Main attraction: Black bucks

Best time to visit: Open throughout the year

Timings : 9.00 am, to 5.30 p.m. Holiday: Tuesday