Yangon Zoo
Yangon Zoo things to do, attractions, restaurants, events info and trip planning
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The Yangon Zoo is the oldest and the second largest zoo in Myanmar. Located immediately north of downtown Yangon near Kandawgyi Lake, the 70-acre recreational park also includes a museum of natural history, an aquarium and an amusement park.
attractions: Kandawgyi Natural Garden, General Aung San Park, Happy World Amusement Park, Kan Daw Gyi, Kandawgyi Lake, Abandoned amusement park, Maha Wizaya Pagoda, Saldawmu Buddha Temple, restaurants: Karaweik Palace, Signature, Aung Kaung San, Royal Garden Restaurant, Mandalay Restaurant မန္တလေး ပန်းသေးစားသောက်ဆိုင်, Shwe Li Hlaing Barbecue, Garden Bistro, Jin Din Fung Chinese Cuisine, ရွှေကံကော် ကိုရဲရင့်အောင်
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The Yangon Zoo is the oldest and the second largest zoo in Myanmar. Located immediately north of downtown Yangon near Kandawgyi Lake, the 70-acre recreational park also includes a museum of natural history, an aquarium and an amusement park.
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The Yangon Zoo (Burmese: ရန်ကုန် တိရိစ္ဆာန် ဥယျာဉ် [jàɰ̃ɡòʊɰ̃ təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃ ʔṵjɪ̀ɰ̃]) is the oldest and the second largest zoo in Myanmar. Located immediately north of downtown Yangon near Kandawgyi Lake, the 70-acre (28 ha) recreational park also includes a museum of natural history, an aquarium and an amusement park.With a collection of nearly 200 species and 1100 animals, the zoo draws nearly 2.2 million visitors annually.The zoo was operated by the Forest Department under the Ministry of Forestry until April 2011, and is now operated by a private firm. History The first collection of wild animals in Yangon began in 1882 in connection with Phayre’s Museum, then situated at the present site of the Yangon General Hospital. Funded by a public donation of 240,000 kyats(approximately US$240,000 then) construction started at the present site near the Royal Lake (Kandawgyi Lake) in 1901. The newly established 42-acre (17 ha) zoological gardens was formally opened as the Victoria Memorial Park and Zoological Gardens in honor of Queen Victoria.The major attraction at the opening was the white elephant of King Thibaw, the last king of then Burma, whom the British had exiled to India only 20 years earlier.In 1908 the Victoria Memorial Park and Zoological Gardens Act was passed giving the establishment a legal recognition. The zoo was vandalized and looted during World War II. In 1951, the then Burmese government changed the name to “Rangoon Zoological Gardens and Parks.” In 1962, the zoo’s area was enlarged to the present size of 69.25 acres (28.02 ha). The enlarged compound opened doors to new attractions: a museum of natural history on 4 May 1966, an amusement park on 7 October 1997 and an aquarium on 1 October 1998.The aquarium is operated by the Department of Fisheries. Between 2003 and 2006, the zoo underwent a MMK600M (approximately US$600K) renovation program, resulting in an increase in the number of visitors from 1.1 million in 2003-2004 and 1.8 million in 2004-2005 to 2.2 million in 2005-2006. A large number of animals at Yangon Zoo, including elephants, monkeys, rhinos, and bears, were relocated to the Naypyidaw Zoo in February 2008.
Himannshu KumarHimannshu Kumar
40
Usually I feel guilty visiting zoos, however we decided to visit whilst wandering around Yangon. I really wish we hadn’t. I found it incredibly depressing and left feeling utterly heartbroken. The animals are living in awful conditions and it is so sad to see. The majority of enclosures are far too small, dirty / damp and dark and don’t offer anything to the animals in form of entertainment or stimulation. Animals were pacing back and forth in their cages as they had nothing else to do and no space to run around / fly. We were especially saddened to witness the utterly heartbreaking cry from one of the tigers who was limping around his cage in pain. Asian elephants were chained so they weren’t even able to take a step. The red panda enclosure was next to a child’s play area where they had loud music playing. There was also a lot of litter, some of which was inside the enclosures and being played with by the animals. It is sad to see animals caged for our enjoyment, especially in such deplorable conditions. It is a shame as the zoo has a lot of space and offers beautiful gardens, yet very little of that is dedicated to the animals themselves. Avoid this place unless you want to leave feeling heartbroken for the animals and completely disappointed that you have contributed to it.
Stephanie Marshall (Stephamelia)Stephanie Marshall (Stephamelia)
120
A historical place to visit in Yangon. It is a nice place to hangout with friends, family, kids, classmates and colleagues sometimes. We can learn many things from this place including wild animals, many types of snakes, tigers, lions, different kinds of monkeys, various types of birds, lovely elephants. Basically it is quite crowded on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays. If you have enough free time to spend your day, you should go on weekdays and non-public holidays. There are many big, aging trees which make the whole Zoological Garden cooler. Some of the families spend their days below the trees because kids are also able to play on the ground freely. There are restaurants and food stalls in the garden. However some may be expensive and you may also concern with some street foods. One of the best way is to cook at home the night before you are visiting to the garden. Have you visited to Yangon Zoological Garden now and before? How was your experience? Is there any problems did you encounter? What is your advice to people who are thinking to visit this garden in future? Please share your experience for others to learn too. :)
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00
From the mid 1980s to early 1990s, it was a must visit place. It had a nice collection of animals and I had a lot of fond memories feeding the elephants, giraffes, hippo, rhinos, seals, crazy monkeys, and bunch of other animals. I haven't been back there for good 25 years or so but I sure would like to visit there again next time I am back in town. UPDATE: I had an opportunity to visit Yangon Zoo in Dec '17 for the first time in 28 years. The zoo is now under the management of Htoo Foundation - they really have done a great job keeping the place clean! While the place pretty much remains the same, they unfortunately got rid of almost all the food vendors for the animals. The only animal you can feed were elephants. While my visit brought back a lot of joy and memories, I really was looking forward to feeding the animals. Please bring the vendors back for the animals - the vendors make this zoo such a unique place to visit unlike many other zoo all around the world.
Denzil KhineDenzil Khine
20
Very sad place, one that exemplifies the hardships not only imposed on animals but also on the Burmese people who suffered through a misfortunate series of regimes. One can see the remnants of the colonial interests in exhibiting exotic animals as well as the newer but equally disturbing animal cages set up through the last four decades. The animals appear completely depressed, some absolutely emaciated and others I'll or injured. The White Rhinos had puncture wounds on their backs that were bleeding. The Nile Crocodile lay in a small muddy pool of water that was half a meter deep and not even long enough to fit its own length. The visitors were largely Burmese who also understood that this was not a place of happiness but one of circumstance. Times are changing: It would be encouraging to see some improved international efforts to rehabilate the country, this zoo is an example of that need.
Clifford DallonClifford Dallon
40
It is not expensive to get in but there is a separate price for tourists (around £1). Animal cruelty is rife here. The elephants were so distressed and the cages are too small. It was interesting seeing the animals but at what extent? Some of the animals were difficult to watch as they were clearly upset. Particularly the elephants and the big cats. They were all visibly frustrated and distressed. The cats were trying to get into each others cages to fight each other. It was sad. You can feed the hippos and the elephants and there are a few animal shows. The gardens are beautiful and the kids playground area is pretty good too. There are some awesome wooden models of dragons and other creatures that were really impressive. it isnt a hugely busy place so its relaxing to walk around and there are no crowds.
Chrissie HaymanChrissie Hayman
40
Nearby Attractions Of Yangon Zoo
Kandawgyi Natural Garden
General Aung San Park
Happy World Amusement Park
Kan Daw Gyi
Kandawgyi Lake
Abandoned amusement park
Maha Wizaya Pagoda
Saldawmu Buddha Temple
Kandawgyi Natural Garden
4.2
(1.4K)Click for details
General Aung San Park
4.2
(1.1K)Click for details
Happy World Amusement Park
3.9
(337)Click for details
Kan Daw Gyi
4.4
(187)Click for details
Nearby Restaurants Of Yangon Zoo
Karaweik Palace
Signature
Aung Kaung San
Royal Garden Restaurant
Mandalay Restaurant မန္တလေး ပန်းသေးစားသောက်ဆိုင်
Shwe Li Hlaing Barbecue
Garden Bistro
Jin Din Fung Chinese Cuisine
ရွှေကံကော် ကိုရဲရင့်အောင်
Karaweik Palace
4.1
(445)$$
Click for details
Signature
4.2
(666)$$
Click for details
Aung Kaung San
3.9
(250)Click for details
Royal Garden Restaurant
4.0
(392)$$
Click for details
Reviews
Overview
3.9
(2K reviews)
Phone
+95 9 682 011170
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Website
ygnzoo.com
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Deep Dive
A deep dive into Yangon Zoo
