Travel With Tanvi: A Life Sized Dinosaur At The Dinosaur Park

Just opposite to the Pimple Gurav bus stop in Pune, there is a park, Rajmata Jijau Udyan, it is famously known as the dinosaur park. When I was in college, I paid a visit to my friend who lives in Pimple Gurav. She had taken us (me and the other friends) to the Dinosaur Park. After that I never visited that area, either for work or for leisure, so I never happened to visit the park ever again.

Now since I've started writing blogs, I was scrolling through the places in Pune that I can visit. Since it wasn't raining, I thought that I should go somewhere far than the usual & I suddenly remembered the Dinosaur Park. I realised I have been there just once & it is quite far from where I stay, so it'll be a good place to visit. So I started looking for the timings, the distance and all that stuff. There wasn't any exact mention of the timings of the park, so I was wondering when should I visit as mostly parks and gardens remain close till 4 o' clock.

Then I thought that I'll visit the park in the afternoon post lunch. It'll take almost an hour to commute and I'll reach there by 3PM, if the park is opened well and good or else I'll go to that friend's house till the park opens.

So after 5 long years, I decided to re-visit the Dinosaur Park. I reached the Pimple Gurav bus stop with the help of the maps & the park is just opposite to the bus stop. So it was easy to locate.

The timings of the park are from 5AM to 9AM & 12PM to 9PM. So its opened for almost the whole day, unlike the other parks which open at 4 and close at 8. The tickets are priced at ₹5 for a kid and ₹10 for an adult. As I walked in I was trying to recall the park I had visited 5 years ago, nothing much had changed.

There is a fountain at the entrance, which is still in non working condition. There are bushes which are cut in different shapes. As I walked in, on the right hand side is the main attraction of the park, a 40 feet high, life sized dinosaur statue. This statue is the main attraction which attracts people to the garden from all over Pune. 5 years ago, this statue could be seen from a distance, but now due to the buildings it is not visible from far.

There is a big jogging track which covers the outer circumference of the park & one track inside the park. There are places for seating, benches & shades are places all over the park for people to sit. There is an artificial waterfall on one end and a small artificial canal that flows on one side of park. There are slides and other equipments for kids to play.

First when I had visited the park, it was overly crowded with many people and kids, but now there were hardly 10-15 people in the park. Maybe because of the timing that I visited the park (in the afternoon when punekars usual sleep :-P) or either because now the park is not as new as it was then. However, its a good place to hang out.

The park is well maintained. In fact when I went in the park, there were people cutting the extra grown grass. Overall the park is good for kids and adults. So next time if you don't have anything much to do and have some spare time, you can think about visiting the Rajmata Jijau Udyan or the Dinosaur Park.