Van Vihar National Park is a national park in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Declared a national park in 1979, it covers an area of about 4.45 km2. It has the status of a national park, but is developed and managed as a modern zoological park, following the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority. Animals are kept in near natural habitats. Most animals are either orphaned and brought from various parts of the state or are exchanged from other zoos. No animal is deliberately captured from the forest. Van Vihar is unique because visitors access it from a road through the park, and trenches, walls, and chain-link fencing protect the animals from poachers while providing natural habitat. History In the mid twentieth century a number of illegal stone quarries were operational in the area and, being in a serene and beautiful location on the bank of big lake, many commercial organizations were trying to take hold of this valuable piece of land. Realizing the importance of both in-situ and ex-situ conservation of wild fauna, it was decided to provide this area with a legal umbrella under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. A committee of experts was constituted to decide how to make Van Vihar a protected area. In 1983, on the committee's recommendation, the government declared an area of 4.4521 km2 a national park. Out of the 4.4521 km2 of land, an area 3.8839 km2 was government owned land and the rest belonged to the villagers of Prempura, Dharampuri and Amkheda. Compensation of Rs. 23.52 lakhs was paid to villagers to acquire 0.5692 km2 of private holdings. After the constitution of the National Park, the acquired area was enclosed in with stone walls and chain link fences. The first technical document known as the Management Plan to manage the Van Vihar was written in the year 2000 (for a period of 10 years from 2000 to 2010), by Jagdish Chandra, IFS, & Ex-Director of Van Vihar. Efforts of staunch protection and habitat improvement measures resulted in its enrichment in a very short period of time. The degraded hillock of Shyamla Hill along with private village land was initiated in 1980 and finally notified as a national park in 1983. Funding from the Central Zoo Authority started in 1993-94 and also granted Van Vihar as a medium sized zoo on the same year. With the dedicated