Udaipur Zoo

gulab bagh, also known as sajjan niwas garden, was built by maharana sajjan singh in the 1881. it is the fourth oldest zoo in the semi-continent. it spans across 66 acres of land,[1] and is hailed as one of the most beautiful and largest garden in rajasthan.[2] by maharana's volition, a horticulturist from madras, t.h. story, was appointed in 1882 to stock the garden with plants with medicinal values on the 66.5 acres of land and worked there till 1920. the garden consisted of a lotus pond, and many prominent trees that included many species of mangoes, guava, grapes, lemon, bor, mulbury, rayan, pomegranate, bananas, sapota, tamarind, bullock's heart (ramphal), lichi, arjun trees, wood apple, karonda, campher, citron, jamun, pummelo, meetha neem, kargi lime, ficus species, anola, jack fruit, dhanverjia, grandi flora, jasmin, dawood etc. in the year 1882, all the trees had their name-plates denoting hindi, english, and systematic botanical names, which are not the same now. a small pond existed in the garden before it was demolished for the construction of water works complex. in this pond a water lily, victoria sp., was initially planted. the leaf of victoria could withstand a child on a chair kept on it, a property common to all the water-lilies of the genus due to plant's structure.