Though India has tons of places of potential tourist interest, and Indians travelling abroad spending the most per day, there are few tourist places in India that are of International standard. Chennai is no different in this regard – inspite of having the world’s second longest beach, there was no Aquarium to educate and promote interest in marine life. This void is now being addressed with the opening of the new Marine Aquarium.
I took my son (2 Years old) last week to the aquarium. He loves to see fishes (‘ish’ as he calls it) and we had a good time. Comparing to aquariums I have seen in Singapore, Lankawi (Malaysia), California and other international ones’, this one is quite small. But nevertheless it had about 20+ tanks with double that number of fish varieties.
The aquarium is within the Zoological Survey of India premises in Santome High Road. Roughly about 1 – 1.5 Kms from Santome Church going towards Adayar and before the right-turn to Foreshore estate, and is on your right-hand side. It is roughly the same distance from Iyappan Temple if you are coming from Adayar towards Marina. Unfortunately there is no publicity or any prominent signs promoting the existence of the Aquarium. The aquarium management seems to have got the timings completely wrong, it is open only during Weekdays from 10AM to 5PM. This timing leaves out the the target audiences (Students and Kids) from visiting it. Presently there is no entry fee!
So if you are in Chennai, it is a good place to spend 30 minutes. And do this now, when it is new – before it gets spoiled just any other public place in India due to poor maintenance.
For reasons unknown after I took these photos I was told to stop!
will it opened on saturdays????????
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