Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park (Katraj Zoo)

The Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, usually called Katraj Zoo, spreads over about 130 acres at Katraj, roughly 8 km from central Pune on the NH-48, and takes in the 42-acre Peshwa-era Katraj Lake. Run by the Pune Municipal Corporation, it has three parts: an animal orphanage and rescue centre, a snake park and the zoo itself. It replaced the old Peshwe Park, a small caged zoo at the foot of Parvati Hill on the site of a 1770 Peshwa menagerie; the new zoo opened in 1999, and the last animals moved over by 2005.

Residents include a Bengal tiger named Tanaji, a pair of Asiatic lions that arrived in 2017, leopards, sloth bears, elephants, several kinds of deer and blackbuck. The snake park holds more than 150 reptiles of over 20 snake species, among them a 13-foot king cobra, with information also given in Braille, and it runs awareness programmes around Nag Panchami. Buses run from Swargate.