Bhubaneswar, Dec. 29: The nocturnal animals' enclosure, a special attraction at Nandankanan Zoological Park that had remained closed for renovation for the past five years, was thrown open to the public on the occasion of the zoo's 56th foundation day today.

Built on around 5,000sqft, it houses 12 species of nocturnal animals. The main attractions include brown fish owl, Indian flying fox, common palm civet, jungle cat, honey badger and Indian pangolin. Around Rs 80 lakh has been spent on the enclosure's renovation.

Speaking about the special enclosure, zoo director Sudarshan Panda said: "A special night-time illumination system has been arranged to inversely adjust the length of the day to facilitate exhibition of the animals during the daytime. The illumination system will help invert the normal wake-sleep cycle of the animals. Perching facilities, hideouts and dry tree branches have been provided."

With the reopening of the enclosure, the zoo authorities also had some good news for visitors - a giraffe will come as gift from Alipore zoo in Calcutta in an exchange for four tiger cubs.

"At present, we have only one giraffe here. Another giraffe will add to the zoo's attraction. The new guest will arrive in January," said Panda.

There are also plans to come up with an enclosure for Siamese crocodiles procured from various countries. The zoo authorities are also planning to bring a leopard cat from Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, Ranchi.

While inaugurating the renovated enclosure at Nandankanan, forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh said that the zoo's toy train and ropeway services would also resume in a few months.

"The toy train and the ropeway were huge attractions. We have been getting lots of requests from visitors to resume the services at the earliest. We are discussing with a Calcutta-based company that would take up the ropeway renovation work soon. For the toy train, we have already written to the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (Rites) to take up the repairs," said the minister.

With the tourist season at its peak, the average footfall at the park is around 25,000 every day. However, this is expected to rise up to 50,000 during New Year.

"Last year, we had an annual footfall of around 29 lakh. We are expecting it to be around 30 lakh this year. We have also made several security arrangements, such as installing CCTV cameras at various places and imparting training to the guides to take special care of children, senior citizens and differently-abled visitors," added the zoo director.

An elated visitor, Anupama Mukherjee from Midnapore in Bengal, said: "We were lucky that we came to the zoo today. Else, we would have missed seeing the nocturnal animal's enclosure. The enclosure gave us an adventurous feeling."