The Wildlife Experience Center, A Trip to Remember …
From Left to Right: Me, Hina, Mr. Atif Imtiaz (President of TWEC), Syed Umer Iftikhar Ahmed (Education Director, TWEC), Afnan, Jeet
We recently had the privilege to visit a petting
zoo, The Wildlife Experience Centre (TWEC) which is an on-ground project of The
Wildlife Welfare Society. Located inside
Zeeshan Azeem Haider Shaheed Park in Nazimabad Block 1, Karachi, this vicinity
serves as a perfect spot to entice pet lovers.
Ever since I got to know about this heaven in
Karachi I had been dying to visit it so that I could pet the furry balls.
Finally getting a chance to visit it with a friend (Hina, an internationally
acclaimed author of Equinox) and then again with family I’m still like that
hungry kid who hasn’t yet had her hands full with candies, any supply is
insufficient hence making me a glutton for pets.
Invited by TWEC’s Education Director, Syed Umer
Iftikhar Ahmed, we were given VIP treatment by the pets, especially the birds
as all they wanted was to hug and cuddle with you. As we entered, we were
welcomed by Mr. Atif Imtiaz, one of the initiators and the dedicated President
of the NGO and then by a Gold Macaw rightly named as ‘Blossom’ by a little
volunteer (Afnan).
I being a parrot freak couldn’t wait to play with
Blossom after which I had to count my fingers; its beak seemed bigger than the
size of my wrist and the tail length added to the beauty of it’s entire existence.
As the bird playfully chewed my fingers and munched on my nose I knew I had
found a feathered soul-mate: P … as it’s claws tightened their grip to walk
around the territory of my shoulders we knew it was a cheerful yet demanding
bird. “Macaws like Sun Conures have to stay busy with some activity or the
other owing to their restless curiosity” explained Mr. Atif. Later on, we did realize
that Blossom is the gentlest bird TWEC has while the cockatoos follow suit.
Being a bird person I didn’t show much interest in
the reptiles, however, the innocuous pythons were one of their kind, when touched
they seemed quite a lot like plastic and surprisingly they weren’t scary at
all, one would rather be more scared of domestic lizards.
We were also invited to inaugurate the marine tank
that was recently setup for two of their newly acquired clown fish introduced
other than the resplendent fish collection they already have. Children and even
adults relate it as ‘Nemo’ … there we found Nemo. TWEC is planning to keep a
“Finding Nemo” themed collection in that aquarium.
It’s a wonder that people do not realize the true
worth of the rare Black Swans …eh … ever heard of the Black Swan event? It’s
called such due to the rarity of occurrence. Well TWEC also had these along
with a beautiful Mandarin Duck. Another wonderful thing was the 80 year old turtle
present as a symbol of calm and peacefulness in a not so peaceful city.
Moving ahead, we were greeted by their Fisher Cat
which was not in the very best of moods as that’s how it’s like we were told.
Being about to feed my hand to it I was cautioned by the hosts not to get too
close to that beauty which friends likened as a cheetah. “Aray in kay pass
shair bhi hai,’ (Oh they have a cheetah too?) A few of them asked. Rest assured
it wasn’t a simple domestic cat.
The pairs of the Amazon Parrots, Grey Parrots and
the Electuses were an eye candy. Ever seen a Turaco in any of our zoos? No?
Well TWEC accommodates this species that are as quick as a flash.
Turaco
Female Electus
Amazon
Rainbow Lorikeet (Baby)
Black Swans
A Bunch of Conures
A separate room constructed as an aviary was more
like a fantasy come true. With a vast variety of conures, it serves as a
teaching ground with bird specifics. There they had the soft and loving cockatoos,
softer of which was the gala cockatoo while the umbrella cockatoos were
absolute acrobats. It was great to be with all of them hand tamed birds,
however, with bird freakiness comes a word of caution, ‘BIRDS ARE MOODY PEOPLE
… YES! PEOPLE!” please don’t mess with them or try to force them to be petted,
though they are extremely friendly … and kindly don’t feed them nonsense. The
TWEC admin has bird food that they give to people interested in hand feeding
the birds.
Almost all the hand tamed parrots were mentioning
the signature word, ‘Atif’ and one of the rainbow lorikeets even exclaimed
‘stupid’ when irritated.
Photo by Umer
Overall, it’s a great and a must go place for animal
lovers, especially for those who want to interact with them, however, the
general timings are 5 pm onwards during which all animals are kept inside their
cages to ensure their safety when surrounded by the not so tame humans; one has
to take special permission and arrange for an appointment to be privileged to
visit at a time when he/she can touch the birdies.
Ever since I flaunted off our visit on social media
through pictures, especially while posing with blossom I have been repeatedly
asked by friends about TWEC. Well, below is the map for folks who want to visit
it.
Contact Details:
Email Address: thewildlifeexperiencecentre@gmail.com
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/TheWildlifeExperienceCenter
Mobile Number: 0300-8237997 (Mr. Atif)
0322-2392226 (Syed Umr)
0322-2392226 (Syed Umr)
Also, since TWEC aims at creating awareness at large
for handling animal species, it has initiated an internship program under the
name ‘TWEC Warriors’ for students who are interested to participate as it could
no doubt be a value addition with respect to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
for their resumes.
Volunteers are always welcome. :)
Umer with Blossom
Mr. Atif while showing the 14 ft python
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