Lady Hydari Park

A short distance from the Wards Lake is lady Hydari Park, with a pretty Japanese garden and a mini zoo which includes fauna native to Meghalaya’s forests, such as hornbills, leopard cats, and the aptly named slow Loris, a ferret-like a creature that crawls around as though heavily drugged. The park is situated between the huge grounds of Pine Mount School on one side, the Shillong Rose Garden, and the Shillong Civil Hospital campus on the other. The park extends over an area of about a kilometer in length. The park was named after Lady Hydari, the wife of an erstwhile Governor of the composite state of Assam. The park is abounding with roses and flowers of the most fragile kind and shade. Also known as Phan Nonglait Park, it is the only park with a zoo in Shillong and among the best places to experience Shillong Tourism.The park is designed in a Japanese style garden, one can witness circular design elements, willow trees with their leaves almost sweeping the ground together with numerous small ponds scattered here. Often considered as the best-maintained park in Shillong, it encompasses a wide variety of local flowering plants and orchids. The park also features a mini zoo that comprises 73 species of birds, 140 of reptiles, and other mammals. A small house inside the park also houses a museum that displays the rich biodiversity of the state including pictures of rare animals of the region, elephant skulls, stuffed leopard, and more. There is also a children's park with swings in the park premises making it an ideal tourist attraction for families.