Zoo to be more crowded on holidays

JAKARTA: Ragunan Zoo's management has estimated that the number of visitors during the Idul Fitri holiday on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15 will reach around 778,500 people, up by between 10 percent and 15 percent from last year's figure.

"The prediction is based on the government's regulation on the extended holiday for civil servants. We assume less Jakartans will leave town for the holiday," zoo director Sri Mulyono said on Monday.

The number of visitors to the 140-hectare zoo last year reached 3,121,677 people, compared to 2,796,517 in 2002.

Sri said that the zoo now housed around 3,200 specimens comprising of 270 species. Almost 90 percent of its collection are native to Indonesia. -- Antara