Kaziranga National Park
In the deep forests of the North- East, time stands perfectly still.
And in here lives the survivor of the prehistoric times, the one horned
Rhinoceros. In the state of Assam, their habitat is limited to the
two national parks - Kaziranga and Manas. At Kaziranga, the open country
makes wildlife viewing fairly easy, while Manas, a known Tiger Reserve,
is located in the remotest region of the Himalayan foothills.Located
on the banks of Brahmaputra river, Kaziranga has the largest population
of one-horned rhinoceroses in the world. The Kaziranga National Park
is located in Jorhal district in Assam. It covers an area of 430 square
kilometres, bodered by the mighty Brahmaputra River in the north.
Due to torrential monsoons and annual floods, the ideal season for
visiting the park is an unusually short three months, though it is
open from mid-November to April. Famous for its rhinos, it also has
a healthy population of other animals like tigers, wild buffaloes
and elephants. It is the most popular park in the region and is easily
accessible by road. Rare species of birds, like the hornbill, also
draw wildlife and birding enthusiasts in large numbers. Accommodation
facilities are plentiful and visitors rarely return from safaris disappointed
The National Park gives the visitor a chance to see the fauna including
tigers, elephants, panthers, bears and thousands of birds at fairly
close quarters. The best time to visit Kaziranga is from November
to March. Kaziranga's ecology is dominated by the river, which floods
dramatically every year. A tributary, the Moru Diphlu, forms the park's
southern boundary and exacerbates the flood situation. As much as
three-quarters of the park may get submerged. Animals are forced to
higher grounds, but hundreds still perish every year. Post-monsoon,
Kaziranga transforms into a swamp thriving with wildlife.
A World Heritage Site in Assam, Kaziranga constitutes miles of shallow
swamp and tall elephant grass with dense forest. The Mikir Hills to
its south-west rise to nearly 1,220 m and some of the rivulets that
flow down from these hills drain into the many lakes (bils) within
the park.
Kaziranga has the largest population of the One-horned Rhinoceros,
over 1,200 individuals at last count. In the 1800s, the area was the
hunting preserve of the local rajas, one of whom is said to have killed
97 rhinos in a month! Such mindless slaughter almost wiped out the
species, and by 1908 the surviving population was estimated at only
12. Stringent steps were then taken and in 1926, the area was offered
protection. It remained closed to the public until 1938. Kaziranga
received the status of a sanctuary in 1940 but it was only in 1954,
when the Assam Rhino Bill was passed, that the animal finally received
the special protection it needed. Kaziranga became a national park
in 1974.
Most of the park's wildlife can be easily seen, often in a couple
of days. Though the forest department organizes mini-bus and jeep
rides, the unhurried elephant rides are the most rewarding, facilitating
close encounters with Swamp Deer (Barasingha), Hog-deer, Asian Elephant,
and of course, the Onehorned Rhinoceros. Tigers are rarely sighted
in the maze of elephant grass and dense growth. The avifauna is extremely
rich and varied, and includes both waterside and woodland birds.
This wealth of species makes Kaziranga a highly visited reserve in
the flood-free months and the park can get especially crowded over
weekends. Bordered by human settlements and tea plantations, it is
a troubled wilderness, and for a while faced the brunt of social unrest.
To escape the flood waters the wildlife often moves outside the park,
where it is more exposed to poachers. Conservation initiatives to
increase the park's area to 820 sq km from the present 472 sq km are
in progress, though slow-moving.
Meanwhile, life continues in Kaziranga, miraculously surviving the
ravages of the untamed river, but increasingly vulnerable to human
intrusion.
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