The Gates of the Kaziranga National Park Reopened for the Wildlife Visitors
Guwahati, Assam
New Update: 13 Oct 2018
The famous wildlife destination of the Northeastern region of India and a World Heritage Site, the Kaziranga National Park once again reopened for the tourism activities inside the park on Thursday, 11th of October after the routine closure of the park in the monsoon season every year. After the reopening, the park has welcomed around 150 wildlife enthusiasts which include 30 foreigners as well for the safari on the first day itself. This is an indication of the future rush of wildlife lovers visiting this park this season. The Kaziranga National Park is among few tiger reserve parks where elephant safari is being organized for the visitors. So, the visitors can explore the park through the Jeep safari as well as the elephant safari.
Like most of the National Parks in India, the Kaziranga National Park also remains closed during the monsoon season for about 3-4 months for the safety issues caused due to the heavy rains. The forest of Kaziranga spreads over the floodplains of the mighty Brahmaputra River so the forest gets affected by the heavy floods every year. After the flood water drains out, the park needs much renovation works to resume the tourism activities. Being home to around two-thirds of the total world population of One-horned Rhinoceros as well as tiger, elephant, wild buffalos and other wild animals, the Kaziranga National Park remains on the top of the travel wish list of the wildlife enthusiasts.
On Thursday the Kaziranga National Park has opened only two zones for the Jeep and Elephant safaris and the other two zones will be opened shortly for the tourists. For the time being, the Bagori and Kohora tourism zones are opened for the safari and the other two zones Agaratoli and Burapahar will follow soon. According to the reports from the office of the Kaziranga Divisional Forest Officer, Bankim Sharma, the park administration has deployed 17 departmental Elephants for the safari on the first day. “We are expecting more tourists, this year. The arrival of the migratory birds has created great enthusiasm among the visitors. We have removed hyacinth from many water bodies so that the birds have more space,” said Mr. Sharma, the DFO Kaziranga.
He also said that around 15 elephants in the Kohora range and around 12 elephants in the Bagori range would be deployed for the elephant safari if the tourist flow increases. Last year, around 73,674 tourists visited Kaziranga among which around 5,748 tourists were foreigners. The park has earned the total revenue of 79.47 lakh rupees last year by the tourism activities. A wave of flood has hit in September this year damaged many bridges and Safari tracks in the park, which was the reason for the delay in the reopening schedule this year. But, the damaged infrastructures were fully repaired before the reopening of the park. Now, it is completely safe and convenient to organize the Jeep and elephant safari in the park, the park official said.
