Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site, reopened on Friday after remaining closed during the monsoon. State forest minister Rockybul Hussain officially declared the park open at a function in Kaziranga’s Kohora forest range.
After the park was opened on Friday, nearly 553 tourists, including 12 foreigners, visited the Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site in Assam.
“Having such a large number of visitors on the first day itself is encouraging. The number of both domestic and foreign tourists in Kaziranga has risen over the years. This year, I expect the number to increase further,” Hussain said.
Last year, 1,21,000 visitors, of whom nearly 7,000 were foreigners, visited the park. Like every year, the park will remain open till April next year.
Kaziranga divisional forest officer S K Seal Sharma said the park collected Rs 94,359 as revenue on the first day alone. “Though the main opening ceremony was held in the Kohora forest range, the other ranges, Bagori, Burapahar and Agoratoli, were also thrown open to tourists on Friday,” he said.
Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. A World Heritage Site, the park hosts two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned Rhinoceroses.
Kaziranga boasts the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.
Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International for conservation of avifaunal species.
Compared to other protected areas in India, Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation.
Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high species diversity and visibility.
Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, crisscrossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, and the park includes numerous small bodies of water.
Kaziranga has been the theme of several books, songs, and documentaries.
The park celebrated its centennial in 2005 after its establishment in 1905 as a reserve forest.