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Kaziranga National Park reopens to tourists

Guwahati: About 150 tourists including 30 foreigners had elephant and jeep safari rides on the first day of the new tourist season in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) when it was opened for visitors on Thursday. The gates of the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district were also opened the same day. Pobitora has the highest concentration of rhino population in the world.

Divisional Forest Officer (Kaziranga) Bankim Sarma said 17 departmental elephants were deployed for the safari on the first day, besides jeeps, in three ranges of the National Park — Agaratoli, Kaziranga and Bagori which are now open.

He said migratory birds from different parts of the world have started arriving too. “We are expecting more tourists this year [than previous years],” he added. The arrival of the migratory birds has created great enthusiasm among visitors. We have removed hyacinth from many waterbodies so that the birds have more space.”

Within a week’s time the park authorities will engage private elephants for the safari: some elephant owners have approached the park authorities. Some 13 elephants have been found to be fit for the safari. The Forest Department has 50 elephants in Kaziranga but most of them are used in patrolling — for the protection of the rhinos and other park animals from poachers.

Kaziranga had 73,674 visitors including 5,748 foreign tourists last year, which fetched the park a revenue of Rs. 79.47 lakh. The challenge of protecting rhinos from poachers remains. As many as 16 rhinos have been killed by poachers since January 2007.

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