Kaziranga National Park Tour India

Kaziranga National Park Safari Tour

The Kaziranga National Park is the only National Park in the State situated in central Assam with an area of 430sq. km. It is the home of the great Indian one horned Rhinoceros (Unicornis). The landscape of Kaziranga is of sheer forest, tall elephant grass, rugged reeds, mellow marshes and shallow pools. Kaziranga has a history of its own. Lady Curzon first heard about the Rhinos of Kaziranga from her British tea planter friends and came to Assam in 1904-05. Although she could not see the animal, she spotted hoof prints with three toes and believed that such an animal did exist. On her return, she persuaded lord Curzon to do something to save this animal from total annihilation. Lord Curzon set the wheels of the British bureaucracy rolling, and on June 1, 1905, a preliminary notification announcing the intention of the Government to declare 57,273.60 acres of Kaziranga as a reserved forest was issued. Finally, Kaziranga was declared as reserved forest on January 3, 1908, and was officially closed for shooting. On January 28, 1913 the area of reserved forest was expanded with the inclusion of another 13,506 acres. Kaziranga was declared a Game Sanctuary on November10, 1916.

In 1938, the then conservator of forest, A.J.W. Milroy stopped all poaching and opened Kaziranga to visitors. Because the word ‘game’ connotated animals for hunting, in 1950, the then senior conservator of forest Mr P D Stracey, changed the term to ‘wildlife sanctuary’. Gradually the sanctuary, begun as a nucleus encompassing a small area, expanded to its present size. Finally on February 11, 1974, the name was changed to Kaziranga National Park. The one horned Rhinoceros, Elephant, Indian bison, Swamp Deer, Samber, Hog Deer, Sloth Bear, Tiger, Leopard cat, Jungle cat, Hog badger, Capped langur, Hollock gibbon, Jackal, Goose, Hornbills, Ibis, Cormorants, Egret, Heron fishing eagle etc. all form a part of the very complex ecological balance of the park. During Winter a large number of migratory birds are also seen here.