Kaziranga National Park India

Any discussion about biodiversity and forest wealth is incomplete without the mention of the land of India. The nation is adorned with all types of habitats and ecosystems, which are spread across the length and breadth of the country. Within the country, arguably the richest patch of forest lies in the northeastern part of India. The forests of this part of the country are virtually untouched and to a great extent even unexplored. One of the major National Parks from the northeastern part of India, which is regarded as a great conservation success story is the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

Kaleidoscopic Kaziranga

The Kaziranga National Park, India has the distinction of being in the list of World Heritage Sites declared by the UNESCO. This proves the richness in the biodiversity of this area, which is mainly a swamp forest interspersed with moist deciduous forests. One of the major elements that dominate the landscape of the park is the mighty Brahmaputra River, which floods the plains of the park. The park is spread over an area of 430 sq.km. and is mainly renowned for the Indian one-horned rhinoceros, which is high on the list of the endangered species. The park is famous for its inspirational comeback that was brought about by dedicated conservation efforts by the Forest Department officials. The park, which once had a thriving population of the one-horned rhinoceros, was suddenly faced with the danger of losing this gigantic animal to excessive poaching and game hunting. Till 1950, the park was left with less than 100 rhinos, which made the Assam State Government take stern steps to conserve and enhance the numbers of the rhinos. The park was fortunate to get some of the best conservationists who fought for the survival of the rhinos. The result of this is that today, there are about 1,600 rhinos present in Kaziranga National Park, India.

Kaziranga is a huge game forest with unbelievable diversity in the flora and fauna. Apart from the rhinos, the park consists of mammals like tiger, elephants, wild buffaloes and swamp deer. Apart from a healthy mammal population, the park has a rich avian assortment with as many as 505 species of birds found.

The tall elephant grass and dense forests of Kaziranga National Park, India provides the right refuge to some of the most gigantic and magnificent animals in the world.