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The Kaziranga National Park is famed for being the land of Rhinoceros Unicornis- the great Indian one-horned rhino, more than two tons of frightening muscle and tank-like belligerence. With its armour-plating hide and its 24” long horn- which really isn’t a horn, but compressed hair- the Indian rhino once ruled the roost in the wetlands of north-east India. Hunted mercilessly, it was on the brink of extinction when conservationists awoke to its plight. The result, and a successful one at that, is Kaziranga National Park, in Assam.
This wildlife sanctuary stretching over an area of 430sq km on the south bank of the Brahmaputra River, Kaziranga is one of the last refuges of the Indian rhino. A vast stretch of coarse, tall elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical forests, it has managed to survive the onslaught of poachers, urbanization and burgeoning human populations.
Kaziranga National Park is home also to elephants, sloth bears, tigers, leopard cats, jungle cats, hog badgers, capped langurs, hoolock gibbons, pigs, jackals, porcupines, pythons, wild buffaloes, Indian bison, swamp deer, sambhars and hog deer. Besides these, the park has a respectable avian population, which increases considerably in the winter, when migrating birds visit the park. So travel to Kaziranga and explore its beauty yourself.
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