Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park
Inscribed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985, the Kaziranga National Park has the world’s largest population of the one-horned rhino. The park is also the home for tigers, elephants, panthers, sloth bear, hog deer, otters, badgers, capped langurs, hoolock gibbons, wild boar, wild buffalo, pythons, monitor lizards and a multitude of birds.

Covering 430 sq. km across the districts of Golaghat and Nagaon in central Assam along the banks of the Brahmaputra, the Kaziranga landscape is characterized by swamps and tall grasses, an ideal habitat for the one-horned rhino. Apart from the animals mentioned above, the park is a bird-lovers paradise, where the Oriental Honey Buzzard, Black-Shouldered Kite, Black Kite, Brahminy Kite, Pallas's Fishing Eagle, White Tailed Eagle, Grey-Headed Fishing Eagle and Himalayan Griffon fly unhindered. The swamps of the park offer a safe habitat for migratory birds in winter. These include the Greylag Geese, Bar-Headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall, Falcated Duck, Red-Crested Pochard and Northern Shoveller.

The pleasant weather from November to March is most favorable for visiting Kaziranga, Migratory birds can also be observed during this period. An elephant safari and a jeep safari are the best ways to observe the rhinos ambling across the grassland. The park is approximately 210 kms from Guwahati, the nearest airport, and takes about four hours to drive down in good traffic conditions.