Kaziranga National Park
Assam
Photos
Two-thirds of all the one-horned rhinos left on earth live in this one stretch of Assamese floodplain.
What you're looking at
About 430 square kilometres of grassland, marsh and semi-evergreen forest on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra. The river floods it every monsoon, which is what keeps the grassland open and productive — and what forces the animals onto higher ground each year. Inscribed by UNESCO in 1985.
Why it matters
Kaziranga is the great conservation success story of India. The greater one-horned rhinoceros was down to a few dozen animals here in 1905, when Mary Curzon persuaded her husband, the Viceroy, to protect it. The population is now well over 2,000. The park also holds one of the highest densities of tigers of any protected area in the world, though you are far more likely to see rhino.
Look for these
01
The rhino's armour-plate folds
The greater one-horned rhino looks riveted together. Those deep skin folds are how you tell it from African species — and it has one horn, not two.
02
Elephant grass over your head
The grassland is not lawn. Some of it grows to five or six metres, which is why rhinos can vanish twenty metres from the track.
03
Wild water buffalo
Kaziranga holds the largest population of genuinely wild water buffalo anywhere — with a horn spread wider than any other bovine on earth.
04
Swamp deer, locally the barasingha
The eastern swamp deer survives here and essentially nowhere else in India.
05
The flood line on the trees
Look at the highlands and artificial mounds built as animal refuges. The annual flood is the park's engine and its biggest killer.
Before you go
- The park closes during the monsoon, roughly mid-May to October, when it floods. November to April is the season.
- There are four zones — the Western (Kohora) range is the classic for rhino.
- Jeep safaris run morning and afternoon; elephant-back rides also operate in some zones.
- Guwahati is about 200 km away; Jorhat is nearer.
- The Kaziranga Orchid and Biodiversity Park nearby is a separate attraction, not the national park.
Visitor guide to Kaziranga National Park.
Visiting
Entry fee and daily timings weren't available from an official source — please confirm on site.
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