Everything about Kaziranga National Park totally explained
Kaziranga National Park (
Kazirônga Rastriyô Uddan, ) is a
national park in the
Golaghat and
Nagaon districts of
Assam,
India. It is a
World Heritage Site, and two-thirds of the world's
Great One-horned Rhinoceroses live in the park. Kaziranga has the highest density of
tigers among
protected areas in the world and was declared a
Tiger Reserve in 2006. The park has large breeding populations of
elephants,
water buffalo and
swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognised as an
Important Bird Area by
Birdlife International for conservation of avifaunal species. The park has achieved notable success in
wildlife conservation compared to other protected areas in
India. Located on the edge of the
Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high-species diversity and visibility.
Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall
elephant grass,
marshland and dense
tropical moist broadleaf forests crisscrossed by four major rivers, including the
Brahmaputra, and has numerous
small bodies of water. Kaziranga has been the theme of several books, documentaries and songs. The park celebrated its centenary in 2005 after its establishment in 1905 as a
reserve forest.
Etymology
Though the
etymology of the name Kaziranga isn't certain, there exist a number of possible explanations. According to one legend, a girl named Ranga, from a nearby village, and a youth named Kazi, from
Karbi Anglong, fell in love. This match wasn't acceptable to their families, and the couple disappeared into the forest, never to be seen again. The forest was then named after them. According to another legend,
Srimanta Sankardeva, the 16th century
Vaisnava saint-scholar, once blessed a childless couple, Kazi and Rangai, and asked them to dig a big pond in the region so that their name would live on. Testimony to the history of the name can be found in some records, which state that once, while the
Ahom king Pratap Singha (17th century) was passing by the region, he was particularly impressed by the taste of fish and on inquiry, he was told it came from Kaziranga.
However, some historians believe that the name Kaziranga was derived from the Karbi Word
Kajir-a-rang, which means "the village of Kajir (kajiror gaon)". Among the
Karbis, Kajir is a common name for a girl child, and it was believed that a woman named Kajir once ruled over the area. Fragments of monoliths associated with Karbi rule found scattered in the area seem to bear testimony to this assertion. Kaziranga could also mean the "Land of red goats (Deer)", as the word
Kazi in the
Karbi language means "Goat", and
Rangai means "Red". After failing to spot a rhinoceros, for which the area was renowned, she persuaded her husband to take urgent measures to protect the dwindling species. On
June 1,
1905, the Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest was created with an area of . Over the next three years, the park area was extended by, to the banks of the
Brahmaputra River. In 1908, Kaziranga was designated a Reserve forest. In 1916, it was converted to a game sanctuary—The Kaziranga Game Sanctuary—and remained so till 1938, when hunting was prohibited and visitors were permitted to enter the park.
Kaziranga has witnessed several natural and man-made calamities in recent decades. Floods caused by overflowing of river Brahmaputra have led to significant losses in animal life. Encroachment by humans along the periphery has also led to a diminished forest cover and a loss of habitat. An ongoing separatist movement in Assam by the
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has crippled the economy of the region, but Kaziranga has remained unaffected by the movement; in fact, instances of rebels from the United Liberation Front of Assam protecting the animals, and in extreme cases killing the poachers, have been reported since the 1980s.
Geography
Kaziranga is located between latitudes 26°30' N and 26°45' N, and longitudes 93°08' E to 93°36' E within two districts in the
Indian state of
Assam—the
Kaliabor subdivision of
Nagaon district and the
Bokakhat subdivision of
Golaghat district. Kaziranga covers an area of, with approximately lost to erosion in recent years. Kaziranga is one of the largest tracts of protected land in the sub-Himalayan belt, and due to the presence of highly diverse and visible species, has been described as a "
biodiversity hotspot". The park is located in the
Indomalaya ecozone, and the dominant
biomes of the region are
Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests of the
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome and a frequently flooded variant of the
Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands of the
tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome.
Climate
The park experiences three seasons: summer, monsoon, and winter. The winter season, between November and February, is mild and dry, with a mean high of and low of .
Fauna
Kaziranga contains significant breeding populations of 35 mammalian species, of which 15 are
threatened as per the
IUCN Red List. and
Eastern Swamp Deer (468). Significant populations of large herbivores include elephants (1,940),
gaur (30) and
sambar (58). Small herbivores include the
Indian Muntjac,
wild boar and
hog deer. Nine of the 14
primate species found in India occur in the park. It is home to a variety of migratory birds, water birds, predators, scavengers and game birds. Birds such as the
Lesser White-fronted Goose,
Ferruginous Duck,
Baer's Pochard duck and
Lesser Adjutant,
Greater Adjutant,
Black-necked Stork and
Asian Openbill stork migrate from
Central Asia to the park during winter. Riverine birds include the
Blyth's Kingfisher,
White-bellied Heron,
Dalmatian Pelican,
Spot-billed Pelican,
Spotted Greenshank and
Black-bellied Tern. Game birds include the
Swamp Francolin,
Bengal Florican and
Pale-capped Pigeon.
Monitor lizard species found here include the
Bengal monitor and the
Water Monitor.
Flora
Four main types of vegetation types exist in the park. These are
alluvial inundated grasslands,
alluvial savanna woodlands,
tropical moist mixed deciduous forests and
tropical semi-evergreen forests. Based on
Landsat data for 1986, percent coverage by vegetation is: tall grasses 41%, short grasses 11%, open jungle 29%, swamps 4%, rivers and water bodies 8%, and sand 6%.
There is a difference in altitude between the eastern and western areas, with the western side being at a lower altitude. The western reaches of the park are dominated by grasslands. Tall elephant grass is found on higher ground, while short grasses cover the lower grounds surrounding the beels or flood-created ponds.
There are many different aquatic floras in the lakes, ponds and along the river shores. The
invasive Water Hyacinth is very common, often choking the water bodies, but it's cleared during destructive floods.
Administration
The Wildlife wing of the forest department of the Government of Assam is responsible for the administration and management of Kaziranga, which is headquartered at
Bokakhat. Reports have suggested that there are links between these poaching activities and funding of
Islamic militant groups in
Bangladesh connected to
Al Qaida.
Preventive measures such as construction of anti-poaching camps and maintenance of existing ones, patrolling, intelligence gathering and control over the use of firearms around the park have reduced the number of casualties.
Perennial flooding and heavy rains have resulted in death of wild animals and damage to the conservation infrastructures. To escape the water-logged areas, many animals migrate to elevated regions outside the park boundaries where they're susceptible to hunting, hit by speeding vehicles, or subject to reprisals by villagers for damaging their crops. To prevent the spread of diseases and maintain the genetic distinctness of the wild species, systematic steps such as immunization of livestock in surrounding villages, and fencing of sensitive areas of the park, which are susceptible to encroachment by local cattle are undertaken periodically. The park remains closed for visitors from mid-April to mid-October due to monsoon rains. Four tourist lodges at Kohora and three tourist lodges inside the park are maintained by the
Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Assam. Private resorts are available outside the park borders.
Transport
Authorised guides of the forest department accompany all travellers inside the park.
Mahout-guided elephant rides and
Jeep or other
4WD vehicles rides are booked in advance.
In popular culture
Kaziranga has been the theme, or has been mentioned in, several books, documentaries, and songs. The park first gained prominence after
Robin Banerjee (a doctor turned photographer and filmmaker) produced a documentary titled
Kaziranga, which aired on
Berlin television in 1961 and became a runaway success.
American science fiction and
fantasy author,
L. Sprague de Camp wrote about the park in his poem, "
Kaziranga, Assam" . It was first published in 1970 in
Demons and Dinosaurs, a
poetry collection, and was reprinted as
Kaziranga in in 2005.
Kaziranga Trail (
Children's Book Trust, 1979), a
children's storybook by Arup Dutta about rhinoceros poaching in the national park, won the
Shankar's Award. The Assamese singer
Bhupen Hazarika refers to Kaziranga in one of his songs. The
BBC conservationist and travel writer
Mark Shand authored a book and the corresponding BBC documentary
Queen of the Elephants, based on the life of the first female mahout in recent times—
Parbati Barua of Kaziranga. The book went on to win the 1996
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the, providing publicity simultaneously to the profession of mahouts, and to Kaziranga.
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