Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga is a title of a remarkable success story of conservation of the One Horned India Rhinoceros and other wild lives in the North East India. It is not only the homeland of the Great Indian One Horned Rhinoceros, but also provides shelter to a variety of wild lives.

It is one of the significant natural habitat for in situ conservation of biological biodiversity of universal value. The values and criteria made Kaziranga National Park to get inscribed in the World Heritage Site List 1985. The Kaziranga National Park area consists of 429.93 Sq.Km. with an additional area of 429.40 Sq.Km. and situated in the two districts of Assam, namely Golaghat and Nagaon. The total area of the park within Nagaon district is 175 Sq.Km., out of which 135 Sq.Km. falls under Bagori Forest Range office and 40 Sq.Km. falls within Ghorakati Forest Range office.

About Indian one Horned Rhinocerous

A few centuries ago, the Indian one horned Rhinoceros ranged across the north Indian plains in the wetlands of the rivers Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra. Today this survivor from the prehistoric times is found only in pockets in the north eastern state of Assam and in Nepal. In Assam, their Rhino habitat is limited to just two national parks - Kaziranga and Manas.

Kaziranga National Park is a birding paradise; the grasslands are a raptor country that can be seen on safari makes a remarkable experience.

Type of Rhinos

There are five kinds of Rhinos found in the world - white rhino, black rhino, Indian rhino, Javan rhino, and Sumatran rhino. The white and black Rhinos are live in Africa, while Indian, Javan and Sumatran are Asian Rhinos, found in North Pakistan, Assam in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The usual weight of an Indian Rhino is 2,000 kg. The one way to distinguish between a an Indian Rhino and an African Rhino is the single horn. Both white and black African Rhinos have two horns. Another distinguishing feature of the Indian Rhinoceros is its skin, which is knobby and falls into deep folds at its joints, giving a look like the Rhino is wearing a coat of amour.

All the Rhinos are vegetarian and Indian Rhinos mostly eat grass, fruits, leaves and crops. Their well developed upper lip helps them to eat out tall elephant grasses, which they like the best. It also helps them to pull out aquatic plants by the roots. Indian Rhinos usually prefer to roam around in the morning and evening hours to avoid the heat of the day and live for about 40 years.

Kaziranga National Park is a birding paradise; the grasslands are a raptor country that can be seen on safari makes a remarkable experience. These include the Oriental Honey Buzzard, Black-Shouldered Kite, Black Kite, Brahminy Kite, Pallas's Fishing Eagle, White Tailed Eagle, Grey-Headed Fishing Eagle, Himalayan Griffon, etc. Huge numbers of migratory birds descend on the parks lakes and marshy areas during winters, including Greylag Geese, Bar-Headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall, Falcated Duck, Red-Crested Pochard and Northern Shoveller.

Wild Attractions of Kaziranga - Indian Rhino

The open county makes wildlife viewing at Kairanga fairly easy. A day's outing is often sufficient for visitors to see most of the major species here. Elephants take them into the park at the early morning hours. Other wildlife attractions at Kaziranga include Barasingha, Wild Buffalo, Wild elephants and Wild Boars. The grassland area is a raptor country and the crested Serpent Eagle and the Pallas Fishing Eagle and the grey-headed fishing Eagle can be seen circling over the marshes. The water-bird variety includes Swamp Partridges, Bar-headed Geese, Whistling Teal, the Bengal Florican, Storks, Herons and even Pelicans.