Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National park in Assam is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites(declared in 1985) in India and a huge park spread across 430 square kilometers. This park is famous for the One horned Rhinoceros and houses around 2300 of them. Apart from Rhinos, it also has elephants, wild water buffalos, swamp deers and lot of birds. The tigers population also grew over time and it was declared a Tiger reserve in the year 2006. There are a total of 4 ranges that one can visit this park from and has both Elephant and Jeep safaris.

There are both grasslands and woodlands in the park. It is located on the banks of river Brahmaputra and closed in monsoon for safaris from May to October every year due to flooding. It is also famous with the birdies with the variety of birds. There are 2 time slots for elephant safari early in the morning, from 5 am and from 6 am. It takes around an hour and goes into the grasslands which gives a clear view of the animals. Each Elephant can seat 2-3 people depending on the size. The jeep safari timings are from 7.30 am to 10 am in the morning and 1.30 to 3 pm in the afternoon. One needs to enter the park during these timings and the jeep safari for around 2 hours. The safari closes by 12 noon for morning safari and 5 pm for evening safari. The 4 ranges where the Jeep safari takes place are:

1. Central Range at Kohora(Mihimukh)
2. Western Range at Bagori
3. Eastern Range at Agaratoli
4. Burapahar Range at Ghorakhati

Apart from the safaris, one can also visit the Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity park which has a very good collection of Orchids, Bamboo park and also other things worth visiting. There are also tea gardens that one can visit.

This was covered as part of our trip to Assam and Meghalaya.