After about six months of closure, Assam’s famous Kaziranga National park is welcoming the tourists for this tourist season starting Sunday.
Assam Forest and Environment Minister, Atuwa Munda ceremonially opened the gates of the park a UNESCO World Heritage Site during a function on Sunday and said that the park is one of the most important tourist destinations of the State.
Munda also thanked the staff of the National Park, particularly the frontline staff, who ensure security of the wildlife braving severe hardships and added that it is because of these dedicated and motivated staff that the one-horned rhinos are safe.
“The gate of the park was thrown open for the tourists today. like previous years, there is heavy rush of the tourists including domestic and foreign tourists today and we hope the number of tourists will increase than the last year,” said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the park, SK Seal Sarma.
“It is difficult to give the number as there was heavy rush today. The staff are also busy with the opening ceremony. However, we can say that all the elephants and jeep we have deployed in different ranges of the park today for safaris were full throughout the day,” he said.
Sarma said that while 18 elephants have been deployed in Kahara range of the park for safaris, another 23 were domesticated elephants of the forest departments were deployed in Agaratoli range of the park for carrying of elephant safaris.
“The number of elephants and jeeps will be increased in the days to come as the number of tourists swell,” he said adding that one can guess the number of tourists by considering the fact that almost all the hotels and restaurants in and around the park have recorded a near total occupancy for the November-end.
Sarma said that about 1.32 lakh tourists had visited the park during the last tourists season including over 8,000 foreign tourists.
The Kaziranga National Park is famous for its over 2,400 one-horned rhinos, which is the highest in any protected area in the world.