The Assam Forest Department has said the elephant safari at the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) will be closed to tourists from May 1, 2023 while the jeep safari will be closed from May 16, 2023. This was mentioned in a notification issued by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, Kaziranga National Park.
The UNESCO world heritage site is usually closed to tourists before the onset of the monsoon season. The park remains closed throughout the rainy season and reopens once the water subsides from the interior and remote parts of the park.
The park authorities also have to prepare for the next tourist season by repairing damaged roads and wooden bridges. Torrential rains in the Upper Assam districts and the neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh cause devastation in the park as almost 90 per cent of its area gets submerged by the surging floodwaters of the Brahmaputra River that flows parallel to the park.
The forest guards have to face a harrowing time during the catastrophe as all the anti-poaching camps get inundated.
Moreover, the guards need to be extra vigilant round the clock during the floods as poachers take advantage of the situation or the animals get crushed under speeding vehicles while trying to cross National Highway 37 to take refuge in the nearby Karbi Anglong hills.
Over 440 animals, including the highly endangered one-horned rhino, were killed in flood-related incidents in one of the worst-ever 2012 floods that submerged 90 percent of the park’s area, forcing the poor animals to go to the nearby Karbi Anglong Hills after crossing the Highway.
The majority of the animals killed were 379 hog deer. The bodies of 441 animals, including seven rhinos and nine swamp deer were found in the flooded national park. On the other hand, two rhinos, who may have escaped the rising waters, had been poached in nearby hills.
Kaziranga is famous for the Big Five namely the Rhinoceros, Tiger, Elephant, Asiatic Wild Buffalo and the Eastern Swamp Deer.
According to the 2022 Rhino census, the national park boasts an estimated 2,613 one-horned rhinoceros, which is the highest in the world. It also has the highest density of the Royal Bengal Tigers in India.
The KNPTR reopens on October 1 or 2 for the next season after remaining closed to tourists for about five months.
