India

Kaziranga National Park

WHS Score 3.56 Votes 19 Average 4.08

Kaziranga National Park comprises wet alluvial grasslands home to the world's primary protection area for the Indian rhino.

The park’s ecosystem consists of tall elephant grass, marshland, shallow pools and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, crisscrossed by four major rivers including the Brahmaputra. Two-thirds of the world's remaining Indian rhinos live in the park. Kaziranga also has a high density of tigers and large breeding populations of elephants, water buffalo and swamp deer. It is an important area for migratory birds at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian flyways.

Community Perspective: The park is well-developed for tourism and provides the best viewing of rhinos in Asia. Due to seasonal flooding, it is only open from October or November to April. Solivagant was "lucky" to see both a tiger and the results of poaching. Els compares 3 of the different areas in the park.

>

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Kaziranga National Park (ID: 337)
Country
India
Status
Inscribed 1985 Site history
History of Kaziranga National Park
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • ix
  • x
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Wildlife habitat: Fauna
Travel Information
Seasonal WHS
Seasonal WHS
The Park is closed from Mid April to Mid October …
Recent Connections
View all (27) .
Connections of Kaziranga National Park
Individual People
  • Lord Curzon
    After his wife visited Assam in 1904 to see 1 horned Rhino - and failed to do, Curzon created Kaziranga Reserve Forest which formed the basis of the later NP.

    See en.wikipedia.org

Geography
Trivia
Ecology
  • Endemic Bird Species
    Assam Plains EBA, Kaziranga IBA: Marsh Babbler (Pellorneum palustre), Black-breasted Parrotbill (Paradoxornis flavirostris)
  • Oxbow lakes
    "The gangetic dolphin is also found in some of the closed oxbow lakes." (AB)
  • Otters
    Smooth-coated otter, small-clawed otter
  • Bovines
    Gaur (Indian Bison), wild water buffalo
  • Elephants
    Asian elephant (Indian Elephant)
  • River Dolphins
    Ganges river dolphin
  • Critically endangered fauna species
    White-bellied Heron (< 250 individuals), Slender-billed Vulture (730-870 remaining), White-rumped vulture (4000-6000 remaining)

    See www.iucnredlist.org

  • Strepsirrhini
    slow loris
  • Rhino habitat
    the world’s major stronghold of the Indian one-horned rhino (OUV)
  • Tiger habitat
  • Bears
    Asiatic Black Bear, Sloth Bear
  • Bird Migrations
    The African-Eurasian Flyway
  • Over 300 bird species
    “more than 480” (IUCN Outlook 2020)
  • Pelicans
    "There is a pelican rookery (grey pelican) near Kaziranga village" (AB ev)
  • Pangolin
    Chinese pangolin, Indian pangolins (wiki)
  • Oldest National Parks
    1905 (oldest in Asia)
  • Preserved by notable Conservationists
    "Balaram Hazarika (alias Nigona Shikari) was a noted Assamese animal tracker who showed Lady Curzon around Kaziranga and impressed upon her his urgency of wildlife conservation. Concerned about the dwindling numbers of rhinoceros, she asked her husband, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, to take necessary political action to save the rhinoceros. During the centenary celebrations of her visit, from 11 to 17 February 2005, Hazarika's grandson, Bapiram Hazarika, a mahout, was honoured along with Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale, Lord Curzon's grandson, for the contributions his grandfather made toward making Kaziranga a national park" (Wiki)

    See en.wikipedia.org

Damaged
WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Holocene
    What Kaziranga is today was perhaps once the main channel of the red river which habitually changed its course over the century due to earthquakes at various points of time....This volatile movement of the river is surely responsible for the heavy deposition of silt and the simultaneous formation of beels of various lengths and depths in this area. The landmasses formed by the heavy deposition of silt in this riverine area thus gradually stabilised with the natural growth of saccharum and other grass species. The swift and unpredictable river still erodes a large portion of the land mass, particularly in those areas where bigger trees have not yet sprung up...this on-going process of erosion and deposition of silt on the northern boundary of the park, which is the Brahmaputra river itself.
Visiting conditions
  • Seasonal WHS
    The Park is closed from Mid April to Mid October due to monsoon rains during which the Brahmaputra breaks its banks.
18
  • Location for a classic documentary
    The park first gained international prominence after Robin Banerjee, a physician-turned-photographer and filmmaker, produced a documentary titled Kaziranga, which was aired on television in Berlin in 1961 and became a runaway success.(wiki)

    See en.wikipedia.org

News
hindustantimes.com 02/01/2021
Rhino kills forest department staf…
bbc.com 07/20/2020
Assam flooding: Several rare rhino…
timesofindia.indiatimes.com 07/16/2017
Assam flood: Animal casualty in Ka…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 27/11/24.

Els Slots

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park (Inscribed)

Kaziranga National Park by Els Slots

Kaziranga is the site I looked forward to the most on this India trip, and it certainly did not disappoint. I splurged on staying for 2 nights in the upmarket Diphlu River Lodge (335 EUR p/n all-in). They offer safari packages similar to the lodges in African national parks, including all meals and activities. Its location turned out to be a bit noisy (it lies close to the main road Jorhat-Guwahati) and the somewhat stiffish service didn’t quite reach the African Safari Lodge level, where understated elegance and convivial atmosphere often appear effortless. On the plus side: I had my private car and guide who took me on generously long (4-5 hour) game drives and steered away from the crowds. The food and the room were excellent as well.

The park is only open from November to April, as the rest of the year the area suffers from the effects of serious flooding covering up to 80% of its surface. Markings on park buildings show how high the water reached in certain years. Both man and animal flee to higher-lying areas such as man-made “islands” called chapories and the main road. This also means that the park has to redo all the (unpaved) roads every season, sometimes creating new roads and bridges as the old ones were swept away or the whole riverbank moved.

Included in my safari package were three game drives which brought me to different parts of the park. The first one was the Western …

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 25/01/14.

Thomas Buechler

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park (Inscribed)

Kaziranga National Park by Els Slots

This huge 430km2 National Park in the northeastern State of Assam has as its great attraction its daily elephant rides at dawn.Visitors mainly flock here to view the park's wildlife, mostly the Indian unicorn rhinos numbering now almost 3000 pieces.Their horns are so precious that just in 2013, 37 rhinos have been killed by poachers.The powder of the horns is then sold to China and Vietnam for medical purposes.Its worth more than gold.better to arrange a safari with the second slot around 7am.Not only because of the morning fog and higher temperature, especially in winter, but also the spots where the rather shy rhinos are hiding in thick grass, has already been discovered by the earlier groups.Other animals are the Wild Buffalos, the King Cobra and Pyton snakes, the Swamp and Hog deers, Bengal tigers and migratory birds from Siberia, all very much appreciating the waterways of the wide Brahmaputra river.In fact the grassy lowlands are mostly flooded during the rainy season in summer.Best time to visit is from december to april when temperatures are low.

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 20/03/13.

Solivagant

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park (Inscribed)

Kaziranga National Park by Solivagant

Whilst it was perhaps unsurprising that Manas had not previously received a review on this Web site I am amazed that, to date, neither has Kaziranga! It can surely only be that relatively few “WHS enthusiasts” make it up to NE India - a shame as it provided us with some truly world class wildlife viewing experiences.

Kaziranga is far more developed for tourism than Manas (which is around 7 hours west by road). Indeed at Kohora a significant “tourist village” has grown up with a wide range of hotels. The “Central” park entrance is situated there but the Western and Eastern entrances are also worth considering c 15 and 25 kms away respectively so a Gypsy hire costs more) We gave the park 2 full days and had morning and afternoon game runs by Gypsy (jeep) on both and an elephant ride on one morning (bookings required!!). Unlike at Manas, the Jeep rides are limited in time to around 2.5 hours with the morning one starting at around 7.30 after the 2 morning elephant rides are complete (they start at c 5.30 and 6.30 am and last up to an hour – but usually less!!). If you are not mobile you can go to the Central HQ, pay your fees (including 500 IR for a camera if you are a non-Indian) and rent/share a Gypsy there – you would also need a short Gypsy hire to get to an elephant booking as this starts some way from the …

Keep reading 0 comments