The last stronghold of the one-horned rhino — 2,600 greater one-horned rhinoceros in a single national park, Bengal tigers, and the Brahmaputra flood-protected grasslands of Assam
Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam — 430 sq km of tall elephant grass, semi-evergreen forests, and wetlands on the alluvial floodplain of the Brahmaputra river, 195km east of Guwahati on NH 37. The park protects the world's largest population of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis): approximately 2,600 rhinos, representing nearly 70% of the world's entire population of the species. The park also has one of the highest densities of Bengal tigers of any protected area in India (currently around 120 tigers), th…
Kaziranga's rhino population declined dramatically in the 19th century from hunting by the Ahom aristocracy and later by British colonial sport hunters — by 1904, fewer than 12 rhinos survived in the area. Lady Curzon (wife of the Viceroy) visited in 1904 and was appalled by their near-extinction; Viceroy Curzon declared the Kaziranga Reserved Forest in 1905. The population has recovered from near-zero to 2,600 today, one of the most successful large-mammal conservation recoveries in history. The Brahmaputra flood cycle (annual summer flooding to depths of 2-3m) is both the park's ecological…