Kaziranga wildlife sanctury - Assam

   North east India is blessed with wealthy wild life & one can find variety of species of animals, birds, plants etc. in North east India. Kaziranga is a huge forest covering area of 730 Sq. Kms. The forest is around 140 Kms from Guwahati. Capital of Assam state & nearest Airport is jorhat at 80 kms.

   The main attraction of Kaziranga is ample quantity of single horned Rhino & elephants. But there are many interesting things about Kaziranga other than Rhino. There are various plants grow in this forest but most
amazing is elephant grass. If you are lucky enough you can also see Tiger, Indian Bison, dears, Gadwall duck, Wigeon duck, blue winged duck, white winged wood duck, leopard, clouded leopard and the list will go on
& on.

   You have  to stay near Kaziranga if you want to enjoy the safari. There are two type of safaris available elephant safari & jeep safari.

  Elephant Safari:
    It is normally in the morning time & elephants enter the forest in groups. The first safari starts at 5:00 am. & continues till 6:15 or 6:30 am. The probability of locating Rhino is very high in this safari & as the day progresses this probability reduces. The reason is, with first batch of elephants entering the forest most of the animals get distracted & move away from the usual track of elephants. So try to book first safari. No need to worry about darkness.. by the time you enter forest, there is sufficient light. Biggest advantage of elephant safari is you can see rhino from 20-30 feet distance which is amazing.



  Jeep safari:
    It starts in the afternoon. The probability of locating animals is very less & even if you see them you can't go as closer to rhino as you can in elephant safari. The only advantage of this safari is you cover more forest landscape as jeep covers around 30-40 kms of periphery in the safari whereas elephant covers merely 2 kms. I guess those who want to see more kaziranga forest should opt for jeep safari.


   As of 18/11/2009 Elephant safari costs Rs. 325 per person & 4 ppl sit on every elephant. Jeep safari is bit expensive around Rs. 900.



   Things you should know before visiting Kaziranga:

1>     There are around 40 resorts to accommodate you near Kaziranga but none of them is inside forest. So if somebody says stay inside Kaziranga he/she is giving false info.

2>     Kaziranga is not a zoo. Nobody can guarantee whether you will see any animals & how many of them you will get to see.

3>     Safari is not a usual picnic where you can go sing songs, chat loudly & enjoy as you wish. You need to keep pin drop silence, if not the animals get distracted & run away. Finally you as well as other tourists will land up seeing no animals. So please follow the law of forests.

4>     Again, its not zoo, don't mischief with the animals. They are open & your mistake can land you in big trouble.

5>     Carry your camera, there is a lot of matter to shoot / click. But video camera charges are Rs. 500. Still camera Rs. 50 as of 2009. 

6>     There is a big river flows through Kaziranga, try fresh water fish from this river.


   Visiting Kaziranga was great experience & I am sure even you will enjoy it.. but I felt very bad to see, negligence of government towards the forest. 

  They can create a small gallery/ museum showing photographs of different animals found, their info.,  store skins / hornes / skulls of dead animals / show map of forest etc.

   You can contact Mr. Shanku Sharma 09957166630.