Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park is in the Indian state of Assam, on the edge of the Brahmaputra River. It is a World Heritage Site covering tall elephant grass, marshes and tropical forests, and it is famous for the greater one-horned rhinoceros. About two-thirds of all the world's Indian rhinos live here.

The park is also home to Asian elephants, wild water buffalo, swamp deer, tigers and fishing cats, and it was declared a tiger reserve in 2006. It began as a reserve forest in 1905 and celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2005. It is also recognised as an Important Bird Area, so bird watchers visit too.

How the park began

The story starts in 1904, when Mary Curzon, wife of the British viceroy Lord Curzon, visited the area hoping to see a rhino. She saw none and asked her husband to protect the dwindling animals. On 1 June 1905 the Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest was created, covering 232 square kilometres. In 1950 it was renamed a wildlife sanctuary to remove the hunting sense from its name.

Grass, floods and rhinos

Kaziranga's tall grass and wetlands, called beels, suit big grazing animals. A count in 2015 found 2,401 rhinos. Floods from the Brahmaputra can be a danger, and in some years they have killed many animals. Park staff protect the animals and the habitat. Kaziranga is also an Important Bird Area. Visitors can see many animals living together in one big wetland and grassland. That is why the park is so important for wildlife in India and around the world.

On the globe

The toy globe marks Kaziranga in Assam, India, beside the Brahmaputra River. Zoom in to look for rhinos in the grassland.