Located in the state of Assam in India, Kaziranga National Park, covering an area of around 1000 square kilometers, is the single largest undisturbed area in the Brahmaputra Valley, a vast expanse of tall elephant-grass, marshland, and dense tropical forests, and home to more than 2600 Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Criss-crossed by four major rivers, including the River Brahmaputra, and containing several numerous small water bodies, the park is also home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild buffalo, and swamp deer. Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high species diversity and visibility, and is one among the five famous national parks in India, declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Kaziranga National Park is also is recognized as an Important Bird Area by the BirdLife International, since during the winter season, birds like ferruginous duck, Baer’s pochard duck, white-fronted goose, black-necked stork and others, migrate in the park from the Central Asia.
The history of Kaziranga National Park dates back to 1904, when Mary Victoria Leiter Curzon, wife of Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, visited the area. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, she failed to see a single rhinoceros in the forest, although during that period, Kaziranga had been far-famed for its huge population of rhinoceros. She reported the matter to her husband and requested him to take urgent measures to protect the apparently endangered animal. In his turn, Lord Curzon proposed for the creation of a reserve forest in Kaziranga on 4 November 1904, and the Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest, with an area of 232 sq km, was created on the 1st day of June 1905, by notification of the Chief Commissioner of the area.
Over the next three years, the park area was extended by 152 sq km and was designated a Reserve Forest in 1908. However, although it was renamed the Kaziranga Game Sanctuary in 1916, it was again changed to become the Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in 1950. Much later, Kaziranga was designated a National Park, the first national park in the state of Assam, in 1974. Interestingly, the name Kaziranga was changed to Kaziranha in 1934, and some people call it by that name till today.
The origin of the name Kaziranga is really unknown. According to a local legend, a girl named Rawnga and a young man named Kazi fell in love, but as the match was not acceptable to the respective families, they eloped into the forest, never to be seen again, and the forest was named after them.
However, in the Karbi language, which a member of the Kuki-Chin-Naga branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by the Karbi people, one of the major indigenous ethnic tribe in the Northeast India, especially in the hill areas of Assam, the word Kazi means goat, while Rangai stands for red. Hence, Kaziranga could also mean the Land of red goats or deer. However, some historians maintain, that the name Kaziranga was derived from the Karbi word Kajir-a-rong, which means the village of Kajir, or kajiror gaon.
Depending on the altitude of the area, the landscape of Kaziranga National Park is enriched with four main types of vegetation, which include the alluvial inundated grasslands, alluvial savanna woodlands, tropical moist mixed deciduous forests and tropical semi-evergreen forests.
Being at a lower altitude, the western areas of the park are dominated by grasslands, tall elephant grass on higher ground, and short grasses on the lower grounds, surrounding the ponds, created by the annual floods. Common tall grasses of the area include elephant grass, spear grass, sugarcanes and common reeds, along with different small grasses, which are shaded by scattered trees like kumbhi, Indian gooseberry, cotton tree in savanna woodlands and elephant apple in the inundated grasslands. While thick evergreen forests in the park area are prevalent near the Kanchanjhuri, Panbari, and Tamulipathar block, tropical semi-evergreen forests are present near Baguri, Bimali, and Haldibar. There is abundance of several different aquatic floras like water lilies, lotus and water hyacinth in the lakes and other water bodies, which enrich the rustic beauty of the park. However, the invasive water hyacinth and the toxic Mimosa invisa, often choking the water bodies, are cleared from time to time.
As the significant breeding ground of 35 mammalian species, of which 15 are threatened, Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation. It has the distinction of being home to the world's largest population of the Indian rhinoceros, also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros or Indian rhino. According to the census held in March 2018, the rhino population in Kaziranga National Park is 2,613, comprising 1,641 adult rhinos. Apart from a significantly large population of around 1666 wild water buffalo and 468 swamp deer, its populations of large herbivores also include 1940 Indian elephants, 1300 gaur and 58 sambar deer. Interestingly, the Indian rhinoceros, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo, swamp deer, and the Royal Bengal tiger, the five big animals inhabiting in the area, are collectively known as the Big Five of Kaziranga. It is also the only place in India and the world, where a Golden tiger, caused by a recessive gene, was spotted in the wild. Other carnivorous mammals of the cat family in the park include the jungle cat, fishing cat and leopard cat. Small mammals in Kaziranga National Park include, among others, Assam rabbit or bristly rabbit, Bengal fox and golden jackal, sloth bear, different types of pangolins, capped and golden langur, and the hoolock gibbon.
Kaziranga, identified as an Important Bird Area, is home to a variety of migratory birds, water birds, predators, scavengers, and game birds. Apart from the migratory birds mentioned above, Riverine birds include the Dalmatian and spot-billed pelican, Blyth’s kingfisher, black-bellied tern and Nordmann’s greenshank, while Game birds include the swamp francolin, also known as swamp partridge, Bengal florican or Bengal bustard, and pale-capped pigeon, also called purple wood pigeon. Birds of prey in the park area include different types of eagles, like greater spotted, eastern imperial, white-tailed, grey-headed fish eagle and the lesser kestrel, a small falcon. However, there was a time, when Kaziranga was home to seven species of vultures, but apart from the Indian vulture, white-rumped vulture and slender-billed vulture, the vulture population reached near extinction, supposedly by feeding on animal carcasses containing the drug Dilofenac, used to treat pain and inflammatory diseases like gout. Other families of birds inhabiting Kaziranga include, among others, different types of hornbill, babblers, weaver birds, and black-breasted parrotbills.
There are several types of snakes in the park area. Apart from the venomous Russell’s viper, common krait, Indian cobra and monocled cobra, two of the largest snakes in the world, the reticulated python and Indian rock python, along with the king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world, inhabit the park. While 42 species of fish are found in the area, other inhabitants of Kaziranga include Monitor lizard species, fifteen species of turtle and one species of tortoise, the brown tortoise.