Guwahati: Over 3.2 lakh wildlife enthusiasts visited world heritage site Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam in 2023-24. The tourist season will end in Kaziranga on May 16 of this year. As per the authority 3,27,493 visited Kaziranga in this season out of which 13,139 were foreign tourists. Last year the number of tourists who visited the national park was 9236. The park earned around 8.80 crores of revenue in the last tourist season. Kaziranga National Park DFO Arun Vignes told ‘Organiser’ that the number of tourists surge in March this year was significant. There was a considerable surge of tourists in March and April, which was a good sign.
It should be mentioned that President of India, Draupadi Murmo visited and stayed overnight in Kaziranga in April 2023. In March this year just before Lok Sabha Election 2024 was declared, PM Narendra Modi visited Assam and stayed overnight in Kaziranga National Park. PM Modi was the first premier of India to stay overnight in KNP. PM Modi enjoyed the elephant safari in the park and in his social media post he urged the people of India to visit Kaziranga to see the mesmerising one-horned rhino and tigers, along with other wildlife animals.
Notably, over the past several years the BJP government in Assam is successfully curbing the poaching of one-horned rhino in Kaziranga. While the numbers of rhinos killed by poachers were 152 during the UPA and Congress regime from 2004 to 2016, it has dramatically gone down to only 23 from 2016 to 2024. The numbers of one horn rhinos and tigers are also increasing significantly. Meanwhile, the authorities in the national park are preparing for the upcoming flood season.
Every year, Kaziranga is hit by a minimum of two waves of flooding. Numbers of wildlife animals die during floods, and authorities are busy minimising the casualties. On the other hand, security also tightens up in all editions of the national park, keeping in mind the upcoming flood season. Poachers take advantage of the flood to hunt down wild animals, but the forest department and Assam police are taking adequate measures to prevent such unwanted incidents. The park will reopen for tourists in October 2023. The park has now become a livelihood for thousands of people around it. Numbers of resorts, hotels, and homestays have come up along the park which are providing job opportunities to thousands of people.
