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Kaziranga
engages private elephant owners for elephant
safaris to meet tourist demand
by Apem Kamadoang
Kaziranga
(Assam): Due to the increasing inflow of tourists
at the Kaziranga National Park located in Assam, the state
forest department has engaged private elephant owners
for elephant safaris in the park. Because of increasing
tourist arrivals, the park authorities are engaging private
elephant owners to cater to the tourist rush. "At present,
we are having around 52 departmental elephants at the
Kaziranga National Park and about 19 elephants from private
sector who are participating for the visitors. Over the
years, there has been a constant demand of private tourists
(private elephant owners) at Kaziranga. That is the reason,
why we have to encourage private parties to come and join,"
said Asif Ahmed, forest veterinary officer, Kaziranga
National Park. The wildlife viewing is an interesting
activity in Kaziranga National Park. The number of tourists
has been constantly increasing who come to the park to
see the elephant herds and the wild rhinos. Their ever-growing
numbers have opened new job avenues for the locals. "If
we look at the number of tourist inflow at Kaziranga,
in 2001 foreign tourists accounted for 7000, which in
2007 rose up to 13,000. As for domestic tourists, we have
now around 3.4 million tourists as compared to one million
in previous years. All these have generated a lot of revenue
for us and Kaziranga is the pride of Assam," said Rokibul
Hussain, Forest Minister. Besides one-horned Rhinos, the
other major wild attractions include a significant presence
of Indian elephants, tigers, Indian bison, swamp deer,
leopard cats, capped langurs, wild boars and buffalos,
pythons and a wide variety of other wild animals and birds.
Spread over 175 sq. kms, Kaziranga National Park is a
remarkable success story of conservation of the One Horned
Indian Rhinoceros and other wild lives in the North East
India that has earned it a place in the World Heritage
Site List 1985.
-Feb
14, 2009
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