JORHAT, Oct 12 : With the start of Jeep Safaris, the first batch of tourists was let into the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) early today to catch a glimpse of the unique one-horned rhinoceros, Asiatic wild buffalo, the sambhar and Asiatic wild elephant. If one was lucky, then one could sight the lone carnivore– the Royal Bengal Tiger– holding sway over the other herbivores.
The more than 100 year old national park has had a steady stream of tourists since 2001.
Assistant Conservator of Forests LN Baruah said that last year there was 1 lakh 384 tourists from India and 5,767 tourists from abroad. The revenue raked in was Rs 71 lakh 98,504 in Indian currency and Rs 40 lakh 22,194 in foreign currency.
The largest number of tourists was from West Bengal among Indian States followed by Maharashtra while West Germany sent the maximum number of tourists from among the foreign countries.
It may be mentioned that, last year there were thousands of cancellations following the series of bomb blasts in Guwahati on November 30.
Park authorities said that, the park had lost a lot of revenue following the bloodshed and bandh calls given by various organizations. Tourists inflow began again in the new year.
Labels: Kaziranga National Park
