Assam's Kaziranga National Park reopens for 2025–26 tourist season

Guwahati, Sep 26 (IANS) The Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (KNPTR), India’s seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site, is officially reopened for tourists on Friday, marking the commencement of the tourism season 2025-26.

KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh said that with the commencement of the tourism season, tourists can once again witness the park’s remarkable flora and fauna, including the iconic one-horned rhinoceros, tigers, elephants, and diverse bird life.

These initiatives reaffirm Kaziranga’s commitment to wildlife conservation, sustainable tourism, and community engagement, she said.

The official tourism season in KNPTR is usually from October to mid-May, as the internationally famous park and tiger reserve remains closed during the monsoon period as its vast areas were flooded during June to September every year.

The Director said that the opening ceremony was held at the Western Range, Bagori.

Member of Parliament in the Kaziranga Lok Sabha Constituency Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, MLA, Khumtai Assembly constituency, Mrinal Saikia, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Vinay Gupta, District Commissioner (DC) of Nagaon Devasish Sharma along with senior officials from district administration were present in the event.

The festivities began at Western range, Bagori, with a traditional puja, symbolising the blessing of the park and the official start of the safari season for 2025-26.

The occasion featured several key events, including Pushpanjali to Zubeen Garg and launch of REC CSR-supported solar drinking water upgradation of 120 anti-poaching camps in Kaziranga.

Meanwhile, according to officials, the KNPTR witnessed an all-time high record number of 4,06,564 tourists, including 17,693 foreign visitors, in 2024-25.

KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh had said that the total visitors to Kaziranga in 2024-25 has increased four times in the last 10 years.

"What has been remarkable is the increase in foreign tourists (17,693), which is now an impressive 4.5 per cent of the total tourists. Kaziranga is experiencing a remarkable boost in tourism, thanks to the recent success of the innovative initiatives," she had said.

Ghosh said that Kaziranga has also registered a 21.19 per cent revenue-earning increase during the 2024-25 fiscal year, as compared to the same period of the previous year (2023-24).

The National Park, which is spread across several districts of Assam, including Golaghat, Nagaon, Sonitpur, and Biswanath, has earned revenue of over Rs 10.90 crore in 2024-25 and over Rs 8.81 crore in 2023-24.

--IANS

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