JORHAT: Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is set to reopen for tourists on October 21.
Park director P Shivakumar said, “Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve will open for the current tourist season on October 21. The opening ceremony will commence from 11 am onwards and chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will grace the occasion.”
The park is reopened for tourist visit on October 1 every year. Last year, the opening was delayed because of the damage caused by floods. This year once again, the floods and the damage caused by it delayed the reopening of the world heritable site.
A park official said, “Two forest ranges — Kohora and Bagori — will be opened for tourist visit on October 21. Only jeep safaris are allowed for tourists. Due to the damaged caused by the recent wave of floods, the other forest ranges are not become suitable for tourist visits. Preparations are on and the park authorities will issue further notification in respect of the opening of other forest ranges and elephant safaris for tourist visit in the park.”
It is a regular practice for Kaziranga park authorities to announce closure of the park for tourists every year in May every year when monsoon arrives. But this year, tourists’ entry to the national park was barred on March 17 as the Assam forest department had ordered closure of all protected areas, including tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries owing to the spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic.