Elephant safaris woo tourists to Kaziranga National Park

GUWAHATI:

The much-awaited elephant safaris resumed for tourists at the Kohora range of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Upper Assam on Sunday.

The world heritage site, which was closed for tourists since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic and floods, reopened on October 21 with the resumption of jeep safaris in two ranges - Kohora and Bagori.

“We have resumed the elephant safaris (for the 2020-21 season) this morning with only ten elephants. We will enhance the number of rides based on the response in the coming days,” Kaziranga National Park director P. Sivakumar told the media on Sunday.

“As against 100 per cent booking for the elephant safaris, we allowed only 37 tourists to avail the rides by adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols,” Sivakumar said.

The KNP director further informed that the services of privately owned elephants would be requisitioned at the Bagori range of the park after November 10.

Tourists from both Assam and outside the state, including foreign tourists, have thronged in large numbers since the park reopened eleven days back.

With the resumption of both elephant and jeep safaris, the park authorities expect a massive inflow of tourists in the coming weeks.

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