Introduction
Kaziranga National Park (Assamese: কাজিৰঙা ৰাষ্ট্ৰীয় উদ্যান, Kazirônga Rastriyô Uddyan, IPA: [kaziɹɔŋa ɹastɹijɔ udːjan]) is a protected unit of the Brahmaputra floodplain located in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam, India, and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is internationally important as the principal refuge for the world’s largest population of the Great One‑horned Rhinoceros and supports substantial populations of other large mammals (elephant, water buffalo, swamp deer) while also being designated an Important Bird Area for avian conservation. Ecologically, Kaziranga comprises a dynamic mosaic of flooded grasslands, tall elephant grass, marshes and patches of tropical moist broadleaf forest interspersed with numerous small water bodies, which together create a continuum of wetland and terrestrial habitats. This habitat pattern is structured by the park’s hydrology: the Brahmaputra and its tributaries Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri produce shifting channels, seasonal flows and inundation regimes that determine the spatial distribution of grassland, marsh and forest. Established as a reserve forest in 1905 and marking its centenary in 2005, Kaziranga has entered national and cultural consciousness through books, documentaries and songs and has made notable conservation gains despite ongoing management and environmental challenges. As a mapped protected area within Assam’s riverine landscape, its combination of floodplain dynamics, habitat diversity and statutory protection under national law and World Heritage listing underpins its role as a globally significant stronghold for large mammals and bird species.
Geography
Read more Government Exam Guru
Kaziranga National Park lies in central Assam, India (approx. 26°30′–26°45′ N, 93°08′–93°36′ E), occupying parts of the Kaliabor subdivision of Nagaon district and the Bokakhat subdivision of Golaghat district. The protected core extends roughly 40 km east–west and 13 km north–south, with an official area of 378.22 km2; fluvial erosion by the Brahmaputra has historically reduced this extent by about 51.14 km2. To enhance habitat availability and connectivity, a further 429 km2 contiguous to the park has recently been notified under national park status to function as additional range and a movement corridor toward the Karbi Anglong Hills.
Hydrologically the park is a dynamic floodplain. The Brahmaputra forms its ever-changing northern margin, while the southern limit is approximately delineated by the Mora Diphlu river (with National Highway NH‑37 previously serving as the formal southern boundary). Internally, rivers such as the Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri traverse the area, generating a mosaic of alluvial landforms. Extensive flat tracts of fertile silt constitute the Middle Brahmaputra alluvial plains, punctuated by exposed sandbars, river-formed oxbow lakes and beels (which can occupy up to 5% of the park), and raised refuge flats known as chapories that provide dry ground during inundation.
Elevations within the park are low, generally between about 40 and 80 m above sea level, contrasting sharply with the nearby Mikir Hills (and the Barail range to the south), the Mikir range rising to approximately 1,220 m. Both natural chapories and numerous artificial refuges—many constructed with assistance from the Indian Army—illustrate active management to mitigate flood impacts on wildlife. These riverine and alluvial mosaics sustain characteristic fauna of the region, notably large, threatened herbivores such as the Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), which utilize the alternation of grasslands, beels and elevated flats.
Free Thousands of Mock Test for Any Exam
Human habitation in the vicinity of Kaziranga National Park is characterized by an absence of legally recognized villages within park boundaries coupled with a densely settled and rapidly expanding peri‑park zone. Early field assessments (1983–84) identified 39 villages within a 10‑kilometre (6‑mile) radius of the park, accounting for an estimated population of about 22,300; by 2002 settlement patterns had shifted markedly, with an additional 184 villages recorded in the same radius, bringing the village total to 223. The 2002 survey also reported roughly 50,000 households in this zone, a disparity from the earlier population estimate that signals substantial household- and demographic‑level growth even where exact population totals were not updated.
More recently, new settlements have emerged immediately outside park borders to service the expanding ecotourism sector, concentrating development along access corridors and creating localized economic nodes at the park interface. These spatial and temporal trends — concentrated settlement immediately adjacent to a protected core, rapid proliferation of villages, large numbers of households, and tourism‑driven land‑use change — have direct geographical consequences. They amplify edge effects and intensify pressure on buffer lands and natural resources, raise the likelihood of human–wildlife interactions and conflict, and underscore the necessity of integrated landscape and conservation planning explicitly targeted at the 10‑kilometre peri‑park zone.
Geology
Assam lies at the eastern extremity of the Indian Plate within a tectonically active zone where continued convergence with the Eurasian Plate produces regional uplift and crustal deformation. The northeastward advance of the Indian Plate during the Himalayan orogeny shortened and uplifted sedimentary sequences of the former Tethys geosyncline, giving rise to the Himalayan chain and influencing the broader structural framework of northeastern India. A major fault system formed between the Rajmahal Hills and the Karbi‑Meghalaya block during these events; the resulting tectonic depression was subsequently infilled by river-borne sediments, isolating the Karbi Anglong and Meghalaya highlands from the main Peninsular block.
The Karbi Anglong–Meghalaya plateau is of peninsular origin rather than Himalayan or Brahmaputra-valley derivation, and stands as an isolated, moderately elevated massif (average ca. 300–400 m), providing a clear topographic contrast to the adjacent low-lying Brahmaputra floodplain. Kaziranga’s present landforms reflect long-term alternation between fluvial erosion and periodic silt deposition by the Brahmaputra: repeated monsoon-driven floods accelerate these processes and continually reshape the terrain. Over its 724 km course within Assam the Brahmaputra is fed by more than a hundred tributaries; upon entering the wide valley these streams decelerate, deposit their loads and rework the floodplain to form braided channels, alluvial fans, oxbow lakes and frequently shifting, bifurcating channels — patterns clearly visible in satellite imagery that also documents large herbivores utilising newly formed floodplain vegetation.
Biomes
Kaziranga occupies one of the largest contiguous tracts of legally protected land in the sub‑Himalayan belt, a spatial configuration that both governs its landscape dynamics—through large‑scale floodplain processes, connectivity and intact habitat mosaics—and underpins its conservation importance. High species richness together with prominent, easily observed megafauna has led to its recognition as a biodiversity hotspot, a status that amplifies its ecological value and attracts concentrated scientific, managerial and public attention.
Biogeographically the park lies within the Indomalayan realm, situating its flora and fauna within a major zoogeographic and floristic province whose climatic and historical drivers shape local species assemblages. The park’s vegetation and habitat structure are partitioned between two principal ecoregions. The Brahmaputra Valley semi‑evergreen forests—members of the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome—form the denser, moisture‑dependent forest communities within Kaziranga, characterized by closed canopies and species adapted to consistently high humidity.
Contrasting with these forested tracts is a frequently flooded variant of the Terai‑Duar savanna and grasslands, belonging to the Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Regular inundation in this ecoregion generates a shifting mosaic of grassland, wetland and riverine habitats, producing pronounced habitat heterogeneity that supports diverse assemblages across trophic levels and life histories.