Kaziranga: A feast for nature lovers
The festival is primarily aimed at enhancing eco-tourism and raising awareness about the elephants' struggle with man, for limited resources.
IF YOU are a lover of nature and wildlife, you cannot miss this annual affair at the famed Kaziranga National Park situated in north-eastern Assam, India around 217 km from capital city of Guwahati. Kaziranga, with its high thickets of elephant grass, is an ideal habitat for the pachyderms, the famed one-horned rhino, tigers, wild buffaloes, sloth bears and deer.
What was a humble beginning in 2003 under the joint initiative of the Assam forest and the tourism department in collaboration with the local administration and local populace has over the years turned out to be grand occasion for tourists, both domestic and foreign and of course hordes of nature and wildlife lovers from across the globe.
This year the eighth edition of the Kaziranga Elephant Festival was celebrated from January 3 to 6 with much enthusiasm and fanfare. A grand inauguration marked by a graceful procession of over 100 pachyderms enthralled the present gathering much to their amusement. As many as 48 adult elephants and calves beautifully decked up for the occasion paraded with majestic grace, sending out a clear message of “LIVE AND LET LIVE”.
The festival was also marked by various other sports involving the gigantic animals. Much to the awe and thrill of the audience, these elephants gleefully played games of various kinds and took part in a unique race for which they were trained meticulously by their mahouts (caretakers). It was indeed a festive time for these gallant members of the animal kingdom. Various other cultural programmes were also presented showcasing the multifaceted cultural diversity of this part of the north-eastern India.
The festival is primarily aimed at enhancing eco-tourism and raising awareness about the elephants’ struggle with man, for limited resources. The objective in holding the festival is to highlight, mitigate and find ways to resolve the increasing man-elephant conflict that has grown in alarming proportion with an ever-decreasing natural habitat for these Asiatic elephants. Several seminars and lectures were also organized as part of the festival to create awareness among the locals about the gravity of the situation.
The festival apart from mitigating and allaying man-elephant co-existence with public interface is also aimed at promoting the tourism centring around the national park which is a world heritage site apart from preserving in-situ conservation of the flora and fauna of the park. The festival while also generating job and income avenues for the locals have earned accolades from the cross-section of society in all these years. The festival has also been a major occasion to showcase the rich bio-diversity, exotic beauty and culture of Assam.
So if you have missed it this time, do catch up at the Kaziranga Elephant Festival next year around this time of the season.
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