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Assam, popularly known as the 'land of the red river and blue hills' is one of the most beautiful states in the North-Eastern part of India. There are 6 national parks and 18 wildlife sanctuaries in this land of unexplored treasures. Orang national park, situated on the north-bank of the Brahmaputra River is one of the chief attractions in this state.
Also known as 'the Mini Kaziranga' and 'the Assam Orang National Park', this park is noted for its picturesque settings. The scenery and greenery of the park will baffle you. The wildlife of this park including Green Pigeon, Tiger, Elephants, Leopards, Teal, Spot-billed Pelican, Wooly-necked Stork, etc. and the lush green vegetation will surely make your trip more exciting.
Learn some interesting facts about this park so that you can plan your trip easily.
History:
Since 1990, the area of this park was inhabited by the local tribes. These tribes abandoned the place due to an epidemic disease. Established as a wild life sanctuary in 1985, this park was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary later in the year 1992. But this act of renaming faced a lot of public pressure and so it had to be reversed.
Finally it was in 1999 that it was declared as a national park and since then it is visited by tourists from all over the world.
The wild animals of the park were subject to a serious threat in 1991. Due to illegal occupation by immigrants from the foreign countries, poaching and insurgency, this threat continued for some time.
Location and area:
As mentioned earlier, this park is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River in the two districts of Darrang and Sonitpur. It is 32 km away from Tezpur, 68 km from Mangaldai and 140 km away from Guwahati, the capital of Assam.
Many channels and islands of the mighty Brahmaputra River surround the southern and eastern boundaries of the park. The park is surrounded by human habitation almost on all its sides.
This park displaying a wide variety of wildlife encompasses an area of 78.81 sq km.
Wildlife:
If you like wildlife, you would definitely get carried over by the wildlife resource of the park. Forest species include Zizypphus jujuba, Bombax ceiba, Sterculia villosa, Trewia nudiflora, Dalbergia sisoo, Litsaea polyantha, etc. You can also view the non-aquatic grassland species like Imperata cylindrica, Phragmites karka, Arundo donax and Saccarum spp. The aquatic grass/plants species found are: Ipomea reptans, Andropogon spp., Water hyacinth, Enhydra flushians, Nymphia spp., etc.
The greater Indian one-Horned Rhinoceros, Black Krait, Cobra, Asiatic Elephant, Wild Boar, Royal Bengal Tiger, Hare, Civets, King Cobra, Porcupines, Hog Deer, Monitor Lizard, etc are found here. Birdwatchers would be highly pleased while watching the birds such as Bengal Florican, Black-Necked Stork, Wooly-Necked Stork, Pintail, Rudy Shelduck, Spot-Billed Pelican, Palla's Fishing Eagle, Gadwall, Mallard, etc.
Exciting rides:
Want to have some fun? Well you can tour the entire park taking elephant-rides.
Best time to visit:
This park experiences subtropical monsoon climate. The average temperature in summer and winter are respectively 32ºC and 12ºC. Depending on this, the best time to visit this park is during the months of November to March.
Accommodation:
If you want to stay somewhere near the park, then the park's own rest houses are the only options. These rest houses have dormitory facility for the visitors.
You can also accommodate in any of the luxury and reasonably-priced hotels in Tezpur according to your preferences. From Tezpur, plan a one-day trip to the park to view its rich flora and fauna.
Journey to the park:
Tezpur at a distance of 32km is the nearest town from the park. Tezpur is also connected with all the important cities of Assam. So you can travel to the park easily by road from Tezpur.
If you want to travel by train, you have to go to Saloni and Rangapara. Otherwise if you are at Guwahati, you can board a train from Guwahati to Tezpur and then take buses to the park.
The nearest airport is Saloni which is 10km from Tezpur.
Thus it is apparent that a trip to Orang National Park would definitely add spice to your otherwise monotonous schedule.
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