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Introduction

Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has primarily been known for its long history of rhino conservation. It supports the world’s largest one-horned rhino population, numbering around 2200, which is nearly two-third of the world population. The tiger-specific management in the area is only about 16 years old as it was notified a tiger reserve in 2006. This reserve has also been a World Heritage Site (WHS) since 1985.

Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (KTR) is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass meadows, swampy lagoons and dense tropical moist broad-leaved forests and is criss-crossed by four major rivers. The reserve is circumscribed by the mighty Brahmaputra River, which forms the northern and eastern boundary, and the river Mora Diphlu which forms the southern boundary. Other rivers are the Mora and Dhansa. The expanse of grassland is formed, supported and affected by erosion and silt deposition by the River Brahmaputra. The landscape consists of sand bars, flood-formed lakes, locally known as beels, and elevated regions, which are known as chaporis.

Located at the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hot spot, KTR is home to a rich floral and faunal species diversity. Due to the altitudinal variations between the eastern and western areas of the TR, it has a wide range of vegetations—Eastern Wet Alluvial Grasslands, Assam Alluvial Plains, semi-evergreen forests, Tropical Moist Mixed Deciduous Forests, wetlands and sandy chaurs. Approximately 550 plant species, including many medicinal plants, have been recorded from the reserve. The important plants of the TR include Bombax ceiba, Albizia procera, Albizia odoratissima, Albizia lucida, Careya arborea, Premna latifolia, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Dillenia pentagyna and Zizyphus jujuba. The undergrowth comprises grasses like Erianthus ravaneae, Saccharum spontaneum, Saccharum procerum, Imperata cylindrica and species like Clerodendron, Alpinia allughas and Leea. There are patches of Barringtonia acutangula and Crateva religiosa in the low-lying marshy areas and Lagerstroemia flos-reginae in slightly higher grounds. Also, a good variety of aquatic plants can be seen in lakes and ponds and along the river shores.

KTR has a rich faunal diversity which includes 35 species of mammal, 480 species of bird, 17 species of turtle, 35 species of snake, 24 species of frog and 42 species of fish. Many endangered and threatened species like the rhino, tiger, eastern swamp deer, elephant, buffalo, hoolock gibbon, capped langur and Gangetic river dolphin are commonly found in the habitat. The five important mammals of KTR are the tiger, rhinoceros, elephant, wild buffalo and eastern swamp deer. The reserve is also the wild breeding area, outside Africa, for the largest number of cat species, including the tiger, leopard, leopard cat, fishing cat and jungle cat. The only species of ape found in the country, the hoolock gibbon, is also found in KTR. KTR has been identified as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. Birds like the lesser white-fronted goose, ferruginous duck, Baer’s pochard duck and lesser adjutant, greater adjutant, black-necked stork and Asian openbill stork migrate from Central Asia to this area in winter.

The MEE team evaluated KTR from 26 October to 4 November 2022. The strengths, weaknesses and actionable points of KTR are as follows:

Management Strengths:

Not only the local population but the entire state identifies itself with the more than 100 years old Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and the rhinos. They feel proud of this heritage and have a sense of belongingness with the reserve. This is reflected from the fact that:
- A special order was issued by the state government allowing the use of firearms by the forest staff and providing them immunity.
- The state government has also ordered the addition of new neighbouring areas in the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve for more intensive conservation.
- There is awareness and involvement of communities of fringe areas in providing safe passage to the animals across the National Highway, especially during the annual floods.
KTR is an excellent example of significant and ongoing, dynamic ecological and biological processes due to river bank erosion, sedimentation and formation of new lands as well as water-bodies, in addition to dynamic successional changes between grasslands and woodlands. This makes it an important destination for various research studies.
The sighting of wild animals inside the tiger reserve is among the best in the country, as reflected in the high footfall and experience of visitors as revealed to the MEE team during this visit.
Anthropogenic pressures appear to be minimal in the TR since the MEE team could not find much evidence of entry of cattle and people in the reserve during the field visits.
Excellent execution of protection and ecotourism components of wildlife management. All the protection infrastructure—network in the form of anti-poaching camps, firearms, staff deployment—is adequate, and the facilities in the anti-poaching camps praiseworthy.

Management Weaknesses:

The Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve is still under revision, and the new TCP is due from April, 2025. This is not a good situation as the KTR is presently being managed through the prescriptions of an unapproved TCP.
There are a number of notifications issued by the state government of Assam for addition of new areas to KTR. But these notifications are preliminary notifications and have not been taken to their logical conclusion.
The forested areas of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council have a contiguous boundary with KTR, which acts both as a corridor and refuge for the migrating wild animals of the reserve, especially during the floods. But the level of coordination between the two administrative units for protection is apparently not up to the desired level.
The shortage of compatible Android phones to use M-STrIPES and required capacity for their use are adversely impacting the tiger management, including generation of important data.
The status of record keeping, systematic continuous monitoring of various processes and use of this information for adaptive management falls short of expectations. For example, there is no institutional mechanism to compile relevant data generated through anti-poaching camp duty registers, wireless/radio transmitter registers, patrolling registers, etc. in a protection monitoring form at the division level, which will prove useful in making the protection strategy more effective.
Kaziranga Tiger Reserve also requires an institutional mechanism to:
- Obtain feedback from the visitors in the TR, analyse the feedbacks, cull out important suggestions, etc. This has deprived the TR of valuable inputs that could have played an important role in improving the visitor experience in addition to improving the management of the TR.
- Monitor the activities of eco-development committees (EDCs) that have come up in the fringe villages of KTR.
- The WhatsApp Group of officials, which inter alia allocates night patrolling duties, although very effective, does not translate into record keeping for future tactical and strategic use.
- The condition of the two interpretation centres of the TR is not commensurate with the status and reputation of the reserve. Visitors are not provided pre-visit briefings about the TR and are also not given pamphlets, information booklets/brochures, etc. prior to TR visits, which could enhance their experience.
- KTR does not have a standard operating procedure (SoP) for the handling and redressal of complaints, protection monitoring and sighting of animals.
- KTR is home to many important species. Major herbivores like the swamp deer, hog deer, rhinoceros, wild buffalo and elephant are dependent upon the health of the grasslands. The management could not provide information about mapping and distribution of various grass and fodder species in the TR, food preferences and seasonal variations of food requirement of different herbivores to the MEE team. Similarly, research information on invasive species, like the water hyacinth, are important as TR has dynamic aquatic habitats due to the presence of rivers and annual flooding. Being inundated by floods annually, studies on erosion/accretion, habitat status with respect to grasslands and water in the TR could also have been presented before the MEE team, if available.
- The TR has not carried out an intensive exercise to compile the existing published research information with respect to KTR, understand the research gaps and formulate a strategy for long-term research.

Immediate Actionable Points:

The state government and the NTCA must take cognizance of the still-under-revision Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, and a definite timeline must be fixed for getting it approved.
The KTR management and the state government need to immediately start action on notifying the revenue lands of addition areas, transferred to KTR over a period of time, as tiger reserve lands, with definite timelines.
As the forested areas of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council act both as a corridor and as a refuge for the migrating wild animals of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, there is an urgent need to enhance the level of understanding and develop a strong institutionalized coordination mechanism between these two administrative units for protection.
The shortage of Android phones with M-STrIPES software needs to be met at the earliest to make the management of the TR more scientific and effective. The staff needs to be trained in the use of M-STrIPES, with refresher courses at regular intervals, both to generate data and to use it effectively.
As the record keeping (e.g., for wireless messages, recordings in anti-poaching camp registers, etc.) in the tiger reserve is not up to the mark, an SOP for record keeping, compilation, analysis, and its use for effective management needs to be developed and issued immediately.
KTR also needs to issue an SoP for the handling and redressal of complaints, protection monitoring and sighting of animals.
Ongoing eco-development initiatives should be strengthened by adherence to various provisions of existing government resolutions and subsequent orders/advisories and providing adequate resources and support of TCF.
The TR management need to carry out an intensive exercise to compile all the published research information with respect to KTR and keep them in the public domain, find out research gaps and formulate a strategy for long-term research. This strategy should be implemented using internal resources of the TR and Tiger Conservation Foundation (TCF) as well as by networking with other research institutions.
Although, information dissemination through the WhatsApp Group of officials is very effective as it is quick and reaches everyone in no time, it is good only for day-to-day monitoring. While continuing with this mechanism, there is a need to address the handicap of generation of records from WhatsApp chats/messages that can be stored, analysed and used for future management actions.
KTR needs to complete the upgrading and renovation of one of the two interpretation centres at Bagori on priority and take up similar actions on the second interpretation centre at the earliest. A system of briefing of visitors before entry to the reserve should be put in place. Sufficient information material in the form of pamphlets, booklets and brochures should be generated and made available for the visitors.
There is also a need to institutionalize the system of visitor feedback, its analysis and use for enhancing the visitor satisfaction and overall improvement of tourism facilities in the reserve.

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Kaziranga Tiger Reserve

Introduction

Management Strengths:

Management Weaknesses:

Immediate Actionable Points:

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