On its centenary year, North-East resolved to make Kaziranga the greatest conservation story for the next century. This was witnessed in the official inaugural rally participated by Department of North Eastern Region (DONER) Minister P R Kyndiah and host of top officials from all over the NE in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

The political leadership of the North-East not only accepted that the Kaziranga was the single most attracting point of the NE from the tourists all over the world, but it could be used for promotion of the whole region. Kaziranga is celebrating its centenary as in 1905 Lady Curzon came to Assam and visited Kaziranga. She had learnt about the one-horned rhinos of the park from her tea-planter friends and was keen to see them. There were hardly 10 rhinos around and they were visible very rarely at that time. Lady Curzon returned disappointed but persuaded her husband Lord Curzon, then viceroy of India, to save the one-horned rhinos from extinction.

On June 1, 1905, a notification was issued by the then British Government, initiating the process to declare Kaziranga a reserved forest and officially close the area for shooting.  A century after Lady Curzon's visit to the Kaziranga National Park (KNP), upgraded to a national park in 1974, another British has come forward to promote it across the world as part of the park’s centenary celebrations and to tell the world its amazing success-story of saving the endangered Rhinoceros Unicornis.

He is Mark Shand, whose love for elephants has been legendary. Even Mark was overjoyed when the eight-month-old baby elephant Pinku took part in the huge elephant procession. The Kaziranga National Park home to more than 65 per cent of one-horned rhinos found globally and which is celebrating its centenary this year has been selected by

UNESCO for its World Heritage Bio-diversity Programme

The rhino-reserve is the second national park to be selected for the roll by UNESCO, the other being Keoladev National Park in Rajasthan. One of the greatest bio-diversity reserves, Kaziranga, is celebrating its centenary this year. Spread over an area of 450 sq km Kaziranga National Park (KNP) can also boast of having the highest concentration of Asiatic Wild Buffaloes and nearly 800 species of birds, much more than India's best-known avian sanctuary Bharatpur. The Asiatic Wild Buffaloes are scattered across Myanmar and other countries in South East Asia, but those found in Kaziranga are said to have the purest genes.

''It is one of the richest bio-diversity hotspots. We are planning a befitting centenary celebration for it,'' said Assam Forest Minister Pradyut Bordoloi. And as the celebrations started, the best part of the news came from UNESCO, which has selected it for its World Heritage Biodiversity Programme.

The two national parks, both on the UNESCO's roll of World Heritage Sites, will get a grant of five million US dollars. The Union Ministry for Environment and Forest will implement the programme over a period of four years and the programme will emphasise on community participation in conservation of biodiversity as Kaziranga is one of the largest Protected Areas in India and one of the most significant conserved forest areas on the earth.

Fact file

1905      Declared proposed reserve forest
1908      Declared reserve forest
1916      Declared game sanctuary
1938      Opened to visitors
1950      Declared wildlife sanctuary
1974      Declared national park
1975      Became the first protected area equipped with wireless networks in Assam 
1985      UNESCO declares Kaziaranga--World Heritage Site

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