Manas National Park-World Heritage Site

About: Manas National Park-World Heritage Site

“Manas National Park” only Tiger project in Assam. Manas is one of India’s magnificent National Park. It is situated on the bank of river Manas at the foothills of Himalayas. it is a well known World Heritage Site with its unique combination of scenic beauty and rare wealth of wildlife. Covering an area of 519 .77 km ², it has a core of 360 km ² and is situated in Barpeta District.

Manas is one of the nine tiger reserve sanctuaries in India. Tigers are however are not only wildlife to be found here. Manas has its own peculiar faunal features the rarest species of which are Hispid hare, pigmy Hog, Golden Langur, Indian Rhinoceros, Asiatic Buffalo etc.

Other commonly seen animals are Elephant, Leopard ,Clouded Leopard, Himalayan Bear, Wild Boar, Sambher, Swamp Deer, Hog Deer etc. View of the river flowing through Manas National Park , Hundreds of winged species migrate to the friendly climate of Manas during winter. Among them are River-chats (white capped Red-stars ), Forktails ,Cormorants and various types of ducks including the Ruddy Shelduck. The woodland birds no less charming and include the Horn-bill and the great Pied Horn-bill .

HOW TO REACH:

By Air: Nearest airport is Guwahati airport, about 170 Km from the Manas National Park. Guwahati airport is well connected by road to Manas National Park.

By Rail: Nearest Rail head Barpeta Road 40 km Mothanguri (Manas ) on the North-East Frontier Railway is directly connected with Guwahati .

By Road: 40kms off National Highway No. 31 approachable From Barpeta road it has motor-able road connections with Guwahati 176 km and Siliguri 386 km .

What to See Here

Wild Animals

The park boasts of 55 species of mammals, 380 species of birds, 3 species of amphibians, 50 species of reptiles and these species include animals like Indian Elephants, Indian Rhinoceros, Asian Water Buffaloes, Indian Tigers, Indian Leopards, Assamese Macaques, Barking Deer, and Black Panthers. The species like Assam Roofed Turtle, Hispid Hare, Golden Langur and Pygmy Hog are only found in this park in the whole world. The place is blessed with beautiful and rare flora. It is one of the places with rich biodiversity.

More Information

The park got its name from the Manas River that passes through the heart of the national park. The river is named after Serpent Goddess Manasa. The river is a major tributary of Brahmaputra. The park was started in 1990 and was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Agrang is the only village in this park whereas many other villages are at its boundaries. The park is divided into two biomes. One is Grassland Biome that has animals like Pygmy Hog, Indian Rhinoceros, Bengal Florican, and Wild Asian Buffalo. The second biome is Forest Biome that has animals like Slow Loris, Capped Langur, Sambar, Great Hornbill, Malayan Giant Squirrel and many other.

Vegetation

About the half of the Park is covered by Grasslands of Terai and Bhabar type, the riparian areas have colonizing grasslands and woodlands of several species. The thick woodlands are called Eastern Moist Deciduous Forests of various types. The undergrowths are very thick. There are more than 650 species of Angiosperms alone. The commonly seen trees are the Simul, Oxi, Sissoo, Khaie, Gamari, etc. Manas is the only landscape in the world where pristine Terai Grasslands are seen merging with the Bhabar grasslands interspersed with diverse habitats ascending to Semi-Evergreen forests and then to Bhutan Himalayas. The Biodiversity is very rich here.

Full Day Activity

Start your day at 5:00 AM by taking an elephant ride. It will be 1-2 hour trip. After this, you can take a walk along the river banks. Then visit the Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society where you can eat traditional Bodo style lunch and enjoy their music and dance. After lunch, you can go for river rafting which will take 2-3 hours. In the end, take the jungle safari to enjoy bird watching and sights of wild animals. If you wish to cover the other spots such as Summer Palace and Panbang and spend more time in the jungle so you can spot more animals, then you should make a 2-3 days trip since it would be difficult to cover all spots in one day.