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Elephant festival at Kaziranga National Park ends

     Jorhat (Asom): A three-day annual elephant festival was held at the Kaziranga National Park, which ended on Sunday. Over 100 jumbos featured in the fifth edition of the festival at the park, which is home to the endangered one-horned rhino. The attraction was a majestic congregation of 64 large and small baby elephants, attired in colourful velvet robes and tinkle anklets. Tourists enjoyed the cultural fiesta.

     "I like the park. It has rhinos, elephants and tigers. In fact, I am enjoying myself very much," said Australian tourist, Barry. "So many people have gathered here. I think it will encourage people to preserve our forest and elephants," said Mayurakshi Deka, a visitor. The Kaziranga National Park is the place where over 50 percent of the world's one-horned population can be found. The park also boasts of a large tiger population. Elephants, rhinos, wild buffaloes, gaurs, tigers, swamp deer, birds and sambar deer can also be found in the park. With the forest cover dwindling in the north-eastern parts of the country, elephants and other animals regularly come out of their natural habitat in search of food, triggering conflict with humans. The jungles in the region are home to about 7,500 elephants, half the country's total elephant population. India has an estimated 30,000 wild and captive elephants, about half of whom live in the isolated northeast bound by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal.
-Jan 8,  2007

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