Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park, on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam, is one of the great wildlife sanctuaries of Asia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the single most important refuge on Earth for the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros.

• Spread across roughly 430 sq km of tall elephant-grass, marshland, and tropical wet forest on the Brahmaputra floodplain, the park shelters two-thirds of the world's population of the one-horned rhino: the 2022 census counted 2,613 of them, a remarkable recovery from near-extinction a century ago, when fewer than two dozen survived.
• But Kaziranga is far more than rhinos — it has one of the highest tiger densities of any reserve (it is a Tiger Reserve as well), and its grasslands shelter wild Asiatic water buffalo, swamp deer (eastern barasingha), elephants in large herds, hog deer, and an extraordinary richness of birdlife that makes it a global birding destination, from pelicans and storks to the rare Bengal florican.
• The Kaziranga National Orchid Park nearby, the grassland watchtowers, and stays on the surrounding tea estates add to the experience, and drivers should slow for the animal corridors where NH-715 crosses the park.
• Safaris run as morning jeep drives and, in some ranges, dawn elephant-back rides across the dewy grassland, through four tourist zones: the Central Range (Kohora), the most popular; the Western Range (Bagori), excellent for close rhino sightings; the Eastern Range (Agaratoli), a birdwatcher's paradise; and Burhapahar.
• The park is closed each year from roughly July to October when the Brahmaputra floods the grasslands, and the best months are November to April.
• For vegetarian travellers, the resorts and homestays around Kohora serve Assamese vegetarian fare — khar (an alkaline preparation), aloo pitika (mashed potato with mustard oil), seasonal greens, dal and rice, and pitha rice cakes — alongside North Indian veg and freshly brewed Assam tea straight from the surrounding estates.