The history of Kaziranga as a protected area can be traced back to 1904, when Mary Victoria Leiter Curzon, the wife of the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, visited the area. Kaziranga National Park (Assamese: কাজিৰঙা ৰাষ্ট্ৰীয় উদ্যান, Kazirônga Rastriyô Uddan, pronounced [kazirɔŋɡa rastrijɔ udːan] ( listen)) is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. A Wor
ld Heritage Site, the park hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses. Kaziranga boasts the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006. The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International for conservation of avifaunal species. Compared to other protected areas in India, Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation. Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high species diversity and visibility. Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, crisscrossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, and the park includes numerous small bodies of water. Kaziranga has been the theme of several books, songs, and documentaries. The park celebrated its centennial in 2005 after its establishment in 1905 as a reserve forest. Kaziranga National Park, located in the state of Assam in North East India, a biodiversity hotspot, is the single largest undivided and representative area of the Brahmaputra valley floodplain grasslands and forests with associated biodiversity. The park represents one of the last unmodified natural areas in the NE region of India. It is a vast wet alluvial tall grasslands, interspersed with numerous water bodies (Beels) and patches of deciduous to semi-evergreen woodlands. The fluctuations of River Brahmaputra results in spectacular examples of riverine and fluvial processes, Kaziranga is regarded as one the finest wildlife refuges in the world and is a veritable storehouse of biodiversity. Kaziranga has been acting as a source population for tigers and other co-predators, rhinos, elephants, wild buffalo, swamp deer etc. It is an excellent hatchery for fishes, turtles and dolphins. It provides roosting for multitude of birds, some of them being endangered and rare such as the Bengal Florican, vultures, swamp francolin, pelicans and raptors. It is to be mentioned here that Kaziranga as a word is used to represent several entities. Firstly, Kaziranga is Kaziranga National Park with its notified areas and Additions to the Kaziranga National Park, administered by the Director, Kaziranga National Park. Secondly, the other legal entity is the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve notified in 2007 under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (KTR) comprises of the Kaziranga National Park, all the Additions of the Kaziranga National Park, Kukrakata Reserved Forest and Panbari Reserved Forest.
