Manas Wildlife Sanctuary

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, also called Kamrup Sanctuary, wildlife sanctuary in western Assam state, eastern India. It is situated at the foot of the Himalayas on the eastern bank of the Manas River, 92 miles (153 km) west of Guwahati. Established in 1928, it has an area of some 200 square miles (520 square km) and lies in a dense, mixed semievergreen, evergreen, and wet-deciduous forest region. The southern part of the preserve is grassland. Wildlife includes great Indian rhinoceroses, elephants, bison, deer, tigers, golden langurs, black bears, and wild pigs. A tiger reserve was established there in 1973. The sanctuary was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985.

Manas takes its name from the Goddess Manasa. The site is noted for its spectacular scenery, with a variety of habitat types that support a diverse fauna, making it the richest of all Indian wildlife areas. The park represents the core of an extensive tiger reserve that protects an important migratory wildlife resource along the West Bengal to Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan borders. Its wetlands are of international importance. It is also the single most important site for the survival of pygmy hog, hispid hare and golden langur.

The park, which includes part of Manas Reserve Forest and all of North Kamrup Reserve Forest, constitutes the core of Manas Tiger Reserve located in the forest divisions of Kachugaon, Haltugaon, Western Assam Wildlife and North Kamrup.

Lying in the foothills of the Outer Himalaya, the area is low-lying and flat. The Manas River flows through the western portion of the park, where it splits into three separate rivers, and joins the Brahmaputra some 64 km further south. These and other rivers running through the tiger reserve carry an enormous amount of silt and rock debris from the foothills, resulting from the heavy rainfall, fragile nature of the rock and steep-gradients of the catchments. This leads to the formation of alluvial terraces, comprising deep layers of deposited rock and detritus overlain with sand and soil of varying depth, shifting river channels and swamps. The area of the Boki basin, in the west of the park, is sometimes inundated during the monsoon. The three main types of vegetation are: tropical semi-evergreen forests in the northern part of the park; tropical moist and dry deciduous forests (the most common type); and extensive alluvial grasslands in the western part of the park.

There is also a considerable variety of aquatic flora along river banks and in the numerous pools. Dry deciduous forests represent early stages in succession and are replaced by moist deciduous forests away from water courses, which, in turn, are succeeded by tropical semi-evergreen climax forest. Grasslands cover about 50% of the park.

A total of 55 mammals, 36 reptiles and three amphibians have been recorded Manas harbours by far the greatest number of India's Schedule I mammals of any protected area in the country. Many are typical of South-East Asian rainforest and have their westernmost distribution here. Mammals include golden langur, a recently discovered endemic restricted to Manas, capped langur, Hoolock gibbon, clouded leopard, tiger (second-largest population in India), leopard, golden cat, fishing cat, leopard cat, marbled cat, binturong, sloth bear, wild dog, Ganges dolphin, Indian elephant, Indian rhinoceros, pygmy hog, swamp deer, sambar, hog deer, Indian muntjac, water buffalo, gaur, giant squirrel, hispid hare and Indian pangolin.

Over 450 species of bird have been recorded, including the threatened Bengal florican, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill and other hornbills. Uncommon waterfowl species include spot-billed pelican, lesser adjutant and greater adjutant.

Tiger

Manas is very rich in the population of Royal Bengal Tigers. Presently the popu-lation of Tigers are counted up to 60, although a ride through the park may not guarantee a tiger sighting.

Bird life

The diverse habita of Manas is ideal home for a specialized birds. Manas boasts the largest population of the endangered Bengal Florican in the world and is also a great place to see the Great Hornbill. The National Park lists around 380 species of birds. Notable amongst are Greater Adjutant, Black-tailed Crake, Red-headed Trogo, Swamp Francolin, Wreathed and Rufous-necked Hornbill, Marsh and Jerdon’s Babbler, Rufous-rumped and Bristled Grassbirds, Hodgson’s Bush-chat, Rufous-ventec Laughingthrush, Finn’s Weaver, Ibis bill and variety of foothills species.

Vegetation

The Burma Monsoon Forests of Manas lie on the borders between the Indo-Gangetic and Indo-Malayan bio-geographical realms and is part of the Brahmaputra Valley Biogeographic Province. The combination of Sub-Himalayan Bhabar Terai formation with riverine succession leading up to Sub-Himalayan mountain forest makes it one of the richest biodiversity areas in the world.

Best time to visit

The best season to visit Manas park is between October to April. Rest of the year it is off season for the national park. Avoid the monsoon as many parts of the park is flooded and animals are not easy to spot.

How to Get there

By air: Guwahati is the nearest airport at 176 kms.
By rail: The nearest town and rail-head is Barpeta Road, 41 kms away.
By Road: Manas is well connected by network of roads which connect the place with other cities and towns in the state. Within the Park, riding elephants and boats on the rivers are available for transport.