‘Orang National Park’ to reopen for tourists from Nov 1 after long shutdown due to COVID

Darrang: At long last, the Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve located in Assam’s Darrang district shall reopen from tourists starting November 1. The DFO, Wildlife of the Mangaldai division, confirmed this yesterday via a press release.

The National Park was earlier shut down in the month of March due to the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus. In the resultant lockdown, the Orang was among the numerous tourist attractions shut off for visitors as the Governments prepared to battle the contagion.

What the Orang National Park is known for:

The Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve is known as the mini-Kaziranga as it is home to a sizable number of one-horned rhinos. Forest department records in 2018 show that there are 101 one-horned rhinos and 21 royal bengal tigers in the park.

The Orang is also home to several other wildlife species such as wild elephants, buffaloes, hog deer, pigmy hog, and bengal florican, among others.

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In a related development, the Kaziranga National Park, shut down amid the lockdown, will reopen today. The shutdown of the Kaziranga National Park has been the longest in the 112 years of its history.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has formally reopened the park famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses and tigers, KNPTR authorities informed media.

It needs mention here that following the Covid-19 outbreak, all five national parks and 18 wildlife sanctuaries in Assam, including KNPTR, which usually remains shut for around five months annually due to floods, were closed in March.

Owing to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the state government has prepared detailed protocols for the visitors as well as the personnel working in the premises of the KNP and other national parks.

All tourists will have to go through a screening process and anyone detected with disease-related symptoms such as high fever, cough and cold will be segregated and handed over to local health authorities.

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