The Kaziranga National Park (KNP), home to world famous one horned rhinos, will reopen for visitors from October 21.
The UNESCO heritage site, which remained closed since March this year due to Covid-19 pandemic, will be formally reopened at 11 am on October 21 by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Kaziranga National Park director P Sivakumar said this is the longest period of closure for the national park.
He said that normally, the park remains closed from the end of May because of annual floods but this year, it was shut for an additional two and half months due to Covid-19.
BIG NEWS ??
?21st October ?11:00am@kaziranga_ reopens for Nature Lovers @sarbanandsonwal @CMOfficeAssam @ParimalSuklaba1 @ntca_india @moefcc @alka_b87 pic.twitter.com/DpMAuxbIGw— Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (@kaziranga_) October 15, 2020
He said the usual precautionary measures such as wearing of masks, using hand sanitisers and maintaining social distancing will be put to practise while allowing tourists to enter the park.
The director said a limited number of jeep safaris will be allowed at a time. “The vehicles’ tyres will be sanitised after each trip,” Sivakumar added.
All tourists will have to undergo a screening process and anyone detected with Covid-19-related symptoms such as high fever, cough and could will be segregated and handed over to local health authorities.
The elephant safaris won’t be allowed to operate during the first few days of the park’s reopening and may resume from November.
Initially, only the Kohora and Bagori ranges of the Kaziranga National Park would be reopened for tourists.