Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 52

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
Manas National Park
Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is
a national park, and declared as a IUCN Category
II UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project
Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve
in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan foothills, it
is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park in
Bhutan. The park is known for its rare and endangered
endemic wildlife such as the Assam roofed turtle, hispid
hare, golden langur and pygmy hog. Manas is famous for
its population of the wild water buffalo.
photo credit: indiagetaways
UNESCO. Kahitama R.F. the Kokilabari R.F. and the
Panbari R.F. were added in the year 1990 to form the
Manas National Park. In 1992, UNESCO declared it
as a world heritage site in danger due to heavy poaching
and terrorist activities. The lack of Strong security due to
vehement Terrorist activities had made the park an easy
target for the poachers.
On 25 February 2008 the area was increased to 950 km 2 .
On 21 June 2011, it was removed from the List of World
Heritage in Danger and was commended for its efforts
Origin of the name
in conservation activities. It is one of the two parks in
The name of the park is originated from the Manas Assam which is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to
River, which is supposed to be named after the serpent the vivid natural heritage.
goddess Manasa. The Manas river is a major tributary of
Brahmaputra River, which passes through the heart of Manas forest range extends into neighboring nation of
the national park.
Bhutan where it is known as Royal Manas National park.
There is only one forest village, Agrang, in the core of the
History
national park. Apart from this village 56 more villages
The Manas National Park was declared a sanctuary on surround the park. Many more fringe villages are directly
1 October 1928 with an area of 360 km 2 . Manas bio- or indirectly dependent on the park.
reserve was created in 1973. Prior to the declaration of
The park is known for its rare and endangered
the sanctuary it was a reserved forest called Manas R.F.
endemic wildlife such as the Assam roofed turtle,
and North Kamrup R.F. It was used by the Cooch Behar
hispid hare, golden langur and pygmy hog. Manas
royal family and Raja of Gauripur as a hunting reserve.
2
is famous for its population of the wild water
In 1951 and 1955 the area was increased to 391 km . It
was declared a World Heritage site in December 1985 by
buffalo.
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Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017