Kaziranga

Kaziranga is the great wildlife sanctuary of the Northeast, a sweep of tall elephant grass, marshes, and shallow pools laid out along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra. Protected for more than a century and inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, it is one of the last strongholds of some of Asia's most imperilled large animals.

Its emblem, and the reason most visitors come, is the greater one-horned rhinoceros: Kaziranga shelters around two-thirds of the entire world population, and a morning here often brings the extraordinary sight of these armour-plated giants grazing the grassland. It is worth being clear that the rhino, not the tiger, is the headline, Kaziranga is a tiger reserve and holds a high density of tigers, but they are seldom seen, and no sighting of any species can be promised. Alongside the rhino roam wild elephants, the massive wild water buffalo, and the graceful swamp deer, together the park's celebrated 'Big Five', while the wetlands teem with pelicans, storks, and migratory birds. The park is divided into ranges, Kohora, Bagori, Agaratoli, and Burapahar, each explored by jeep, with elephant-back safaris in the early morning.

MyTripMyTravel runs Kaziranga as a premium, expert-led safari. Guests are staged from Guwahati or the nearer airport at Jorhat into comfortable lodges on the park's edge, given private jeep drives with skilled naturalists across the ranges, and briefed honestly that while rhino encounters are frequent, all wildlife is wild and sightings can never be guaranteed. We plan strictly around the open season, as the park shuts through the monsoon floods.