The Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, famous for dense population of one-horn rhinos, reopened to tourists on Saturday after remaining closed during the monsoon.
The sanctuary was opened by Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain.
Closed in May last before the onset of the monsoon as a routine, the sanctuary reopened with both domestic and foreign visitors taking elephant rides, jeep safaris and boat rides at Haduk water body, sanctuary sources said.
This year, the footfall of foreign tourists from countries like Australia, Norway, Finland, Nepal and Bangladesh is expected to surpass last year’s figure of 5,000 with net revenue over Rs 25 lakh, they said.
Pobitora would also be attractive to the visitors as over 600 migratory Amur Falcons have arrived here this year after more than a decade, with only a handful of them being spotted during the intervening years, environmental NGOs said.
The Amur Falcons are small and slender birds which annually migrate over 22,000 km in flocks from their breeding areas in Eastern Siberia, Northern China, Mongolia, Manchuria and North Korea from late August to September.
The 38-sq km sanctuary, about 46 km far from Guwahati, is the third wildlife habitat opened to visitors after Kaziranga being reopened on Friday and Manas on October 27 last.
