The man operating the speedboat switches off the motor. We are about to reach the confluence of the Jia Bhoreli and Brahmaputra rivers at Bhomoraguri, the western boundary of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park. “That’s a calf with its mother,” says an Assam forest officer pointing to two Gangetic dolphins leaping in and out of the water in tandem. Now closer to the speedboat, these endangered dolphins bob up once more before vanishing, the sunlight bouncing off the oily chocolate-brown skin of the calf more than its grey-brown mother. “Did you know they are virtually blind, depending on echo-location to move?” says the officer.
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The ‘big five’ flagship species that inhabit the 1,300 sq.km. Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve — the tiger, elephant, rhino, Asiatic wild buffalo, and eastern swamp deer — do not rule a watery part of the wildlife preserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Biswanath Wildlife Division, encompassing a 107 km stretch of the Brahmaputra River, is the domain of the elusive Gangetic river dolphin.
Fishermen on the bank of the Brahmaputra River at Biswanath Ghat | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
The playful mammals, arching out of the water, have been central to the ‘Greater Kaziranga programme’ launched in October 2023, that entails opening up the national park beyond Kohora and Bagori, the two rhino-dominated ranges of Kaziranga bearing the brunt of tourist pressure. Apart from boat rides at Bhomoraguri to follow the dolphins, the initiative includes a nature walk in Burachapori Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary (on the western edge of Kaziranga National Park) to explore mangroves, trekking up the hills on the southern fringes, and a nature-meets-spiritualism trip to Biswanath Ghat.
In September, the Ministry of Tourism selected Biswanath Ghat as the best tourism village of India for 2023. The place was chosen from among 791 applications from 31 States and Union Territories. However, it is uncertain what this entails besides the possibility of investments in the private sector, possibly by local entrepreneurs.
A forest guard on the bank of the Brahmaputra River | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
“The rhino will always remain Kaziranga’s main attraction but the idea behind the Greater Kaziranga concept is to popularise other natural wonders of the tiger reserve sustainably,” says Sonali Ghosh, the first woman field director in Kaziranga’s 119-year-old history.
Upping the stickiness factor
Biswanath Ghat is about 240 km north-east of Guwahati. The speedboats docked here are crucial to the forest protection force to monitor this stretch of the Brahmaputra, where rhinos are often poached.
Umatumuni is a small island dotted with medieval temples and connected by a bridge of rocks to Biswanath Ghat. “There are 27 devalayas (temples) on the island. These have attracted tourists for years but we hope the recognition for Biswanath Ghat will help improve the infrastructure for more people to come and stay longer,” says Pradip Sarma, the local priest at a temple here.
Beyond the Ghat
The opening up of the north bank of the Brahmaputra has seen the birth of new circuits covering Biswanath Ghat, tribal villages along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, and a jeep safari at Panpur, a 40 sq.km. area of wetlands on the western side of the division. “Panpur is one of very few patches of land in our division with 25-30 rhinos. We intend to start an elephant safari soon,” says Khagesh Pegu, the divisional forest officer.
Thanks to the Brahmaputra, 75%-90% of the Biswanath Division is watery. A group of grassy sandbars expanding and contracting according to the Brahmaputra’s season-dictated mood, are temporary homes for wildlife. Rhinos and tigers inhabit them.
Ghosh says that all tourism activity would inevitably have an impact on wildlife. “But we need to study the carrying capacity. The boating is for six months and there were 2,000 tourists in 2022-2023 [more data is needed to explore capping visitor numbers],” she says. The best season to visit the park is October to April.
“Biswanath Ghat is central to our plans to promote rural and farm tourism,” says Assam’s tourism minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, pointing to locals undertaking projects to capitalise on the hospitality industry in hitherto unknown places around Kaziranga. Organic farms and small tea growers producing chemical-free beverages in Biswanath and adjoining districts are also hopeful of cashing in on niche tourism. The district has built a reputation, largely localised, with its annual ‘Folk Tea Festival’, which blends the flavours of tea with Assam’s cultural heritage.
The ‘best tourism village’ tag has not yet brought anything apart from the hope that the recognition may help market the place as a sustainable tourism destination and not a mass-tourim hub; the area does not have enough infrastructure. The idea is to divert some of the tourist traffic to make oft-visited parts of Kaziranga breathe easier.
