15/08/2026
Kaziranga has never really fit inside a boundary.
Its grasslands may have a line on a map, but its wildlife moves through a much larger landscape : towards wetlands, forests, corridors and the Karbi Anglong hills beyond the National Park. During floods, some of these areas become especially important as animals move towards higher ground.
That is why the current discussion around Kaziranga’s Eco-Sensitive Zone matters.
The Assam government has announced plans to seek a 1 km ESZ around Kaziranga. For now, the existing default provision continues until a site-specific ESZ is notified.
But I don’t think this conversation should become simply 1 km vs 10 km.
The more important question is whether the boundary we eventually draw reflects how this landscape actually functions.
Wildlife corridors don’t begin exactly one kilometre from a park. Flood refuges don’t end there. Elephants, rhinos and other animals certainly don’t know when they have crossed an administrative boundary.
At the same time, an Eco-Sensitive Zone is not another National Park. People can live and work within one. Its purpose is to regulate certain activities around protected areas so that what happens outside does not compromise what we are trying to conserve inside.
With tourism projects, roads, settlements and other infrastructure continuing to shape Kaziranga’s edges, where that line is drawn matters.
Perhaps the question was never simply:
Where does Kaziranga end?
Perhaps it is:
How much of the landscape does Kaziranga need in order to remain Kaziranga?
All photographs in this carousel are from my visits to Kaziranga.
Sources: Supreme Court of India, T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad proceedings; MoEFCC Eco-Sensitive Zone Guidelines; Elephant Corridors of India 2023; National Green Tribunal proceedings concerning proposed tourism projects around Kaziranga.
