GUWAHATI:
On the final day of his three-day visit to Assam, President Ram Nath Kovind went on an elephant safari in Kaziranga National Park on February 27.
Kovind and his daughter Shweta together rode an elephant, admiring the wilderness and spotting the animals in their natural habitat.
Kovind, accompanied by several Assam ministers, undertook the ride from Mihimukh point in Kohora range of the national park.
His wife Savita Kovind, who was present at Mihimukh, however, did not take the elephant safari. She and Shweta had taken a jeep safari inside the national park on Saturday, although the President had skipped it.
Kovind inaugurated a photo and archival exhibition on conservation and preservation of the proposed Kaziranga elevated corridor at Kohora.
The exhibition essentially depicted the big five denizens of the park — rhino, elephant, tiger, swamp deer and wild buffalo. The exhibition also highlighted different sections like the rich biodiversity of the park, annual floods, forest protection force and other protection measures, the ecstatic natural beauty of KNP among others.
The exhibition also showcased a large elephant tusk, large rhino horn, sambar and swamp deer antler. Another section of the exhibition displayed the names of forest martyrs who laid down their lives in the protection of wild life.
Welcoming the President and his wife, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he considered it his privilege to accompany the President to inaugurate the exhibition which proudly projected the undiluted beauty of the Kaziranga along with its verdant and unique biodiversity.
Sarma also said that the visit of the President to Kaziranga, the world heritage site, will encourage the park authority along with its forest guards and other fringe workers and NGOs to work more diligently to sustain its conservation works and take them to greater heights.
The chief minister expressed his gratitude to the President for his guidance which will help the government to set new examples for the Kaziranga model of conservation and protection to be emulated elsewhere.