Rain damaged infra disappoints tourists at Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam

Morigaon (Assam): Tourists visiting Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, the densest habitat of one-horned rhinos in the world, are facing hardship due to poor road conditions inside the forest on account of heavy rainfall a week ago.

The forest was reopened on October 14 after the monsoon break since May, but tourists had to be turned away as the authorities could start neither jeep nor elephant safaris due to poor road condition inside the sanctuary, a senior official said on Sunday.

During the last one week, already 1,585 tourists, including 21 foreign nationals from China and Thailand, visited Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and it is a healthy trend, the forest's Ranger Nayan J Das told PTI.

"However, many of them could not go inside because we could not start the jeep or elephant safari. We had repaired the roads after the monsoon, but those got badly damaged in heavy rains that lashed the park at the time of reopening," he added.

Das said that the paths inside the sanctuary were waterlogged, and jeep and elephant safaris remained suspended for the first three days.

Usually, October is a non-rainy month in Assam but this year the state received heavy rainfall for several days till around Durga Puja earlier this month.

"When the rain stopped, we started repair work again. The damaged infrastructure was repaired and work on link roads inside the sanctuary is underway. We could finally start the jeep safari from October 17," Das said.

However, the elephant safari will take some more time to start and the forest authorities have set a target of November 7 for this, he added.

Sudip Bose, a tourist from Kolkata, said he reached Pobitora on October 16 but could not take the safari as it was closed then.

"I stayed one more night and took the jeep safari on October 17. It was worth waiting for. However, the roads inside were very bad and the safari guide did not take us to a few areas as the link paths were still in very bad shape," he said.

Another tourist, Lily Dubey from Delhi, said the authorities should have reopened the forest after preparing it fully for the tourists, otherwise it brings a bad reputation for the sanctuary when visitors coming from outside the state are turned away.

"Tourists spend time and money on vacations. If it does not fructify due to lack of preparedness by the management, it is not good. Also, there is no system of getting proper information. There should be a website or social media account with regular updates," she added.

During the 2023-24 tourist season, a total of 51,293 tourists, including 2,029 foreigners, came to Pobitora and enjoyed jeep and elephant safaris.

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary harbours the world's highest density of one-horned rhinoceros. Located in Morigaon district, about 35 km from Guwahati, the habitat comprises Assam alluvial grassland with hilly forests for an area of 38.81 sq km.

Apart from rhinos, other mammals found are leopard, leopard cat, fishing cat, jungle cat, feral buffalo, wild boar, Chinese pangolins, different types of deer, several hundred species of migratory and resident birds, amphibians and reptiles.

Pobitora supports two critically endangered, four endangered, eight vulnerable and three near-threatened bird species.