Manas National Park is set in between two famed national parks – Kaziranga and Jaldapara. Set at the foothills of Himalayas, some part of the park is extended to Bhutan. The park is 176km from Guwahati and crowned as a World Heritage Site. The huge area is about 540sq km consists of diverse topography and rich flora and fauna. The thick tropical deciduous forest with large swamps houses numerous wildlife species. The wetland of Manas is home of fast disappearing hispid hare. The vegetation ranges from Khairsisscoo – bhabar grass community to semi evergreens. There are various of kind of trees such as simul, khoir, udal, sida, bohera and kanchan present in the area.

The park is divided into two ranges. Eastern Range has only place to spot the rare Bengal Florican (great Indian Bustard). There is community based management led by MMES(Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society) who employs former Bodo insurgents to protect the forest against poachers. The eastern gateway lead to a village of Koklabari, which has a small but fascinating museum, displaying poaching weapons and a handicraft workshop. The Western Range is popular for tigers. There is a beautiful Bansbari lodge that provides delightful comfort.

Manas is home to 20 of the most endangered species of animals of the world. Animals life rare golden langur, hispid hare, pygmy hog, red pandas are some that can only visible in the park. The prime attraction is the Giant Hornbill, pied and grey varieties are found. Apart from that there are number of mammals and birds found in the park like elephants, tiger, panther, leopard, clouded leopard, gaur, wild buffalo, great one horned rhinos, civet cat, squirrel, sloth bear, swamp deer, hog deer, monitor lizard, gharial, python, egret and many species of birds. The major problem in Manas is rhino poaching.

Sights And Activities

Traveling In The Wild
Drive past the Bansbari tea estate, a trip through the gravel road from Barpeta to Manas National Park lead you to the open grassland. The place is good place to see rare hispid hare. This elusive rabbit like animal has dark brown tail, wheatish color breast and about 47 cm in length. Away from the bank of river, you will soon enter the ferine forest of broad leaved trees where even sunlight fails to penetrate properly to the ground.

Bird Watching
A heaven for countless species of birds. The park is specially known for giant hornbill. There are various migrant birds come from distant places and can be seen near the water bodies.

Trail the Wildlife In Night
With night vision camera it is ideal to watch jungle beast at night. There is jeep vehicle that explore the majority of the park.

Safari
There are three safari options available in the park. the most popular one is elephant ride, which can be hired from Mathaguri for 3 hours. Another one is jeep safari that also can be hired by Mathanguri. The most exciting one is boat ride on Manas river, which starts from Mathanguri and ends around 35km away. The boat ride takes you to the densest part of the forest and you can watch various wildlife animals.