Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary to reopen on October 31

Morigaon: Rhino habitat Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary near Guwahati will reopen for visitors on October 31 after its routine closure during the monsoon season, Assam Forest Department sources said on Friday.

The Sanctuary situated in Mayong Circle of neighbouring Morigaon district will reopen for both domestic and foreign
tourists, the sources said.

The infrastructure of the sanctuary, having the densest population of the Great Indian one horned Rhinoceros in the world, was repaired following the damages caused by the floods in River Brahmaputra this year, they said.

Last year the Sanctuary, located about 50 km from Guwahati, had earned Rs 28 lakh as revenue from visitors. With a notified area of 38.80 sq km, Pobitora has only 16 sq km as effective rhino habitat with 90 rhinos, more than 1,000 wild buffaloes, thousands of pigs and several types of snakes, tortoises, leopards, wild boar, barking deer, they said.

Home to more than 2,000 migratory birds, the sources said thousands of foreign birds throng the Sanctuary with the advent of winter.