Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

[Siddhartha Gogoi]

Pobitora though is also called mini Kaziranga because of it's huge Rhino population in a small area of less than 40 sq kms. Though Kaziranga is like an open zoo with wild animals everywhere to see Pobitora has only a handful of species of animals and the most commonly seen ones are the Rhinos and the Asiatic Water Buffalos.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the scene. The image would be strengthened without the elephant in the background. Cropping from the left just after the elephant would be good. The grassland and the forests in the background has come out well. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

A nice scene. The DOF is nice too. Do post the EXIF data too. Agree that excluding the elephant would have been nice.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice environment image. The different layers add interest. Its nice to see the rhinos in their natural environment. Could you get any close-ups? When did you photograph this?

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

Siddhartha,

Is this sanctuary contiguous to any of the known area-wise large sanctuaries.

Besides Buffalo and Rhino, are there elephants ? The sanctuary size reported is very less (only 40sq.KM) and without connectivity to other forests, large mammals may perish.

Will be very good if you can share more information about this place.

[Siddhartha Gogoi]

Hi,

Appreciate your feedbacks and compliments. I have included the elephant in the photograph to give a feel of an elephant safari and the way I saw it realtime. I am attaching the same photograph this time excluding the elephant, Sabyasachi let me know which one looks better.

I had photographed this on the 29th April and I did have a few close ups but it did not come out very well.

Camera properties:
Aperture f/8.0
ISO 200
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)

Lakshminarayan, Pobitora WLS is not contiguous and is surrounded by the might Brahmaputra on one side and small hills on one side. During the floods almost 100% of the Park gets submerged in water. There are Leopards, Civets, Wild Boars, Asiatic Water Buffalos and Sloth Bears. There are no Elephants in Pobitora. Highlands are built to provide shelter during the flood season. This Park has the highest concentration of One Horned Rhinos in such a small area of less than 40 sq kms, it has more than 80 Rhinos. A couple of them have been relocated to Manas Tiger Reserve to stabilise the precarious population of Rhinos in Manas (there are hardly any resident rhinos in Manas, almost all of them have been wiped out during the troublesome period of insurgency for more than a decade). The animals also take refuge in the nearby hills during the time of floods, cattle grazing, agriculture, poaching and encroachments are some of the major problems the Park is facing. Tigers are not present and as such the resident animals thrive except for the other anthropogenic pressures when they fall prey. This Park is only 70 kms from Guwahati and they have good facilities for tourists, it is hardly 2 hours drive from the city. They also have Jeep and Elephant safaris. Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have settled all around the Park and they are known to poach Rhinos time and again.

Thanks & Regards,
Siddhartha

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Siddhartha,
This is what I had in mind. I like it. Thanks for the info about Pobitora.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Siddhartha Gogoi]

Thanks Sabyasachi.

Regards,
Siddhartha