Kaziranga, April 14: After a jeep safari inside the Kaziranga National Park, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton Wednesday visited villages around the famed park, the Kaziranga Discovery Centre and Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation.
The royal couple after the jeep safari in the Bagori range of the Park visited Rong Terang Gaon, where the villagers have shifted their homes to create a corridor for elephants.
The Duke and Duchess, dressed in casuals with the latter wearing jeans and a white and black polka shirt, took a keen interest in the measures taken by villagers to reduce man-elephant conflict.
In the village, the couple first visited ‘Namghar’, the traditional prayer hall, where they entered after removing their shoes and kneeled down to bow before the altar housing the ‘nam-ghosa’ (the holy book). They then interacted with a group of local villagers and officials.
The royal couple also visited the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (CWRC) at Panbari area where they were shown a documentary of man-elephant conflict across the state.
The Duke and Duchess also visited Kaziranga Discovery Centre where The Mark Shand Asian Elephant Learning Centre is situated and were briefed about the activities of the Captive Elephant Clinic which completed 4,883 cases.
Shand, a renowned travel writer and conservationist, was the co-founder of the Foundation of Elephant Family in 2002 and also the brother of Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla.
The royal couple also drew some doodles and signed on fibre glass elephants with the map of both India and United Kingdom along with a world map to create awareness about the need to save elephants and their habitats.
They also interacted with school children at the centre and appreciated the paintings on elephants made by them.
Prince William and Kate visited a model village—Panbari Adarsh gaon–and interacted with the villagers to get first-hand knowledge of rural families living around the Park, famed for its one-horned rhinoceros.
The royal couple began their day inside Kaziranga National Park taking a jeep safari inside the Bagori range and went to the Dunga and Rowmari forest camp where the rhino and tiger population is concentrated. They saw rhinos, buck deer, buffaloes and many other animals there, an official accompanying the royalty said.
The Duke and Duchess were briefed about conservation efforts and anti-poaching measures adopted to reduce the killing of rhinos by poachers and they also inquired about families of forest personnel.
They had arrived at the Tezpur airport last evening to a warm and traditional Assamese welcome and drove about 90 kms to Diphlu River Lodge near Kaziranga National Park where they were entertained by Bihu and Jhumur dances.
The couple will spend the evening at the lodge and leave for Tezpur Thursday morning enroute to Guwahati for the next leg of their journey to Bhutan.
