three-day royal trip of Kaziranga National Park of Assam, on Tuesday. (PTI)
Guwahati: British Royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine, arrived in Assam this evening on a two day visit to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kaziranga National Park.
The high-profile British couple reached Tezpur airport this evening in a special flight and was accorded a very warm welcome at the airport by Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and his wife Dolly Gogoi, among other dignitaries in the traditional Assamese way. Folk dances of the state including Bihu, Jhumoor and Bagurumba, were performed by local artistes as the couple walked down to the lobby from the tarmac.
They were served with traditional local snacks along with other items at light refreshment arranged at the airport lobby. Dressed in a mint green frock, Princess Catherine and Prince William clad in a black suit were driven out of the airport in a special vehicle. They were seen waving to a waiting crowd of school children, dressed in Assamese traditional attire to welcome the Royal couple.
The Duke and Duchess will spend the night at magnificent Difloo River Lodge at Kaziranga National Park where the Royal couple will feast their eyes on performance of Bihu dance by professional troupes.
On April 13, Prince William and Princess Catherine will undertake a Jeep Safari in the Western Range of Bagori of the National Park for two hours and will interact with senior forest officers of the park.Kaziranga National Park is famous for one horned Rhino which is a Schedule 1 wild animal under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972.Prince Willam and Princess Catherine are scheduled to visit wild animals rehabilitation and treatment centre of Wildlife Trust of India at Borjuri near Kaziraga Park.
They will also visit New Ram Terang village, which was recently been relocated to clear a traditional elephant corridor, by the Mark Shand Foundation that is supported by Prince William. An Additional DG of Assam police has been posted at Kaziranga Park to make proper security arrangement of the British Royal Couple during their sojourn.It was at the initiative of Lady Curzon, the conservation efforts to protect the one-horned India rhino started at Kaziranga forest in the year 1901.
Since then it has been a long story of successful conservation and today the rhino population in Kaziranga Park stands at over 2300 though poaching remained a constant threat.