Orang National Park is a national park in India located on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam. It covers an area of . It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park on 13 April 1999. It is rich in flora and fauna, including great Indian rhinoceros, pygmy hog, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo and the Bengal tiger. It is the only stronghold of the rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. History The park has a chequered history of habitation. Up to 1900, it was inhabited by the local tribes. On account of an epidemic disease, the tribal population abandoned the area. In 1919 the British colonial authorities declared it as Orang Game Reserve vide notice No. 2276/R dated 31 May 1915. The game reserve came under the control of the wildlife wing of the State Forest Department to meet the requirements of Project Tiger. It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985, vide notification No. FRS 133/85/5 dated 20 September 1985. The park was renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in 1992; however, this action had to be reversed due to public pressure against the renaming. Finally, the sanctuary was declared a National Park in 1999, vide notification No. FRW/28/90/154 dated 13 April 1999. Geography The Orang National Park, encompassing an area of , lies on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River, delimited between and within the districts of Darrang and Sonitpur. Pachnoi river, Belsiri river and Dhanshiri River border the park and join the Brahmaputra. During the monsoon season, the park becomes a veritable flood plain with the many streams overlapping each other. These flood plains constitute twelve wetlands in the park, apart from the twenty-six artificial water bodies. The park is thus formed of alluvial flood plains of the many rivers and is an integral part of the Indo-Burma hotspot of biodiversity. The total area of the park has been classified by type of terrain: Eastern Himalayan moist deciduous forest- Eastern seasonal swamp forest - Eastern wet alluvial grassland- Savannah grassland- Degraded grassland- Bodies of water- Moist sandy area- Dry sandy area - It has a fairly flat terrain tending north to south with a gentle slope. The elevation in the park varies from to . It is bounded on its south and east by islands and spill channels of