In the year 1904, Mary Curzon, wife of the Viceroy of India – Lord Curzon of Kedleston visited Kaziranga to see the Indian One Horned Rhinoceros but to her surprise, she was not able to find a single Rhinoceros inside the park. She was very concerned about this grave issue and wanted urgent steps to be taken for conservation. She then persuaded her husband to take immediate measures to protect and conserve the dwindling population of the One-Horned Rhinoceros inside Kaziranga.

Lord Curzon later initiated plans for the protection of the Rhinoceros and on 1st June 1905, after a series of documentation and meetings, an area of 232 sq km was created as a Proposed Kaziranga Reserve Forest. In the next three years, another 152 sq km adjoining the bank of River Brahmaputra was brought under the proposed reserve forest. Finally, in the year 1908 it was designated as ‘Reserve Forest’ but again after eight years in 1916, it was re-designated as ‘Kaziranga Game Sanctuary’. But in 1938 British India government hunting inside the sanctuary and visitors were permitted to enter the park.

Post Independence, a renowned forest conservationist P.D Stracey appealed to the government to rename the park as “Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary” to get rid of the existing name related to hunting. Eighteen years later in 1968, the state government passed the Assam National Park Act of 1968, declaring Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary as designated National Park. The central government on 11th February in 1974 gave the official status to the park as a “Kaziranga National Park” and in 1985 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its unique natural environment.