World Rhino Day

[Harshad Barve]

Dear All

Taken in Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga is a title of a remarkable success story of conservation of the One Horned India Rhinoceros and other wild lives in the North East India. It is not only the homeland of the Great Indian One Horned Rhinoceros,
but also provides shelter to a variety of wild lives. It is one of the significant natural habitat for in situ conservation of biological biodiversity of universal value.
The Kaziranga National Park, India has the distinction of being in the list of World Heritage Sites declared by the UNESCO. This proves the richness in the biodiversity of this area,
which is mainly a swamp forest interspersed with moist deciduous forests. One of the major elements that dominate the landscape of the park is the mighty Brahmaputra River, which floods the plains of the park.
The park is spread over an area of 430 sq.km. ( many more SQ-KM are brought under conservation Area ) and is mainly renowned for the Indian one-horned rhinoceros, which is high on the list of the endangered species.

The park is famous for its inspirational comeback that was brought about by dedicated conservation efforts by the Forest Department officials. The park, which once had a thriving population of the one-horned rhinoceros,
was suddenly faced with the danger of losing this gigantic animal to excessive poaching and game hunting. Till 1950, the park was left with less than 100 rhinos,
which made the Assam State Government take stern steps to conserve and enhance the numbers of the rhinos. The park was fortunate to get some of the best conservationists who fought for the survival of the rhinos.
The result of this is that today, there are about 2,000 rhinos present in Kaziranga National Park, India. Kazi is definitely the best managed NP in Asia as well as world.
And now Kazi has best population of tigers too


Kaziranga is a huge game forest with unbelievable diversity in the flora and fauna. Apart from the rhinos, the park consists of mammals like tiger, elephants, wild buffaloes and swamp deer.
Apart from a healthy mammal population, the park has a rich avian assortment with as many as 505 species of birds found.

The tall elephant grass and dense forests of Kaziranga National Park, India provides the right refuge to some of the most gigantic and magnificent animals in the world.
Lets hope Great One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) will survive and their population grows ,


D300 , 200-400 at F4 ISO 800 , at 250mm, 1/250
Though I am bad at B & W but posted this in monochrome , Lets hope all species of Rhinos will have colorful future
All C & C are most welcome
Harshad

PS , All info from various websites

[Hilary Hann]

What a fantastic story which can give us some hope for the rhinos future. This is a stately animal, I love the armour plate hide which lends itself very well to b&w conversions. I hope to visit this park one day.
I really like his very superior, intelligent look, and the detail in the grass is very nice. Lovely photo, thank you for sharing and contributing a rhino for International Rhino Day - across nations and species.

[Harshad Barve]

I know Monochrome is not good and here is color version too for enjoying beauty of this gigantic animal

[Hilary Hann]

I have to say that I do love the colour version. Amazingly lush and green.

[Rachel Hollander]

Harshad - nice to hear such a successful conservation story. I like both versions but think the b&w is one of your best conversions. Nice comp and detail.

TFS,
Rachel

[Mark Wiseman]

Harshad, both images are wonderful and a success story in conservation to boot. I prefer the colour version as to me, the rhino looks more majestic in colour and the detail stands out.

[Steve Kaluski]

He looks like one of those automated toys with great body armour plating.

The colour works best for me, nice and vibrant, however look at the lower contour of the body from mouth to left rear leg, there is a halo following this contour more evident in the B/W Harshad. Might need to look at backing off the sharpening or amending the mask.

TFS
Steve

[Brendan Dozier]

Great success story, Harshad, like both color and B&W versions. Beautiful rhino, nicely captured, like the texture to its armour and comp. Steve does have a point regarding halo, but still a good looking image.

[Pieter de Waal]

Thanks for that nice introduction Harshad, it is great to hear these success stories and get to know more about the positives in the world around us. Especially where Rhino's are concerned. That is a lovely image of this magnificent beast. Prefer the colour version with the lush green vegetation and great BG.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the story Bhai. Interesting looking fellow with the 'body armour' and I like both versions. Well captured.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the info Bhai...wonderful Park it is and one I hope to visit with you one day

Though I am bad at B & W but posted this in monochrome , Lets hope all species of Rhinos will have colorful future

You are lying! This is a very good conversion and I will outright say that I prefer the monochrome here...just has a lot more drama considering the plight of rhinos, and also it accentuates the body contours and textures nicely while you managed a great tonal range.

[Robert Amoruso]

I agree with Morkel, I like the B&W version better.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Thank you for the story and a great story it is with a 'Feel good ending' Lets hope we can follow the conservation efforts and success here in SA.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thank you for the story and a great story it is with a 'Feel good ending' Lets hope we can follow the conservation efforts and success here in SA.

Amen to that!