The seven-day India-Bhutan tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,
Prince William and Princess Catherine, which commenced with their
arrival in Mumbai on Sunday, will conclude in spring-awash Kaziranga
with the promise of a grand fund-raiser and an elephant parade next
year in India to save the elephant.
The two-day tour of Assam, beginning with a ceremonial welcome at
Tezpur on Tuesday followed by a trip to Kaziranga, will bring them
closer to the cause they cherish – conservation. Kate, William and his
brother Prince Harry are part of a number of charity organisations in
Africa working for the preservation of jumbos. “They have put in
enormous efforts for the conservation of elephants whose numbers are
rapidly dwindling,” said Ruth Powys, CEO of Elephant Family, the
charity group aiding the creation of corridors in India.
The theme of the Assam leg of the couple’s tour will be what role
conservation plays in the lives of the rural people. After an
overnight stay at the sanctuary, where the royal couple is going to be
treated to Assamese food, they will take a jeep safari in the park,
interact with rangers and also villagers who have been shifted to
higher grounds away from elephant movement paths and given livelihood
support.
The elephant parade, which will be hosted in 2017 in Mumbai, Delhi and
other key cities, will feature about 300 sculptures created and
designed by Indian artists and fashion houses to raise a corpus
matching the sum (20 million pounds) garnered at similar parades in
London, Edinburgh and New York earlier.