S5|EP5 - The Remarkable Recovery of Manas National Park | Sanatan Deka | Wildlife Trust of India

Deep in the Eastern Himalayas lies one of the world's most remarkable conservation success stories. Once devastated by decades of ethnic conflict, insurgency, and rampant poaching, Manas National Park in Assam has transformed into a global model for community-led conservation, rewilding, and landscape-scale biodiversity recovery.In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, I speak with Sanatan Deka, Head of the Greater Manas Recovery Project at the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). Having spent more than 15 years working across the Greater Manas landscape, Santan shares the extraordinary journey that brought Manas back from the brink of ecological collapse.We explore how the Bodoland Peace Accord became a turning point for conservation, enabling governments, conservation organisations, and local communities to rebuild protected areas, restore wildlife populations, and create one of India's largest connected conservation landscapes.A major focus of our conversation is the successful rhino reintroduction programme. After every greater one-horned rhinoceros disappeared from Manas due to poaching during the insurgency, conservationists launched one of India's most ambitious megafauna rewilding initiatives. Today, rhinos are breeding once again, alongside recovering populations of tigers, elephants, wild water buffalo, golden langurs and many other threatened species.Santan also explains the vision behind the Greater Manas Program, which has expanded protected areas by more than 1,000 km² while reconnecting habitats across Assam and Bhutan. The discussion highlights how community institutions, ecotourism, local leadership and conservation partnerships have become central pillars of long-term biodiversity recovery.Finally, we examine one of conservation's biggest challenges—human-wildlife conflict. Despite supporting over 2,000 wild elephants and growing populations of rhinos and tigers, Manas has managed to maintain comparatively low conflict through habitat connectivity, community-managed solar fencing, rapid response teams, and strong local stewardship. We also discuss anti-poaching strategies, transboundary conservation with Bhutan, and why Greater Manas offers valuable lessons for protected areas across the world.Whether you're interested in wildlife conservation, biodiversity restoration, protected area management, or community-driven conservation, this episode demonstrates how collaboration, peacebuilding, and long-term vision can restore even the most damaged ecosystems.Timestamps00:00 Greater Manas Conservation04:01 Ethnic Conflict History09:25 Greater Manas Program20:33 Rhino Reintroduction38:03 Human-Wildlife ConflictIf you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with anyone passionate about wildlife conservation, biodiversity, and nature restoration.#AssamBiodiversityConservation #AssamBiodiversityHotspot #AssamBiodiversity #Assam #AssamWildlife #AssamWildlifeHotspot #AssamWildlifeConservation #WildlifeConservation #CommunityLedConservation #CommunityBasedConservation #CommunityConservation #Rewilding #MegafaunaRewilding #Megafauna #MegafaunaConservation #RewildingIndia #Manas #ManasNationalPark #Insurgency #EthnicConflict #RhinoConservation #RhinoReintroduction #Bodoland #BodolandPeaceAccord Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe