Himalayan River

Manas

Manas Chu
🏔️ Bhutan Himalayas (Gangkhar Puensum massif) → Brahmaputra, near Barpeta, Assam
376 kmTotal Length
41,350Basin km²
PerennialFlow Type
1States
Golden LangurFlagship Species

About the Manas

The Manas River rises in the Bhutan Himalayas and forms the international boundary between Bhutan and India before cutting through the floodplains of Assam to meet the Brahmaputra. The river has given its name to one of India's most celebrated UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Manas National Park — and to the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan on the opposite bank, together forming one of South Asia's most important trans-boundary conservation landscapes. The Manas River corridor was designated a Tiger Reserve in 1973 as one of the original nine Project Tiger reserves.

The Manas river valley suffered catastrophic wildlife poaching during the Bodo separatist conflict of the 1990s, losing almost its entire rhinoceros population and much of its tiger and elephant populations. The subsequent restoration of Manas — with rhinos translocated from Kaziranga, intensive protection, and community engagement with Bodo tribal communities who are now the park's primary guardians — is one of the most remarkable wildlife conservation recoveries in Asian history. Today Manas is home to the globally rare hispid hare and pygmy hog, found nowhere else on earth in significant numbers.

States along this river
Assam (India), Bhutan (upper)
Length (vs Ganga, 2525 km)
376 km — 14% of India's longest river
Key tributaries

Beki · Pohu · Hakua · Mora Manas

Wildlife along this river
Golden Langur 🐒Indian Rhinoceros 🦏Bengal Tiger 🐯Asian Elephant 🐘Hispid Hare 🐇Pygmy Hog 🐗
Best time to explore
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