From Assam to China, a ‘phantom’ rules the rhino horn trade
26th Aug., 2018
Terrestrial links between Assam and China through Myanmar and
the Eastern Himalayas have come at a high price. More than 1,100
Americans died carving the 1,726 km Stilwell Road through treacherous
hills from eastern Assam’s Ledo to Kunming in China’s Yunnan province
during the Second World War, after Yangon (then Rangoon) fell to the
Japanese.
The road that took two years and $150 million for U.S.
Army General Joseph Stilwell to build, however, barely served its
purpose of sending supplies to China, and fell into disuse soon after
the end of the war.
Stilwell Road fell into disuse after 39,000
tonnes of supplies were moved in November 1944. But more than 500
one-horned rhinos of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) have died in the
last 70 years to maintain the terrestrial link between Assam and China,
albeit via a different route.
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