Chitwan National Park

Nepal'S First National Park (1973), UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 1984, Home Of The Greater One Horned Rhinoceros And The Bengal Tiger · Sauraha, Bagmati

Chitwan was Nepal's first national park and is one of the best places in Asia to see wild animals: a lowland forest of sal trees, tall grassland and rivers in the Terai, the flat plain along the Indian border, completely unlike the mountains most people associate with Nepal. It is a World Heritage Site and a conservation success story. The greater one-horned rhinoceros, once close to extinction here, has recovered strongly, and the tiger population has grown too, though tigers are rarely seen. Visitors go out by jeep, by dugout canoe on the Rapti River past gharial and mugger crocodiles, and on foot with guides, and birdlife is superb. Sauraha is the busy lodge town at the edge of the park. Walking safaris are genuinely risky, because rhinos and elephants charge, and people are hurt every year. Elephant-back safaris, once the standard, are now widely criticised, and many lodges have dropped them. The Tharu people of the region have their own culture, and many villages near the park are worth visiting.

Chitwan National Park, entered from Sauraha, Chitwan District, Sauraha, Bagmati, Nepal

The park is open year round with daily entry permits for foreigners, bought at the park office or through lodges; activities run from dawn to dusk. Sauraha is about five to six hours by road from Kathmandu or Pokhara, or a short flight to Bharatpur. The monsoon from June to September brings heat, floods and fewer activities.

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