I’m Rujan, a licensed trekking guide living in Kathmandu. Nepal is not only mountains. Along the southern lowlands, the Terai, lie forests and grasslands with rhinos, elephants, tigers, deer and hundreds of kinds of birds. Most visitors have time for one park. Here is how they differ.
Chitwan
The best known, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, and the easiest to reach: about 5 to 6 hours by road from Kathmandu or Pokhara, or a short flight to Bharatpur. One-horned rhinos are seen on most visits, from a jeep, a canoe or on a walk with the park’s nature guides. Sauraha, the main village, is busy and has lodges of every kind. For a quieter Chitwan, stay on the western side, near Meghauli or Kasara.
Bardiya
The largest park in the lowlands of the west, on the Karnali river. Far fewer visitors than Chitwan, a wilder feeling, and one of the better chances in Nepal of seeing a tiger, though it is never certain. You fly to Nepalgunj and drive about 2.5 to 3 hours to Thakurdwara. Days here are long and patient: waiting by the river, walking with the nature guides.
Shuklaphanta
At the far western edge of Nepal. Its great open grassland holds the largest herd of swamp deer known in the world, and it is one of the best places for grassland birds such as the Bengal florican. Very few visitors come, and places to stay are few and simple. Fly to Dhangadhi and drive about 1.5 to 2 hours.
Koshi Tappu
In the east, on the floodplain of the Sapta Koshi river. It is a wildlife reserve rather than a national park, and above all a place for birds, especially water birds in winter. Fly to Biratnagar and drive.
Side by side
- Easiest to reach: Chitwan.
- Quietest: Shuklaphanta, then Bardiya.
- Rhinos: Chitwan, most reliably.
- A chance of a tiger: Bardiya.
- Swamp deer and grassland birds: Shuklaphanta.
- Winter water birds: Koshi Tappu.
When to go
October to April. From December to February the mornings are often foggy and cold; from April to early June the lowlands are very hot; in the monsoon roads are slower and parts of the parks close. February and March, after the tall grass is cut, are good months for seeing animals in all of them.
Inside the parks
Visitors go into the parks with the parks’ licensed nature guides, by jeep or on foot, and nobody walks in the parks after dark. The entry ticket is at the official price: see entrance fees in Nepal.
My nature and wildlife tours include each of these parks, and the Far West in 7 days joins Bardiya and Shuklaphanta. You can see where they lie on my map of the regions.
Rules change. If something here is out of date, please tell me and I will correct it.Tell me
