Royal Chitwan National Park

Royal Chitwan National Park is in Central Nepal.

Understand

History

In 1973, Chitwan National Park was established covering 932 sq km area is now listed in the World Heritage site by UNESCO. The Park consists of a diversity of ecosystems-including the Churia hills, Ox-bow lakes, and the flood plains of the Rapti, Reu and Narayani Rivers. The Churia hills rise slowly towards the East from 150 m. to more than 800 m. The western portion of the Park is comprised of the lower but more rugged, Someshwor hill. The Park shares its eastern boundary with the Parsa Wildlife Reserve.

Climate

It is quite hot and humid most of the year.

Landscape

Its a plain region.

Flora and fauna

There are many species of birds, crocodiles, rhinos, sloth bears, tigers (though almost never seen), and monkeys. The elephants you will see walking through the village are domesticated and used for taking tourists on sightseeing excursions. Of course it would not be Nepal without the usual cows, goats, and stray dogs roaming the village as well.

Getting there

• Bharatpur Airport, Bharatpur, Nepal is about 10 km away.

• By bus Take the tourist bus from Kathmandu or Pokhara. Stop in at one of the many tour agencies (in either city) at least 1-2 days before your journey. From Kathmandu, Chitwan is about 4 hours (cost is approx NPR 350 for standard tourist bus, no A/C). From Pokhara, it is maybe 6 hours. When you arrive in Chitwan (the village), you will need to take a horse cart or bicycle rickshaw (what the locals call a "taxi") the 7km into the tiny village that Sauraha. A bicycle rickshaw can take about 45 minutes and costs NPR120. When you arrive, you can easily walk down the main road that is lined with lodges and guest houses.

Traveling around

• Pony & trap Pony rickshaws for 2 people

• Ox cart Bigger groups can be pulled by 2 oxen

• Elephant It's Nepal - everything's possible

• Jeep

See

• Gharial Breeding Center, Kasara 1Km. A crocodile breeding center.

• Lake Lamital

• Lake Devital

• Bikram Baba' , a religious site.

• Chitwan Hatisar Elephant Breeding Center

• Bishajari Tal (20000 Lakes). This lake chain is made up of many small lakes spreading and covering huge area of national park.

• World Elephant Polo Competition

• Local native dances

Things to do

• Hiking

• Jungle Safari

• Elephant ride

• Boating in Rapti

• Motorcycle Safari Explore the Jungle and traditional Tharu villages on a classic motorcycle. Hearts and Tears Motorcycle Club organise everything out of Pokhara, and bring a local nature guide along for the ride. Just amazing.

Drink

• Jungle Pub The original bar on the beach, and the ideal place to watch the sun go down over the jungle. It's also the hang-out of the custom motorcycle riders from Kathmandu and Pokhara when they're in town, so you might see some interesting Royal Enfield bikes.

Sleep

• Sapana Village Lodge , +977 (0) 56 58 03 08 , Chitwan, Sauraha, Sapana is het Nepalese woord voor

Lodging

• Chtiwan Gaida lodge , +977-56-580083, +977-56-580083

• Chtiwan Jungle Lodge , +977-1-4442240, +977-1-4442240, In the heart of the Chitwan National Park, Old fashioned nature blended lodge provides its customer with serence quite stay along with various activities such as bird watching, canoeing, nature walk, elephant briefing, swimming and elephant bathing, observation tower, jungle drive,slide shows etc.

• Gaida Wildlife Camp, 977-4215409/4215431/4259330, 977-4215409/4215431/4259330

• Machan Wildlife Resort

• Tented Camp

• Tharu Lodge

• Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge , +977-1-4361500, Pioneers of environmentally responsible and sustainable conservation tourism, set the standards for the finest wildlife experience in Chitwan. All are located either in the deep jungle or the buffer zone of the park and have the best-trained elephants and wildlife naturalists to take you on superb safaris.

Buy

• Memo of Elephant and Rhino

• Honey

• Memo of Crocodile

• Stuffs for Bikram Baba if you are religious

Many hotels in Sauraha that have restaurants serve good food but getting the food is another question, they forget or they dont understand english so they take your order(you think) and disappear to do other things. Especially two places that we were staying at called "Chitwan tiger camp" that is mentioned aswell under stay safe or Backgrounds, where we thought the food was good but the service and the igorance we recived was beyond any excuse that we did not recive either. Do not be hungry coming here or have your own food and order a beer to see the sunset by the riverside are some options. Aswell, restaurant at "Jungle Adventure world" where you must bring your nepalese phrase book to make a food order. If you did not get anything what you ordered, walk away with a smile because they do not understand anyway. Enyojed the city restaurants alot though!

Fees/Permits

For all activities inside and outside (yes, really), visitors must pay NPR 500 for a park permit.

Get out

If you want to see more of Nepal, visit any of the tour offices or ask your hotel manager to buy a bus ticket onward. Nearly everyone supplies these so shop around and sometimes you can save a maybe 50-100 rupees on your ticket. The tickets will most likely be for the local bus and not the standard tourist bus like you may have come in.

If you want to go to India from Chitwan, you can buy a bus ticket the same way to the border (tell them you want to go to Sonauli). Sonauli is the border town and is about 4 hours from Chitwan. When you arrive, you should be let off at the last stop (after Lumbini, which is only a few minutes apart). Your bus will be swamped with touts wanting to take you the 2km to the border in their bicycle rickshaws. It should only cost NPR30-50 so bargain accordingly. Note that some drivers will take you to a money change office just in front of the Nepal immigration office and then demand extra payment for the unscheduled (read: comissioned) stop. Just pay the formerly agreed upon amount and walk away. The immigration office is on the left side of the road. After getting your exit stamp (don't let them try to charge you a fake exit fee), walk through the large "Welcome to India" arch and proceed straight ahead past the first grouping of police guards on the left and on to a small "office" that is a long table with 3-4 men sitting with entrance forms. The sign is small and so a bit difficult to see and is also on the left side of the road. After filling out your entry form and getting stamped you can either get a taxi to take you onward to your intended city or you can walk approx another 200 meters straight ahead to the bus lot (on right side of road) and ask around for your intended destination.