It is a rich natural area in the Terai, the subtropical
southern part of Nepal.
A
total of 68 species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of
herpetofauna and 126 species of fish
have been recorded in the park. The
park is especially renowned for its protection of One Horned Rhinoceros,
Royal Bengal Tiger and Gharial Crocodile.
By the end of the 1960s, 70% of Chitwan’s jungles were cleared using DDT, thousands of people had settled there, and only 95 rhinos remained. The dramatic decline of the rhino population and the extent of poaching prompted the government to institute the Gaida Gasti - a rhino reconnaissance patrol of 130 armed men and a network of guard posts all over Chitwan. To prevent the extinction of rhinos the Chitwan National Park was gazetted in December 1970, with borders delineated the following year and established in 1973, initially encompassing an area of 544 km2 (210 sq mi).
In 1977, the park was enlarged to its present area of 932 km2 (360 sq mi). In 1997, a bufferzone of 766.1 km2 (295.8 sq mi) was added to the north and west of the Narayani-Rapti river system, and between the south-eastern boundary of the park and the international border to India.
The park’s headquarters is in Kasara. Close-by the Gharial and Turtle Conservation Breeding Centres have been established. In 2008, a vulture breeding centre was inaugurated aiming at holding up to 25 pairs of each of the two Gyps vultures species now critically endangered in Nepal - the Oriental white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture.
Chitwan has a tropical monsoon climate with high humidity all through the year.[3] The area is located in the central climatic zone of the Himalayas, where monsoon starts in mid June and eases off in late September. During these 14-15 weeks most of the 2,500 mm yearly precipitation falls - it is pouring with rain. After mid-October the monsoon clouds have retreated, humidity drops off, and the top daily temperature gradually subsides from ±36 °C / 96.8 °F to ±18 °C / 64.5 °F. Nights cool down to 5 °C / 41.0 °F until late December, when it usually rains softly for a few days. Then temperatures start rising gradually.
The typical vegetation of the Inner Terai is Himalayan
subtropical broadleaf forests with predominantly sal trees covering
about 70% of the national park area. The purest stands of sal occur on
well drained lowland ground in the centre. Along the southern face of
the Churia Hills sal is interspersed with chir pine (Pinus roxburghii).
On northern slopes sal associates with smaller flowering tree and shrub
species such as beleric (Terminalia bellirica), rosewood (Dalbergia
sissoo), axlewood (Anogeissus latifolia), elephant apple (Dillenia
indica), grey downy balsam (Garuga pinnata) and creepers such as
Bauhinia vahlii and Spatholobus parviflorus.
Seasonal bushfires, flooding and erosion evoke an ever-changing mosaic of riverine forest and grasslands along the river banks. On recently deposited alluvium and in lowland areas groups of catechu (Acacia catechu) with rosewood (Dalbergia sissoo) predominate, followed by groups of kapok (Bombax ceiba) with rhino apple trees (Trewia nudiflora), the fruits of which rhinos savour so much.Understorey shrubs of velvety beautyberry (Callicarpa macrophylla), hill glory bower (Clerodendrum sp.) and gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) offer shelter and lair to a wide variety of species.
Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands cover about 20% of the park’s area. More than 50 species are found here including some of the world’s tallest grasses like the elephant grass called Saccharum ravennae, giant cane (Arundo donax), khagra reed (Phragmites karka) and several species of true grasses. Kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum) is one of the first grasses to colonise new sandbanks and to be washed away by the yearly monsoon floods.
The wide range of vegetation types in the Chitwan National Park is haunt of more than 700 species of wildlife and a not yet fully surveyed number of butterfly, moth and insect species. Apart from king cobra and rock python, 17 other species of snakes, starred tortoise and monitor lizards occur. The Narayani-Rapti river system, their small tributaries and myriads of oxbow lakes is habitat for 113 recorded species of fish and mugger crocodiles.
In
the early 1950s, about 235 gharials occurred in the Narayani River. The
population has dramatically declined to only 38 wild gharials in 2003.
Every year gharial eggs are collected along the rivers to be hatched in
the breeding center of the Gharial Conservation Project, where animals
are reared to an age of 6-9 years. Every year young gharials are
reintroduced into the Narayani-Rapti river system, of which sadly only
very few survive.
Every year dedicated bird watchers and conservationists survey bird species occurring all over the country. In 2006 they recorded 543 species in the Chitwan National Park, much more than in any other protected area in Nepal and about two-thirds of Nepal's globally threatened species. Additionally, 20 black-chinned yuhina, a pair of Gould's sunbird, a pair of blossom-headed parakeet and one slaty-breasted rail, an uncommon winter visitor, were sighted in spring 2008.
Chitwan National Park is one of Nepal’s most popular tourist destinations. In 1989 more than 31,000 people visited the park, and ten years later already more than 77,000.
There are several
lodges inside the national park offering full board and accommodation in combination with elephant and jeep safaris, rafting tours and guided
jungle walks. The pioneer safari lodge is Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge which
has been receiving guests since 1972, before the national park was
established. Tiger Tops has developed standards for responsible
conservation tourism and supports the "Long-term Tiger Monitoring
Project" of the International Trust for Nature Conservation and
anti-poaching units operating in the national park.
Hotels and lodges operating inside Chitwan National Park had to close in July 2012 as the government did not renew licenses and land rental agreements.[19] There are around 350-400 hotels outside the national park, which conduct around 800 elephant rides.[20]
On the edge of the national park Sauraha is a well-known spot for tourists. Accessible from the nearby Bharatpur Airport, Sauraha offers a choice of hotels, lodges, restaurants and agencies that organize day trips into the protected area...
Since the end
of the 19th century Chitwan - Heart of the Jungle - used to be a
favorite hunting ground for Nepal’s ruling class during the cool winter
seasons. Until the 1950s, the journey from Kathmandu to Nepal’s south
was arduous as the area could only be reached by foot and took several
weeks. Comfortable camps were set up for the feudal big game hunters and
their entourage, where they stayed for a couple of months shooting
hundreds of
tigers, rhinocerosses, leopards and sloth bears.
In 1950, Chitwan’s forest and grasslands extended over more than 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi) and was home to about 800 rhinos. When poor farmers
from the mid-hills moved to the Chitwan Valley in search of arable land, the area was subsequently opened for settlement, and poaching of wildlife became rampant. In 1957, the country's first conservation law inured to the protection of rhinos and their habitat. In 1959, Edward Pritchard Gee undertook a survey of the area, recommended creation of a protected area north of the Rapti River and of a wildlife sanctuary south of the river for a trial period of ten years.[4] After his subsequent survey of Chitwan in 1963, this time for both the Fauna Preservation Society and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, he recommended extension of the sanctuary to the south.
By the end of the 1960s, 70% of Chitwan’s jungles were cleared using DDT, thousands of people had settled there, and only 95 rhinos remained. The dramatic decline of the rhino population and the extent of poaching prompted the government to institute the Gaida Gasti - a rhino reconnaissance patrol of 130 armed men and a network of guard posts all over Chitwan. To prevent the extinction of rhinos the Chitwan National Park was gazetted in December 1970, with borders delineated the following year and established in 1973, initially encompassing an area of 544 km2 (210 sq mi).In 1977, the park was enlarged to its present area of 932 km2 (360 sq mi). In 1997, a bufferzone of 766.1 km2 (295.8 sq mi) was added to the north and west of the Narayani-Rapti river system, and between the south-eastern boundary of the park and the international border to India.
The park’s headquarters is in Kasara. Close-by the Gharial and Turtle Conservation Breeding Centres have been established. In 2008, a vulture breeding centre was inaugurated aiming at holding up to 25 pairs of each of the two Gyps vultures species now critically endangered in Nepal - the Oriental white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture.
Chitwan has a tropical monsoon climate with high humidity all through the year.[3] The area is located in the central climatic zone of the Himalayas, where monsoon starts in mid June and eases off in late September. During these 14-15 weeks most of the 2,500 mm yearly precipitation falls - it is pouring with rain. After mid-October the monsoon clouds have retreated, humidity drops off, and the top daily temperature gradually subsides from ±36 °C / 96.8 °F to ±18 °C / 64.5 °F. Nights cool down to 5 °C / 41.0 °F until late December, when it usually rains softly for a few days. Then temperatures start rising gradually.
The typical vegetation of the Inner Terai is Himalayan
subtropical broadleaf forests with predominantly sal trees covering
about 70% of the national park area. The purest stands of sal occur on
well drained lowland ground in the centre. Along the southern face of
the Churia Hills sal is interspersed with chir pine (Pinus roxburghii).
On northern slopes sal associates with smaller flowering tree and shrub
species such as beleric (Terminalia bellirica), rosewood (Dalbergia
sissoo), axlewood (Anogeissus latifolia), elephant apple (Dillenia
indica), grey downy balsam (Garuga pinnata) and creepers such as
Bauhinia vahlii and Spatholobus parviflorus.Seasonal bushfires, flooding and erosion evoke an ever-changing mosaic of riverine forest and grasslands along the river banks. On recently deposited alluvium and in lowland areas groups of catechu (Acacia catechu) with rosewood (Dalbergia sissoo) predominate, followed by groups of kapok (Bombax ceiba) with rhino apple trees (Trewia nudiflora), the fruits of which rhinos savour so much.Understorey shrubs of velvety beautyberry (Callicarpa macrophylla), hill glory bower (Clerodendrum sp.) and gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) offer shelter and lair to a wide variety of species.
Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands cover about 20% of the park’s area. More than 50 species are found here including some of the world’s tallest grasses like the elephant grass called Saccharum ravennae, giant cane (Arundo donax), khagra reed (Phragmites karka) and several species of true grasses. Kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum) is one of the first grasses to colonise new sandbanks and to be washed away by the yearly monsoon floods.
The wide range of vegetation types in the Chitwan National Park is haunt of more than 700 species of wildlife and a not yet fully surveyed number of butterfly, moth and insect species. Apart from king cobra and rock python, 17 other species of snakes, starred tortoise and monitor lizards occur. The Narayani-Rapti river system, their small tributaries and myriads of oxbow lakes is habitat for 113 recorded species of fish and mugger crocodiles.
Every year dedicated bird watchers and conservationists survey bird species occurring all over the country. In 2006 they recorded 543 species in the Chitwan National Park, much more than in any other protected area in Nepal and about two-thirds of Nepal's globally threatened species. Additionally, 20 black-chinned yuhina, a pair of Gould's sunbird, a pair of blossom-headed parakeet and one slaty-breasted rail, an uncommon winter visitor, were sighted in spring 2008.
Chitwan National Park is one of Nepal’s most popular tourist destinations. In 1989 more than 31,000 people visited the park, and ten years later already more than 77,000.
There are several
lodges inside the national park offering full board and accommodation in combination with elephant and jeep safaris, rafting tours and guided
jungle walks. The pioneer safari lodge is Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge which
has been receiving guests since 1972, before the national park was
established. Tiger Tops has developed standards for responsible
conservation tourism and supports the "Long-term Tiger Monitoring
Project" of the International Trust for Nature Conservation and
anti-poaching units operating in the national park.Hotels and lodges operating inside Chitwan National Park had to close in July 2012 as the government did not renew licenses and land rental agreements.[19] There are around 350-400 hotels outside the national park, which conduct around 800 elephant rides.[20]
On the edge of the national park Sauraha is a well-known spot for tourists. Accessible from the nearby Bharatpur Airport, Sauraha offers a choice of hotels, lodges, restaurants and agencies that organize day trips into the protected area...
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