Chitwan National Park

Chitwan National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering Nepal's subtropical Terai lowlands, and the country's premier wildlife destination. Once a royal hunting reserve, it now protects one-horned rhinoceros, Bengal tigers, leopards, sloth bears, gharial crocodiles and over 400 recorded bird species. Jeep safaris, guided jungle walks and canoe trips on the Rapti River are the main ways to explore it, based out of the gateway village of Sauraha.

Chitwan was gazetted in 1973 as Nepal's first national park and covers about 953 square kilometres. The 2021 count put the greater one horned rhino population at 694, recovered from fewer than a hundred in the 1960s when poaching had very nearly finished them, and the 2022 census recorded 128 tigers. Sauraha, the gateway village, is five to six hours by road from Kathmandu or a short flight to Bharatpur. October to March is the comfortable season, and the tall grass is cut in January, which is when sightings come easiest.