Bardia National Park

This Wildlife Safari could change your life, for those with a love a wildlife sanctuary and dramatic scenery & traditional village living, countryside, clean air and simple life, this beautiful Bardia is the perfect destination. If you want to get off the beaten track, come visit Bardia National Park in west Nepal.

Wilderness in the relatively unexplored deep jungles for western Nepal where wildlife is more than abundant. Remote challenging and offering unique adventure for wildlife and nature lovers. The Bardia National Park was initially a Royal Hunting Reserve. It was in 1976 that it was gazetted as royal Karnali Wildlife Reserve with an area of only 368 sq km and was also declared a wildlife sanctuary, in 1982; it was renamed as Royal Bardia Wildlife Reserve which also includes the Babai valley. But the villages were located in Baghaura phanta and Lamkoili phanta before the establishment of hunting reserve and were relocated outside reserve boundary. When villages have been resettled outside the reserve boundary, the farming has ceased. Since then natural vegetation is regenerating, making it an area of prime habitat for wildlife. It was only in 1988 that it granted a status of National Park in order to preserve the dwindling species of rare ecosystem, including flora and fauna, particularly the tiger and its other prey spices. With the help of seven political parties including Maoist, the Royal word has been avoided in 18th May 2006, after a big demonstration. This park is the largest and most untouched wilderness area in the Terai providing excellent habitat for most of the endangered spices of wildlife and birds. The park now covers an area of 968 sq km and is divided into several regions- each with their own diverse flora and fauna. It was only in 1994 that basic facilities existed for independent visitors. It has extensive and varied wildlife -all endangered rhinoceros, wild elephant, the Bengal tiger, swamp deer, black buck, gharial and mugger crocodile, Gangetic dolphin.

The Bardia National Park is one of Nepal’s finest tiger reserve and is best known as the home of Nepal tigers, but this beautiful park is also a black buck sanctuary as well as mixture of contrasting geographical zones comprising parts of Nepal’s southwestern plains, churia hill and inner valleys with tropical dry and deciduous forests which are dominated by hardwood sal, grassland, and riverine forests featuring gigantic simal trees.

The park and its adjacent areas are famous regions to provide an excellent wilderness experience for visitors/wildlife researcher as well as important attractions indigenous culture of the buffer zone are. The park supports a variety of vegetations which makes it the ideal habitat not only for the tiger but other predators and ungulates too. It also consists of numerous ecosystems, equally rich in flora and fauna.

The topography of the park is quite diverse with floodplains, river valleys and gorges, and the Churia hills. The park’s northern boundary is the crest of the churia range, which is well above 1219 m. The highest elevation is 1441 m at Sukramala and the lowest elevation is 152 m. ( Manau Ghat ) in the south.

The Karnali and Babai rivers are perennial river systems that flow through the park. The eastern branch of the Karnali forms the western boundary of the park whereas Babai river drains the park in the northeastern sector. Orai River and Gumnaha Nala and Ambassa Khola drain the park area between Karnali and Babai rivers. Maan Khola, Karolia Nala, and many other seasonal nasals drain the southern face of the Churia between Babai and eastern border of the park.

Its attractions are not only its varied animals and birdlife but also its immense natural beauty. In terms of variety and wildlife, the park is one of the best national parks in Nepal and the world.

The park is home to many rare and endangered species including more than 30 different mammals, over 400 species of birds, more than 25 species of reptiles, almost 121 species of fishes, many snakes, lizards, have been sighted and recorded in the park’s forest, grassland and river habitat and unknown diversity of mollusks and arthropods. Among these include, langur monkey, rhesus monkey, common leopard, jungle cat, fishing cat, large and small Indian civets, mongoose, hyena, wild dog, jackal, sloth bear, otter, monitor lizards, bandicoots, blue bull ( nilgai ), blackbuck, sambar deer, hog deer, barking deer, wild boar, porcupine, dolphin ( the extremely rare ) etc. Termite mounds can be the sight in the sal forests. The park is one of the best places to view the most magnificent of cats, the Bengal tiger. The chances are almost 80 % depending on the season.

PARK BOUNDARY
The Ratna Highway (Nepalgunj)-Surkhet road from the eastern boundary of the park and the Geruwa River a branch of Karnali river system forms the western boundary of the park. The park is bordered with the crest of Churia hill range in the north and the southern boundary adjoins cultivated lands, settlements, buffer zone forest and part of the East-West Highway.