Chitwan National Park

Nepal is a home to many magnificient national parks, which provides a national habitat to a great variety of wildlife. One of the best known among them is Chitwan National Park established in 1973. This park was recognized by UNESCO in 1984 as a world heritage site in view of the scope and contributions of the park. This park is 140 kilometeres south west of Kathmandu. It is very popular tourist destination in nature life. The park covers an area of approximately 932 kilometers ideally located in Narayani River Valley. Chitwan which means the "Heart of the Jungle" is among the last surviving example of the continuous bans of forests and grasslands which once extended from the Indus River in Pakistan to the Burmese border. The park that includes in its area a part of the Sivalik hills is covered with deciduous forests overlooking the floodplains of Narayani, Rapti and Reu rivers and offering a wilderness of rich ecosystem that includes mammals, bids, reptiles and water animals of several kinds. There are around 600 plant species, 50 mammals, 526 birds and 49 amphibians reptiles found in the park. The highlights, of course, are the 500 Asian one- horned rhinoceros and some 100 nocturnal Royal Bengal tigers that live in the dense forests of the park. Sharing home with these are other animals like rhesus monkey, gray languor, deer, leopards, white stockinged gaur, wild dogs and wild cats. The typical jungle ans safari is an ideal model to have a good glimpse of many of these fabulous creatures in their natural habitat. Including of culture tour, Tharu stick dance, Bird park watching etc are also important activities to observe here.