Advertising: Royle Safaris’ Wild Nepal Jungle Safari. Next Group Tour 1 -11 May, 2020

At first appearance Nepal is a seemingly the last place on the planet that you would expect to find rhinos, elephants, tigers and crocodiles. Known mostly for its mountains, Nepal’s subtropical jungles may surprise people at first. Yes the country is home to more of the world’s highest peaks than any other country, including the impressive Mt. Everest, but just 193km away to the south of the majestic Himalayas is the lush and tropical terai. Being around 100m above sea level and steaming hot the forests and grasslands of the lowlands are some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world. It is here that large numbers of some of Asia’s most iconic and rare animals live. With the rich nutrients washed down from the Himalayas every year during the monsoon and carried in the melt water every spring the rivers that run through the terai and onto the Gangetic plain in India are left in the soil here when the rivers flood. These annually flooded plains (alluvial) help to produce grasslands that help support hundreds of Indian one-horned rhinos, large numbers of Asiatic elephants, guar and their predators, including tigers.

It is some of these animals that we will target as high priority species when we are exploring the park, but along with the rhinos, elephants and tigers the park is home to many sloth bears, leopards, langurs, macaques, wild boar, various deer species, hundreds of species of birds and some also one of the world’s rarest species. The huge and critically endangered gharial. This crocodilian has less than 250 mature individuals in the world, with Chitwan harbouring over half of the world’s population.

Chitwan is also one of the few places where you can experience jungle safaris looking for tigers in a variety of different ways. This tour will take you into the heart of tiger territory in Jeeps, on elephant back, via canoe trips and most thrillingly on foot. All this with the expert help of local expert guides; so you can be assured of finding as much as possible and also being able to understand the behaviour of the animals we see in the forests and grasslands here.

By spending the amount of time you will be exploring Chitwan National Park you will be all but guaranteed to see signs of tigers, rhinos, gharial and wild Asiatic elephants. But it is not just the wilderness of Nepal that is fascinating about this country; so as well as the wonderful terai region you will also be taken around some historical sites in the wonderful city Kathmandu such as the ancient Boudnath Stupa, holy site of Swayambunath and Durbur Square, which is slowly being rebuilt after the earthquakes of April 2015.