chitwan national park

One of the highlights of the program is certainly the visit to Chitwan a national park and jungle located in the Southern terai (plains) region.  Royal Chitwan National Park hugs the Indian border within an area of 932 km ² .   With parts of the terai less than 100 m in altitude, the extensive plains provides for an impressive view of the Himalayas on clear days.   Home to a great diversity of flora and fauna, as well as ethnic groups, the change in the pace of life from Kathmandu is palpable where school children and bicycles share the dirt roads with oxcarts, domestic elephants, as well as the occasional vehicle. Though once a hunting ground for Nepal’s royalty and guests the park was established as a protected zone in 1973 and in 1984 entered on the World Heritage list.  

Among the diverse flora and fauna, the park boasts over 450 species of birds, 43 species of mammals, and 45 species of reptiles and amphibians.   Of particular interest, the park is famed for the elusive Bengal tiger and its population of the rare one horned rhino.   Due to the said aphrodisiac properties of the rhino horn, it fetches a hefty price on the black market.   Thus, the population of this animal has been in continual flux due to poaching and the resultant security measures with heavy fines against this.   While the population had rebounded from less than 100 in 1966 to 529 on a relatively recent count, poaching had increased with forests emptied of guards during the recent armed conflict in Nepal.  

Poaching aside, the jungle animals and surrounding humans have had to work towards a sustainable balance with increasingly limited resources and extreme weather that has brought numerous floods in the recent past.   Prior to measures to eradicate malaria in the mid 20 ^th century, Chitwan was primarily inhabited by the endemic Tharu people who had developed a natural resistance to the disease.   While the Tharus continue to make up a large percentage of the people residing in the region, post eradication villagers from the North came down to occupy the fertile and flat land which led to a population explosion in the area.   Concurrently, rhinos and elephants, among other animals, took advantage of this opportunity to feed on the wealth of new crops planted by the migrants.   The result has been a continual battle between settled human and jungle animal to find a balance in needs.   This has led to new measures to regulate the use of fodder and fuel wood within the park.   Additionally, rains that have in effect slightly moved the Rapti River that separates the park from towns and villages have affected the flora enough to cause slight animal and human migration from previous habitats.  

During our trip to the Sauraha area of Royal Chitwan National Park participants will have the opportunity to see the national park via a canoe ride, jungle walk, and elephant ride.   These activities will be balanced with local activities and a continuation of permaculture classes that will focus more on the site specific sub-tropical climate and Tharu culture of the plains.   Important to this visit will be a trip to the clustered Tharu villages, which will allow participants to better understand the locally specific life architecture and how it interacts with the local environment.   Furthermore, new measures brought and administered to preserve the natural habitat will be discussed.   The trip will conclude with an ethnic Tharu dinner in one of the family’s houses.