Wildlife in Nepal

Chitwan National Park is the easiest wildlife trip in South Asia to plan. Its sal forest, tall elephant grass and oxbow lakes hold most of Nepal’s rhinos, and in two or three days you can expect several from a jeep, a dugout canoe on the Rapti River or on foot with naturalist guides. Mugger and gharial crocodiles bask on the banks, spotted deer and sambar graze the clearings, and sloth bears, leopards and tigers are possible but not reliable. Birders find hornbills, kingfishers and more than 500 recorded species.

Lodges are in Sauraha on the northern edge, five to six hours by tourist bus from Kathmandu or Pokhara, or a short flight to Bharatpur. The official park entry fee for foreigners is NPR 2,000 (about USD 15) per day, usually bundled into lodge packages. The gharial breeding centre at Kasara, the park headquarters, raises young gharial for release into the rivers. East of Chitwan, Parsa National Park continues the same forest with almost no tourists.

Bardiya National Park is wilder, quieter and the best place in Nepal to see a tiger. Base yourself at Thakurdwara on the park edge, reached by flying to Nepalgunj and driving about two to three hours. Days follow a pattern: long guided walks at dawn, hours watching a riverbank or waterhole where tigers drink, and float trips on the Karnali River, where Gangetic river dolphins surface in the deep pools. Wild elephants, rhinos translocated from Chitwan, and barking and hog deer complete the list. Give it three or four nights.

Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, on the Koshi River floodplain in the east, is Nepal’s top wetland for birds. From November to March it fills with ducks, storks, ibis, herons and waders, and the January waterbird count regularly records thousands of birds of dozens of species. It is also the last home in Nepal of the wild water buffalo, or arna. Fly to Biratnagar and drive one to two hours, then explore by jeep, on foot along the embankments, or by boat. The entry fee for foreigners is listed at about NPR 1,000 to 1,500 per day; check at the gate.

Red pandas live in bamboo-rich forest between about 2,200 and 4,000 m, and Nepal is one of the best places to see one wild. Langtang National Park, a day’s drive north of Kathmandu, has populations close to the trekking trail. In the far east, the forests of Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung hold a large share of Nepal’s red pandas, and community forest groups there run guided red panda walks with local trackers. Even with a tracker, sightings take patience: plan two or three dawn searches, go between October and April when the leaves are thinner, and stay quiet.

On the Everest Base Camp trail in Sagarmatha National Park, Himalayan tahr graze the slopes above Namche Bazaar, and the iridescent Himalayan monal feeds in the forest around the monasteries; musk deer are sometimes seen in the birch and rhododendron. Makalu Barun National Park to the east has some of the richest forest in the Himalaya and red panda habitat, but needs a camping trek.

Snow leopards range across the dry trans-Himalaya: Upper Mustang, Dolpo around Shey Phoksundo, the high valleys of Manang and the Kanchenjunga region. A few specialist operators run winter tracking trips, but most people who trek here never see one; blue sheep, their main prey, are common. Rara National Park adds Himalayan black bear and red panda around Rara Lake, though few visitors make the journey.

The Terai is comfortable from October to March, with winter birds in from November, but December and January mornings are foggy. From February the tall grass is cut, and by April and May heat pushes animals to water, which is the best time for tigers but brings midday temperatures near 40°C (104°F). From June to September monsoon rains close many safari routes and Bardiya largely shuts. Our best time to visit Nepal guide covers the trekking seasons for the mountain parks.

Jungle walks in the Terai parks must be done with licensed naturalist guides, usually two per group, and jeep safaris and canoe trips are booked through your lodge. Lodge packages in Sauraha and Thakurdwara typically bundle rooms, meals, park fees and activities. For other countries in the region, see our South Asia wildlife guide and Asia wildlife safaris guide.