Chitwan National Park

Chitwan National Park (RCNP), covering an area of 932 km², is the oldest national park of Nepal. Established in 1973, it was granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. The RCNP is located at the foot of the Himalayas in the Terai region, and the park is rich in flora and fauna, which include one of the last populations of single-horned Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) and the Bengal tiger. The area used to be known as the Chitwan Valley. It was a place for big game hunting and until 1951 it was a hunting reserve. At the park there is canoeing, elephant rides, and guided jungle walks.

Adjacent to the National Park in the east is the Parsa Wildlife Reserve (49.900 ha) and further east the Bara Hunting Reserve (25.900 ha). In the south the Chitwan is contiguous with the Indian Valmiki Tiger Reserve. The vegetation consits mainly of moist deciduous forests, with the sal as dominating tree species. In the Churia Hills pine trees predominate. On the floodplains of the large Rivers, by name the Rapti, the Reu and the Narayani there are large areas covered with Elephant grass alternating with riverine Forests mainly composed of Simal, Khair and Sisau trees.

The Chitwan National Park is home to at least 43 species of mammals, 450 species of birds, and 45 species of amphibians and reptiles. Elephants and indian rhinos are the largest species found in the park, but a lot of other large herbivores are found in the park, gaur, sambar deer, Indian muntjac, chital, hog deer, mainland serow, chousingha and wild boar. Three large predator species, tigers, leopards, dholes prey on them and carrion eaters like striped hyenas are also found. Sloth bears are among the main attractions of the Park. Smaller carivore species are golden jackal, yellow-throated marten, ratel, smooth coated otter, small indian civet, large indian civet, spotted linsang, common palm civet, binturong, small indian mongoose, indian grey mongoose, crab-eating mongose, leopard cat, marbled cat and fishing cat. Further mammal species found in the park are rhesus monkeys, hanuman langurs, Indian pangolin, northern palm sqirrel, red giant flying sqirrel, particoloured flying squirrel, indian porcupine, hispid hare, Indian hare and ganges doplhin. Among the reptiles marsh crocoiles, gharials and Indian python are the largest.

Chitwan district, a part of Narayani zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Bharatpur(seventh largest city of Nepal) as its district headquarters, Bharatpur is the commercial and service center of central south Nepal, it is the merger destination for higher education health and transportation of the region. covers an area of 2,218 km² and has a population (2001) of 472,048.

Narayanghat bazzar, on the bank of Narayani River, is the main town with numerous shopping zones where people from all over the district and even from neighboring district come to shop.

Now there are about 40 Village Development Committees (each of which has nine wards or villages) and one sub-Metropolitan city - Bharatpur and a municipality Ratnanagar each of which has more than nine wards or urban areas.

At the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the Terai region, which formerly extended over the foothills of Nepal.