Chitwan National Park, Bharatpur, Narayani Nepal

Chitwan National Park has long been regarded as Nepal's third biggest attraction after trekking and the Kathmandu Valley. This huge and beautiful nature reserve protects 932 sq km of sal forest, water marshes and rippling grassland. The park is one of the last refuges of the endangered one-horned Indian rhino and there are sizeable populations of tigers, leopards and rare Gangetic dolphins.

Chitwan was declared a national park in 1973, following approval by the late King Mahendra in December 1970. The bye-laws (Royal Chitwan National Park Regulations) were introduced on 4 March 1974. Substantial additions were made to the park in 1977 and the adjacent Pars a wildlife Reserve was established in 1984. The habitat had been well protected as a royal hunting reserve from 1846 to 1951 during the Rana regime. An area south of the Rapti River was first proposed as a rhinoceros sanctuary in 1958 (Gee, 1959), demarcated in 1963 (Gee, 1963; Willan, 1965) and later incorporated into the national park. Chitwan was designated as a World Heritage site in November 1984.