Chitwan Safari Guide: Jeep, Canoe and Walking

Chitwan National Park covers about 953 square kilometres of sal forest, riverine forest and grassland in the inner Terai, between the Rapti and Narayani rivers to the north and the Indian border to the south. It was declared Nepal's first national park in 1973 and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Around it lies a buffer zone of about 729 square kilometres, where villages, farms and community forests share the land with the animals that wander out of the park.

Most visitors enter from Sauraha on the north bank of the Rapti, the busiest base, with dozens of hotels and the main ticket office. Meghauli and Amaltari in the west, and Kasara, the park headquarters, are quieter. Wherever you stay, you need a park permit for each day you enter the national park, and every activity inside it must be led by a licensed nature guide. Community forests in the buffer zone, such as those east of Sauraha, have their own smaller fees.

The park is home to one-horned rhino, Bengal tiger, leopard, sloth bear, gaur, four kinds of deer, wild boar, two kinds of monkey, mugger crocodile and gharial, and more than 500 bird species. In the 2021 count Chitwan held 694 of Nepal's 752 rhino, and the 2022 tiger survey estimated about 128 tigers in the park.

A jeep is the best way to cover ground. Half-day safaris run about four hours, usually early morning or late afternoon, when animals are most active and the light is soft. Full-day safaris run eight to nine hours with a packed lunch and go deeper, often to Kasara and the gharial breeding centre, or to lakes and grasslands far from Sauraha. Most of the best sightings of sloth bear, gaur, leopard and tiger come on full days, simply because you are further from the busy tracks.

Jeeps are open-sided with bench or bucket seats behind the driver. In Sauraha you can share a jeep with other travellers, which keeps the cost down, or hire one privately, which gives you control of the timing and is worth it for photographers. Bring a scarf for the dust in the dry season and a warm layer for winter mornings, when an open jeep at 7 am can feel close to freezing.

• Half-day: about 4 hours, good for a first look and for rhino near the river
• Full-day: 8 to 9 hours, better for rarer animals, long but rewarding
• Private jeep: best for photographers and families with young children

The dugout canoe is Chitwan's most peaceful safari. Boatmen paddle and pole long, narrow canoes carved from a single trunk of simal, the silk-cotton tree, down the Rapti or the smaller Budhi Rapti. You sit low, close to the water, and drift past mugger crocodiles on the banks, kingfishers on overhanging branches, herons, egrets and storks. With luck you will see the gharial, a critically endangered fish-eating crocodile with a long, thin snout, or a rhino drinking at the edge.

Most canoe trips last about an hour on the water, followed by a guided walk back through forest or grassland, so they combine two safaris in one morning. Early morning is best, when mist lies on the river and birds are active. The canoes are steady as long as you sit still and keep your hands inside. Ask your guide to point out the difference between the broad-snouted mugger and the slender gharial.

Walking is the most exciting way to see Chitwan and the one that teaches you most. With two licensed guides, usually one in front and one behind, you follow trails through forest and grass, reading pugmarks in the sand, scrapes on trees, rhino dung heaps and the alarm calls of deer and monkeys. You see fewer large animals than from a jeep, but the ones you do see feel very close.

Walks range from two hours to a full day. Guides carry only sticks, and their skill is in avoiding trouble: keeping distance from rhino with calves, reading wind direction and knowing where animals rest in the heat. Many lodges set a minimum age, often 12, and some guides will not walk in very tall grass. Listen to the briefing, walk in single file and stay quiet.

• Rhino: move behind a large tree or climb one if your guide tells you; never run in a straight line in the open
• Sloth bear: stay together, make noise and follow your guide
• Tiger: do not run; face it, stay together and back away slowly
• Wild elephant: give a very wide berth and follow the guide's route

Each safari shows you a different Chitwan. If you only have two nights, choose one canoe trip and one jeep safari. With three nights, add a full-day jeep or a walk. Photographers should favour private jeeps and early canoes; birders get the most from canoes and walks.

Chitwan charges foreign visitors a park entry fee for each day inside the park, about NPR 2,000 per person at our last check, with lower rates for SAARC nationals and Nepalis. Jeep hire, canoe trips and guide fees come on top. Prices change, and some lodges include activities in their full-board rates while others charge separately, so ask what is included. Check current status before you travel.

Always use a licensed nature guide. In Sauraha, guides are registered with the park and with local guide associations, and good lodges have their own trained naturalists. A tip of a few hundred rupees per guide per activity is usual if you are happy with the service.

Most of what improves a sighting is behaviour, not luck. Keep voices low in the jeep and in the canoe, switch phones to silent and do not ask the driver to chase or block an animal. When a rhino or deer is close, stay seated and still; standing up breaks the outline of the vehicle and often sends the animal into the grass. Do not feed monkeys, even at the park office, and take every scrap of litter back with you.

Give your guide time. Good nature guides stop often to listen, and a sudden halt usually means they have heard a chital or langur alarm call. Ask questions: many Sauraha guides grew up in the buffer zone and know the forest as well as their own village. Their stories of floods, rhino in the rice fields and the first tourist jeeps are part of what makes a Chitwan safari worth taking.

On a two-night stay, arrive by lunch, walk to the Rapti for sunset, then canoe at dawn and take a half-day jeep safari in the afternoon on the second day. Leave after a final morning walk. On a three-night stay, add a full-day jeep safari or a long walk on the third day, and a Tharu village visit in the evening. Four nights in Meghauli or Amaltari let you go slower and stay further from the crowds.

February to April gives the best visibility. Early in the dry season, from October to January, the grass can stand taller than a jeep, so sightings rely more on the river and open areas. From May the heat is intense, and from June to September monsoon rain closes many tracks.