Chitwan
Grassland, river and forest in Nepal's southern lowlands, where single-horned rhinoceros and Bengal tigers live in the country's oldest national park.
- Arrival
- Tribhuvan International, Kathmandu · KTM
- To Chitwan
- About 20 minutes by air to Bharatpur, 6 hours by road
- Private jets
- Into KTM, then a short domestic hop
- Best time
- November to April
The city
Rhinos on the floodplain of the Rapti.
Chitwan became Nepal's first national park in 1973 and a World Heritage site in 1984. Its core covers 93,200 hectares of the Terai, the lowland strip below the Himalaya, rising to the Churia hills and bounded by the Narayani and Rapti rivers. Protection has worked: the rhinoceros population grew from about 300 in the 1980s to 503 by 2011, and the number of breeding tigers roughly tripled.
Down on the plains the climate is warmer than in Kathmandu. The dry months run from November to April, mild in winter and close to 33 °C by April. Then the monsoon arrives in force, with more than 700 mm of rain in July.
- The national park Forest, grassland and river channels across 93,200 hectares, one of the last strongholds of the single-horned rhinoceros.
- Beeshazar Lakes A cluster of lakes in the park's buffer zone, listed under the Ramsar wetland convention since 2003.
- The Rapti The river that marks the park's northern edge, where lodges look across the water to the reserve.
Arriving
Through Kathmandu, down to the plains.
There is no international airport at Chitwan. Visitors fly into Kathmandu, then take a twenty-minute domestic flight to Bharatpur, the district town, or make the six-hour drive down the Trishuli valley.
- Delhi 1 h 15
- Mumbai 2 h 15
- Dubai 4 h 05
- Abu Dhabi 4 h 10
- Sydney 12 h 55 long-range jet
When to go
November to April.
A lowland, subtropical climate. Winters are dry and mild, with highs of 21 to 24 °C in January and February, and the heat builds to 34 °C in May. The monsoon is heavy: 434 mm in June, 713 in July and 533 in August.
- 21° J 21
- 24° F 23
- 29° M 35
- 33° A 83
- 34° M 188
- 33° J 434
- 32° J 713
- 32° A 533
- 31° S 386
- 30° O 105
- 27° N 10
- 22° D 18
Elsewhere in Nepal
More reasons to come.
- Kathmandu Durbar Square, the stupa of Boudhanath, and the old royal cities of the valley.
- Bhaktapur A royal city of pagodas and potters, twenty minutes from Kathmandu.
- Pokhara A lake beneath the Annapurnas.
- Jomsom The arid valley of the Kali Gandaki, reached by a mountain airstrip.
- Lukla The sloping airstrip where the Everest trek begins.
Flying to Chitwan?
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