CHITWAN

Bharatpur is the district headquarter of Chitwan district at a distance of 150 km. from Kathmandu. Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the 'Terai' region, which formerly extended over the foothills of Nepal. The Chitwan National Park has been enlisted in Natural World Heritage Site. It is rich in flora and fauna. One of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros inhabit in the park, which is also one of the last refugees for the Bengal tigers.
The highlight for most visitors to the Terai is a visit to Chitwan National Park and Parsa Wildlife Reserve, recreated out of the once-fertile rice and wheat fields that swiftly covered the Rapti Valley after the fall from power of the Rana dynasty in the 1950s. Park, covering 932 sq. km., was the first of Nepal's extensive network of wildlife sanctuaries. The valley is bed of the Narayani River. Rapti River and other strams and feeders join Narayani to become the second-largest tributary of the sacred Ganges that flows approximately 200 km. to the south.
Before the park's creation in 1973, Nepal's population explosion had pushed migrants down from the hills, forcing the indigenous Tharu tribes into this area, which was formerly reserved as royal hunting grounds. Using slash and burn technique, they opened up the forests and planted rice and grain. Concerned with the destruction of its traditional hunting grounds, Nepal's former royal family planned new strategies for the protection of its wildlife. The twin towns of Bharatpur and Narayanghat are the nearest urban centres to Chitwan. Bharatpur's role in the lowland infrastructure is as an airfield for what the domestic air carrier rashly promises are he daily flights to Kathmandu. Narayanghat, lying on the banks Narayani, and known as the gateway to Chitwan, is in fact the major junction on the east-west highway, with a supra climbing up through the hills along the east bank of the Narayani to Mugling, the main junction town between Kathmandu and Pokhara on the Prithvi Highway. It is also a vital administrative and commrcial centre of the Terai and indeed the ethnic capital of the indigenous people of this region, the Tharus. Bustling Narayanghat with sizable industries and flourishing markets is also something of a pilgrimage spot. Each year, during Maghe Sankranti (middle of January), tens of thousands flock to the nearby village of Devghat where devotees immerse themselves at the confluence of the Kali Gandaki with the water of the Trisuli-Marsyangdi.