Chitwan – safaris and tours for two days, where to stay and how to get to the national park on your own, infrastructure and entertainment in Chitwan.
After trekking in the Himalayas, you want warmth and civilization. So every time we finished a mountain hike to Annapurna or Everest, we would immediately go somewhere much warmer, with plenty of delicious food and the opportunity to relax in an interesting area.
After trekking around Annapurna and to Mardi Himal – we rested in the resort city of Pokhara. And after the hike to Everest – we went to Chitwan National Park, located in the lowlands, near the border of Nepal with India. The plan was not just to relax, but something more interesting – close encounters with elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, and other wildlife that inhabit the Nepalese jungle.
Most tourists who come to Nepal get to Chitwan as part of a tour group. That is, they don’t bother with looking for bus tickets, don’t search for hotels, don’t choose jungle excursions. Maybe it’s easier this way – you pay your money and get pleasure. But here everything depends on the organizers.
If you, like me, don’t particularly like to depend on other people’s decisions, then I recommend organizing everything yourself. I’ll tell you in more detail about how to get to Chitwan independently, what to see there, and where to stay.
Chitwan National Park – infrastructure
Chitwan National Park is a protected area in the lowland Terai in the southern central part of Nepal. The park is known for its biodiversity: rare mammals and birds live in its dense forests and grass plains. Here you can even see gigantic rhinos and Bengal tigers. Long canoes cross the northern Rapti River, where crocodiles live. Inside the park is the Valmiki Ashram, a pilgrimage site for Hindus.
To get to Chitwan National Park, you need to reach the village of Sauraha. This is quite a picturesque place, bordered on one side by the river, beyond which begins the jungle and reservation, and on the other side are rice fields with low mud-brick houses nestled between them.
But for tourists there is good infrastructure: hotels and even resorts with their own park grounds and pools, restaurants and bars, souvenir shops, food and drinks.
The only thing I didn’t like was the large amount of plastic garbage on the roads. Also the lack of proper sidewalks – if you walk, you have to go either on the road or on the dusty, stony shoulder. It doesn’t look very nice – but this is a problem throughout Nepal.
But in general – the nature here is great, there are wild and domesticated animals, plenty of entertainment, and it’s all quite inexpensive.
How to get to Chitwan
The first and simplest option is to buy in any agency in Kathmandu or Pokhara two-night tour costing from 80 to 150 dollars (depending on services and transport).
Bus to Chitwan
The second option is to buy a bus ticket from Kathmandu (or Pokhara) to the town of Sauraha. It’s this town that borders Chitwan National Park. Tickets are sold in agencies which actually act as ticket offices, where you can also buy tours and all sorts of other things – depends on the tourist’s wishes.
You should to know: between Kathmandu and Sauraha – it’s only 160 km. But this is a mountain road, so the bus takes at least 6 hours. If there is an accident on the road, add another 2–3 hours. That’s exactly how long it took us – 8 hours, because there was an accident somewhere and we waited a long time for the jam to clear.
The buses that travel to Chitwan are tourist buses and quite comfortable. These aren’t local buses with small seats and no legroom. It’s fine to spend 7 hours in them, but there’s no air conditioning, so it’s pretty hot. But the tourist buses make stops at bus stations where you can use the restroom, buy food and fruit. Along the entire route, there are 2–3 stops. The same type of bus runs from Pokhara, the travel time is a bit less but basically the same.
Where are the bus stops are located
Buses from Kathmandu to Chitwan depart from the Sorhakhutte 27°43’08.4″N 85°18’34.1″E station. Departure is around 7–8 a.m. – depending on the bus company. Finding your bus number is not easy, as Nepal has its own system of numbers. So be attentive, as several buses stand at the stop at the same time – ask the drivers, showing your ticket.
From Pokhara, buses depart from Pokhara Baglung Bus Park 28°13’56.2″N 83°58’59.0″E. Again – ask the drivers or the dispatcher’s window where your bus is.
Price – 700–1000 Nepalese rupees (5–7$) one way.
The third, most expensive option is a flight from Kathmandu (KTM)/ Pokhara (PKR) to Bharatpur (BHR). Then take a taxi to Sauraha.
- Yeti Airlines – we bought tickets directly on this site using a Ukrainian bank card.
- Buddha Air – you can also buy tickets on the site, so you can also fly from Pokhara to Bharatpur with this company.
Price – 110–140 $ per ticket one way.
What to do and how to make the most of two days in Chitwan
So what kind of entertainment does Chitwan offer tourists? We had a packed program: in the evening after we arrived, we biked to the elephant farm, in the morning at dawn there was a canoe trip on the river, then a jungle trek filled with wild animals, then elephant bathing, and in the evening after the siesta – an elephant safari through the jungle. And also relaxation with a view of the sun setting into the moist jungle.
In Chitwan, you can rent bikes for cheap (only 100 rupees – $0.8 per hour). And moving leisurely around the village allows you to see everything around and feel a bit like part of the local population, who mostly move by the same means of transport. Some, though, ride elephants. We took the bikes to get to the elephant farm.
Elephant Farm – Elephant Breeding Center
Elephant Breeding Center is a place where baby elephants are born and raised for sale – mainly to zoos. Young elephants from here are sent all over the world. The sale of an elephant brings significant money, and tourists are interested in seeing how the baby elephants behave and play with each other.
Only female elephants and calves are kept at the farm, there are no males there. There are some baby elephants, very small ones – they run around their mothers. Others – those who are a bit older – are already kept on chains. The babies are very funny, just like all little kids. Elephants are fed in an interesting way: the grain is wrapped in long palm leaves, making small bundles that elephants can easily pick up with their trunks and put in their mouths.
The farm is located on the bank of the Rapti River, across which there is an interesting bridge made of boards and sandbags. We had to leave large items by the river before the bridge and walk further on foot.
The cost of visiting the elephant farm has not changed in over 10 years. It’s a purely symbolic sum – 50 rupees ($0.4).
Canoe tour along the Rapti River
The canoe trip starts early in the morning. The canoe seats 6–7 people, and it’s driven by a local who uses a long pole to push off the shallow river bottom and steer the canoe in the right direction.
We set off from shore accompanied by a ranger, with whom we later planned to trek through the jungle. He told us about various birds living in these places and crocodiles, which can sometimes be seen on the bank.
On the canoe route, we saw white egrets, all kinds of ducks and many more birds whose names I won’t recall. But the purpose of the canoe trip was to see crocodiles, which come out of hiding to bask in the sun in the morning. This, however, we did not manage to see – it must have still been cool. But crocodiles don’t just lie anywhere – you’ll spot them more often where the elephant safaris pass, where people don’t walk.
Walking tour in the Chitwan jungle
The early morning river trip is related to the fact that the canoe brings you to the start of the jungle hiking trail. The return takes place around noon, when the heat and humidity become very high. So the earlier you start, the better.
The jungle trek was something that especially amused us in Chitwan. But it also gave us practical knowledge. For example, our ranger told us how to behave in the jungle and how to escape from a rhino, an elephant, or a tiger. Then he put on a stern face, quizzed us about the ways to escape from wild animals, and only then took us into the jungle.
I imagined the jungle a little differently: lianas, moisture dripping from the leaves, your feet sinking into ferns. In Chitwan, the jungle is different. Part of it is forest, elsewhere are huge thickets. In the wooded parts, it’s quite dry, and the ground is covered with a yellow carpet of leaves. But the sounds and smells matched my expectations: someone was always screaming, hooting, and we got bitten by mosquitoes a bit. The aromas around were indescribable, the air saturated with the scents of plants and flowers.
Although we didn’t go deep into the jungle, we managed to see various paradise birds – including a huge peacock that startled me with its wings.
To see rhino in Chitwan
Slightly off the path that runs through the jungle, we saw a herd of deer dash past, and in the bushes a giant rhino was sleeping. We also heard some big cat calling – we really didn’t want to meet her on our path. Thankfully, it was somewhere not near us. Because Chitwan is home to real Bengal tigers and jaguars.
After three hours of walking, we reached the river on the side opposite from where the canoe started. Here we managed to spot a wild solitary elephant coming to drink.
I was deeply impressed to see an old elephant walking alone in the jungle without chains. He had no chains on, he wasn’t painted like carrier elephants. This animal impressed with its strength and calm confidence.
Elephant bathing
After crossing to the other bank of the river, we were ready for the third part of our entertainment program – elephant bathing. This attraction should definitely be included in your program, as it is enjoyable not only for you, but also the elephants, who are hot during the day and can bathe with you.
This is how it goes: you climb atop the elephant, he enters the water and draws water into his trunk, spraying himself and you with it. Such a simple, but very fun elephant shower.
Elephant safari – to meet rhinos
It was time for the elephant safari. Safari in Chitwan begins on a huge field, where once a year an elephant race festival is held.
Near a low fence, there were several stairs with platforms, where you could climb up for boarding. In the distance, an “army” of huge giants stood in line. Each had a basket on its back for people – four people fit in each. The mahouts sit on the neck near the elephant.
When our turn came, we were seated on the elephants, and we set off into the jungle. It was my luck to get a very willful elephant. She resisted and didn’t want to go, and if she did, she swayed the basket really strongly, seemingly on purpose. I was honestly a bit scared. I was planning in my head how to evacuate in case the elephant decided to shake us off. But everything went great.
Before the start of the safari, each elephant passes a checkpoint, where the mahout gets a signature on a document – a route sheet-permit to take people into the jungle. Then the trail leads to the river, which the elephant crosses by wading. Along the way, some elephants managed to suck water into their trunks, to drink and at the same time cool off the tourists on their back.
Next, our path passed through the jungle. There are beaten paths everywhere that the elephants use, and the mahouts just lightly tap the elephants on the ears and make sounds understood by the elephants to steer them along. In this part of the jungle, there are very tall trees and thickets, above which we towered. After walking through part of the forest, we came back to the river and saw, not far from us, a huge crocodile basking in the sun.
After crossing the river, we went deeper into the jungle and on the way met a family of monkeys living high in the branches. Then almost all the elephants came out onto a huge clearing, where a family of rhinos lived – a mother and her small cub. Apparently these animals are used to tourists, as they calmly stood in the grass and did not plan to flee anywhere.
After snapping photos of the rhinos, we set off on the return path, which led back through thickets to the same clearing where we’d started. In general, an interesting activity, though it was a bit scary for me. I’m not afraid of heights, but here I was unsettled by the dependence on the mood and condition of the huge animal carrying me on its back.
What else to see and do in Chitwan
In addition to interesting places and activities, the park has an exhibition at the Visitor Center in Sauraha, where you can learn everything about the wildlife and conservation programs.
At the Tharu Cultural Museum & Research Center, which is the headquarters of the park, you can see very informative exhibitions.
And for souvenirs, you can buy local crafts. For example, the Women’s User Group shop offers a variety of handmade items and other local goods.
Evening program in Chitwan – bars and restaurants
In the evening we went for a walk through the village, looking for a place for dinner. By the way, in Sauraha there are plenty of bars and restaurants catering both to tourists and locals. So – the choice is yours.
I highly recommend trying the local fish, caught in the river and cooked on the same day it’s caught. The fish is tasty, and there are several cooking options. I liked it stewed in a creamy sauce. The taste is similar to our river trout from the Carpathians.
Where to stay in Chitwan
We stayed in a regular guesthouse for ten bucks – Wild Horizons Guest House
But if I go to Chitwan again (which I plan to do), I really want to stay in one of these hotels:
Green Park Chitwan – large grounds and its own pool
Green Mansions Jungle Resort – hotel with a pool and stylish rooms
Sapana Village Lodge – resort with bungalows and its own jungle
Useful articles and links:
- Kathmandu in three days – what to see in the capital of Nepal
- Flight to Lukla – how to get to Everest
- Pokhara – Nepalese resort on Lake Phewa
Where to look for the lowest prices for flights to Kathmandu International Airport:
Don’t forget to buy travel medical insurance – online at the portal HotlineFinance
Booking a hotel is easiest here – Booking.com
