Royal Chitwan National Park

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Royal Chitwan National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Elephant safari after indian rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis)
Elephant safari after indian rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis)
Location: Nepal
Area: 932 km²
Established: 1973

Chitwan National Park (formerly called "Royal Chitwan National Park(RCNP)" )(CNP), covering an area of 932 km², is the oldest national park of Nepal. Established in 1973, it was granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. The RCNP is located at subtropical inner Terai lowlands of South-Central Nepal in Chitwan district (200km away from capital Kathmandu).

Park Description

Chitwan National Park*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party Flag of Nepal Nepal
Type Natural
Criteria vii, ix, x
Reference 284
Region** Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription 1984  (8th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.

The park is rich in flora and fauna, which include one of the last populations of single-horned Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) and the Bengal tiger Panthera tigris tigris. The area used to be known as "Four Mile Forest" (चार कोसे झाडी). It was a place for big game hunting and until 1951 it was a hunting reserve. At the park there is canoeing, elephant rides, and guided jungle walks.

Adjacent to the National Park in the east is the Parsa Wildlife Reserve (49.900 ha) and further east the Bara Hunting Reserve (25.900 ha). In the south the Chitwan is contiguous with the Indian Valmiki Tiger Reserve. The vegetation consits mainly of moist deciduous forests, with the sal as dominating tree species. In the Churia Hills pine trees predominate. On the floodplains of the large Rivers, by name the Rapti, the Reu and the Narayani there are large areas covered with Elephant grass alternating with riverine Forests mainly composed of Simal, Khair and Sisau trees.

Geography

Nepal Lowland Terai

The Terai ("moist land") is a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the base of the Himalaya range in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, from the Yamuna River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east. Above the Terai belt lies the Bhabhar, a forested belt of rock, gravel, and soil eroded from the Himalayas, where the water table lies from 5 to 37 meters deep. The Terai zone lies below the Bhabhar, and is composed of alternate layers of clay and sand, with a high water table that creates many springs and wetlands. The Terai zone is inundated yearly by the monsoon-swollen rivers of the Himalaya. Below the Terai lies the great alluvial plain of the Yamuna, Ganges, Brahmaputra, and their tributaries.

Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands

The Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands is an ecoregion that stretches across the middle of the Terai belt, from Uttarakhand state through southern Nepal to northern West Bengal. The Terai-Duar savanna and wetlands are a mosaic of tall grasslands, savannas and evergreen and deciduous forests. The grasslands are among the tallest in the world, and are maintained by silt deposited by the yearly monsoon floods. Important grasses include Kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum) and Baruwa grass (Saccharum benghalensis). The ecoregion is home to the endangered Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), as well as elephants, tigers, bears, leopards and other wild animals. Much of the ecoregion has been converted to farmland, although Royal Chitwan National Park and Royal Bardia National Park preserve significant sections of habitat, and are home to some of the greatest concentrations of rhinoceros and tiger remaining in South Asia.

Terai in Nepal

In Nepal the Terai is differentiated: There is an "outer" and an "inner" Terai.

"Outer Terai" refers to the alluvial, generally forested and often marshy terrain that is transitional between the 1,000 metre Siwalak Range — the first and lowest range of Himalayan foothills — and the Gangeatic plain proper. In Nepal, it is conventionally taken to include any extent of Gangeatic Plains proper extending from this transition zone south to the Indian border.

"Inner Terai Valleys of Nepal" refers to various elongated valleys lying between the Siwalak Range and the 2-3,000 metre Mahabharat Range further north. In India these valleys are also called "Duns", e.g. "Dehra Dun". In some places these two mountain ranges lie next to one another, but in other places they are separated by valleys approximately five to ten kilometres wide and tens of kilometres long.

Major examples in Nepal are Chitwan southwest of Kathmandu and the parallel Dang and Deukhuri valleys in western Nepal. Inner Terai valleys were agriculturally productive, but infested with malaria. The indigenous people of the Tharu had a degree of inherited resistance and populated these areas. After an eradication campaign people migrated to the Terai from the mountains and from neighbouring India. Today more than half the population and by far the most cities can be found there.


Wildlife

Bengal Tiger

The Chitwan National Park is home to at least 43 species of mammals, 450 species of birds, and 45 species of amphibians and reptiles. Many endangered species dwell in the Royal Chitwan National Park, foremost among them the Bengal Tiger and the Asian One-horned Rhinoceros. Other endangered species include the gaur, Asiatic wild dog, the sloth bear, gharial, and the Indian python live within the protection of the national park. Many herbivores live in the park, including elephants, sambar deer, Indian muntjac, chital, hog deer, mainland serow, chousingha and wild boar.

Three large predator species, tigers, leopards, dholes prey on them and carrion eaters like striped hyenas are also found. Sloth bears are among the main attractions of the Park. Smaller carivore species are golden jackal, yellow-throated marten, ratel, smooth coated otter, small Indian civet, large Indian civet, spotted linsang, common palm civet, binturong, small Indian mongoose, Indian grey mongoose, crab-eating mongose, leopard cat, marbled cat and fishing cat. Further mammal species found in the park are rhesus monkeys, hanuman langurs, Indian pangolin, northern palm squirrel, red giant flying squirrel, particoloured flying squirrel, Indian porcupine, hispid hare, Indian hare and ganges doplhin. Among the reptiles marsh crocoiles, gharials and Indian python are the largest.

Gallery

See Also

  • Indian Rhinoceros
  • Bengal Tiger

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cosgriff, K. M., Neil R. Lipscombe, and Johannes J. Bauer. 1998. An assessment of the impacts of tourist activity on large mammals in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Albury, NSW: Charles Sturt University, Johnstone Centre of Parks, Recreation & Heritage. ISBN 9781875758784.
  • Gurung, K. K., and Raj Singh. 1998. Field guide to the mammals of the Indian subcontinent: where to watch mammals in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. London: AP Professional. ISBN 0123093503.
  • Mishra, Hemanta R., and Margaret Jeffries. 1991. Royal Chitwan National Park: wildlife heritage of Nepal. Seattle, WA, USA: The Mountaineers, in association with David Bateman. ISBN 9780898862669.
  • Nepal. 2000. Royal Chitwan National Park and bufferzone: resource profile. Kathmandu: Dept. of National Park and Wildlife Conservation. OCLC 49873670.
  • Nepal, Sanjay Kumar, and Karl E. Weber. 1993. Struggle for existence: park-people conflict in the Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Studies in regional environmental planning, 6. Bangkok, Thailand: Division of Human Settlements Development, Asian Institute of Technology. OCLC 30689506.
  • Raj, Prakash A. 1999. Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal. [Kathmandu]: Nabeen Publications. OCLC 56597863.
  • Seidensticker, J. 2002. "Tiger Tracks. In Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park, former foes-tigers and villagers-find they can live, even prosper, together". SMITHSONIAN. 32: 62-65. OCLC 192751182.
  • Sunquist, Melvin E. 1981. The social organization of tigers (Panthera tigris) in Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal. Smithsonian contributions to zoology, no. 336. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. OCLC 7577089.

External links

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