Surrounding Royal Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal is one of the best planned and most intelligently developed tourist areas in Nepal. Not only does it offer a wide variety of resorts and lodges, it is also easy to reach ? by road or by air. Regular flights are scheduled by Royal Nepal Airlines and other airlines to Meghauli, Simara and 13haratpur. Many resorts provide coach service. Local buses offer a choice between a night ride and a day ride.

Royal Chitwan National Park is perhaps the best park in Nepal for seeing animals in the wild. In the earlier part of the century, when rapid deforestation was devastating Nepal's southern Terai belt, His Majesty's Government of Nepal intervened and proclaimed the Chitwan area a national park.

At one point in time, Chitwan was not protected by government fiat but by malaria?spreading mosquitoes. The whole of the Terai belt was infested by mosquitoes and only the hardiest settlers survived. Even travellers who were just passing through would fall prey to the disease. To the lahure, enlisted soldiers in the Indian or the British army, a journey through the Terai was as dangerous as being on the battlefield. People considered this land useless and unsalvageable and, in consequence, animals flourished in the Chitwan wilderness.

However, the Rana prime ministers from Kathmandu did not consider the place entirely useless; for them, it was a favorite holiday?resort. They were willing to brave malaria to enjoy the sport of hunting tigers, leopards, and rhinoceros that abounded in these jungles. Nearly every eminent foreign visitor was invited to Chitwan for a hunt. Today, one can see photographs of past foreign notables standing over their hunting trophies (mainly tigers), with their safari elephants in the background.

As mosquitoes began to be eradicated from the Terai through the use of DDT, the land opened up. Land was cheap, and in some cases free for the taking. Anyone needing farmland had only to cut down the trees and start cultivating the soft soil, enriched by hundreds of years of natural fertilization. Rapid deforestation was the result. Animals that had flourished in the hunting era were killed by the settlers because they attacked people, livestock arid crops.

The Government of Nepal declared the Chitwan region a national park, outlawed settlement and deforestation within its boundaries, and a campaign to save the animals began. Projects carried out with the help of friendly nations have revived the animals that remained. Though the Terai is certainly not what it once was, the preserved portion within the Chitwan National Park is still a treat for animal lovers.

Royal Bengal tigers roam the region; one?homed rhinos can be seen charging through the underbrush, feeding and even courting. The Rapti River has been dammed to form a man?made lake called Lamital where water?birds and marsh mugger peckers and many other birds are found in plenty in these forests.

Elephant grass, five to six feet tall, provides excellent camouflage for animals. This grass serves as food for the gaur (a local bison), rhino and other herbivores. Once a year, local people are allowed into the park area to cut grass. The grass is dried, and used to thatch roofs or stored for food for the domestic animals during the dry season.

Resorts and lodges are available to suit one's travel budget; most include elephant safaris, jungle walks, canoeing and a variety of cultural activities in their programs.

Reservations for accommodations can be made at the Kathmandu offices of Chitwan resorts and lodges, with selections ranging from the most luxurious to those with simple food and shelter. On a village tour, you can observe the culture of the Tham people. Tharu dance and song performances are included in most resort and lodge entertainment. A visit to Chitwan is a visit filled to the brim with activities, whether you stay two days or a week.