Nature and Tourism in NepalNepal is a land blessed with a variety of different topographies: the plains of the Terai covered with lush jungles and farmlands, the terraced fields of the midhills, watershed areas, valleys, canyons, wind swept gorges, cold desert, alpine pastures, and the highest mountain peaks of the world. The desire for traveling and the quest for knowledge attracted people from all over the world to Nepal. At first they came for the cultural heritage and the mighty Himalaya. Then they came due to the warm hospitality of the diverse ethnic groups and for adventure trips such as trekking and rafting. And now, at last there is a new breed of tourists: they are the bird watchers and wildlife lovers, who admire Nepals wilderness. With its asset of 4,5 % of the worlds´ mammalians and butterflies, 2,7 % of the flowering plants of the world and 8,5 % of bird species found in the world within only 0,1% of the worlds' landmass makes Nepal a country rich in biodiversity.
Next to the overall offers of mountain tours and culture trips there now is the possibility to offer bird watching and wildlife tours as a new tourism product. From the broad-leafed forest of Shivapuri National Park, easy accessible, to the area around Pokhara and the wilderness of Chitwan: altogether they offer a birding safari triangle in the foothills of the Himalaya. Situated only a few hours drive to the east from Chitwan are the extensive wetlands of Koshi Tappu, which is an important site as well for migratory as for residential birds. Moreover this is the home for the endangered arnas and the rare gangetic river dolphins. Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha lies in the west of Chitwan. It harbors tall flying birds and the endangered sarus cranes. Shivapuri National Park is the worlds´ only National Park which is close to a capital and its international airport (only seven kilometers). Every nature lover will be enlightened, no matter which origin he may be of. The vegetation of the Shivapuri National Park is a very good example of a midhill forest, represented by schima – castanopsis and rhododendron – oak forest. The protection of this forest is crucial as it provides the drinking water for the millions of the valleys´ residents. Some of the important botanical findings here are the giant lily, the tricolored rhododendron tree and the luculia bushes. The birds found in this forest live everywhere in the lower himalayan regions: the kalij pheasant, the nepal fulvetta, the streaked or white crested or chestnut crowned-laughing thrush, the streak breasted or rusty cheeked scimitar babbler, the hoary-throated barwing, the black-faced warbler, the chestnut or blue tailed minla, the black chinned babbler, the chestnut headed tesia and the bonelli's or booted and crested serpent eagle. The whistling thrush is common and the spotted or slaty backed forktails are found in the stream and in the moist forest undergrowth. The wildlife of this area includes barking deer, the himalayan black bear, gorals, serows and leopards. Once a black leopard was spotted in this park, indicating that there is a good population and a strong gene pool due to food diversity. Also the relict dragonfly can be found in this forest. Their fossilized form was only found in Japan before. Rare and beautiful butterflies living here are the kaiser-I-hind, the krishna peacock and the common and golden birdwing. A long and winding road leads from Kathmandu west through the Gandaki river system to the Pokhara valley. It is a distance of approximately 200 kilometers. On the way you have a fish eye view of the beautiful Annapurna range. A morning boat ride on Lake Phewa offers you a very good view of the Fishtail Mountain, the Annapurna Ranges and Mount Dhaulagiri. The forest surrounding the lake harbors the green magpie, and a slighty smaller population of racquet tailed drongos, long tailed minivets, barbets and crimson sunbirds. Many migratory ducks and waders come to Phewa Lake during winter time. Some of them come as far as from Siberia. Phewa Lake also offers the opportunity to do some sport-fishing. The valley offers all kinds of vultures (eight different species) including the lammergeier, that has a nine feet wingspan, the himalayan griffon, the white-rumped and slender billed and the resident egyptian vulture. Along the streams coming down from the mountains you can spot all of Nepals forktail species (little, slaty, spotted and black backed) along with the plumbeous, white-capped redstart and occasionally a brown dipper. The cliff´s faces of these mountains attract the colorful wall creepers.
Only a few hours’ drive from Pokhara you reach Chitwan. Its scenery looks like the one described in Kipling's jungle book. On the road along the Trishuli river you may have the chance to spot the rare Ibisbill. The former royal hunting ground of Chitwan is now the best managed National Park in Asia. It gives home to over 550 rhinoceroses and to about 100 tigers. The highlight of a visit there is a ride on the back of a tamed elephant from where you are able to watch animals like rhinos within a hands reach. Lucky visitors occasionally get a glimpse of a tiger or a leopard. Other animals that live here include deer, wildboars, gaur bisons, sloths, bears, civets, langurs and rhesus monkeys. The marshes and rivers harbor endangered gharial and marsh crocodiles. The birds living there are the peafowl, the bengal florican, the giant hornbill, storks of different kinds (wooly necked, lesser adjutant, open-bill, black, black-necked), the sultan tit, the orange-breasted green pigeon, the red headed trogon and the indian pitta. A journey to Lumbini gives you an opportunity to watch the tallest flying birds in the world: the sarus crane and the eurasian eagle owl. Other birds living here are the large grey babbler, the black-shouldered kite, the barn owl and the crested serpent eagle. In addition to the attractions of Chitwan, the regions of Bardia and Shukla Phanta offer the opportunity to watch swamp deer and wild elephants. Also, the frequency of tiger sightings are higher over here. Another good six hours driving from Chitwan there is Koshi Tappu, the first ramsar site of Nepal. Koshi is the biggest river system of Nepal. Flood controll over here resulted in extensive wetlands, grassland and sand bars. Here you find the wintering and staging areas for many migratory waterfowls and waders. It is equally good for watching birds of prey and bush birds. Specialties you find here include the globally endangered swamp francolin, the imperial eagle, the red headed falcon, the falcated teal, ferruginous ducks, the white ibis, the black ibis, the striated marsh-bird, the brown fish owl, the brown hawk owl and the purple swamphen. It is the only refuge of the critically endangered wild water buffalo. There are only about 150 specimen left. And it is also a promising site to watch the rare gangetic dolphins. Shy and nocturnal fishing cats hunt in the marshes of this reserve. A few hours north of Koshi lies the Milke-Jaljale ridge. The forest is about 25 kilometres in length and ranges from 8000 feet to 10000 feet of altitude. It displays over 30 species of rhodendron. Ambitious people should consider a trek to Langtang National Park, the Manang Valley, Mustang or the Mount Everest Base Camp. Such trips allow you to view himalayan species like the himalayan monal, the satyr tragopan, the blood pheasant and the himalayan snow cock. You also find high altitude mammals in these regions like the blue sheep, the jharal mountain goat, gorals and occasionally a brown bear or a snow leopard. Jomsom is an important site for watching the demoiselle crane migration. Over 30000 cranes fly over this valley during fall migration. Similarly, Naundanda, near to Pokhara, is a site for watching the migration of birds of prey, particularly of the steppe eagle. The migration takes place in early november. The lakes and rivers offer sport fishing. Fish species interesting for sport fishing are the mahsheer, the gonj, the saur, the kanti and the buari catfish. The shallow waters of the Karnali, the Babai, the Mahakali, the Trishuli and the tributaries of Koshi are good sites for angling mahsheer. Phewa Lake also provides opportunities for angling mahsheer. A good two weeks birding tour in Nepal offers you no less than 300 different bird species. The average number of sighted bird species sighting in a day ranges from 120 species in Koshi Tappu to 80 in Chitwan to about 60 in Shivapuri. If you are interested in Nepals flora and fauna I suggest a good two-weeks trip through the above mentioned regions. |
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