14 nights/15 days

Trip as planned

1. Day

Arrival Kathmandu

Arrival at the airport in the early morning. Transfer to the Park Village Resort (about 15 minutes). Welcome-drink. Check-in into your room. Possibility to refresh or to rest at the spa of the resort.

Lunch at the Earthwatch Restaurant overlooking the mountains of Shivapuri National Park. You get the chance to stroll and watch birds and butterflies in the six acres of the hotels' private jungle.

The Park Village Resort is a four star category eco-friendly resort. It is situated on the foothills of Shivapuri National Park, which is the only National Park in the world close to a capital and its international airport. The hotel is located nine kilometres from the airport and seven kilometres from the core city area. The resort has nine forest bungalows and self-contained apartments that offer 64 rooms with all modern amenities including separate living room and two private verandas, one viewing the valley south of the hotel and the other the mountains north of the complex. After a strenuous walk, the elaborated health club of the Park Village Resort is a perfect place to have a complete physical and spiritual retreat by swimming, enjoying the sauna, the steam bath or an Ayurveda massage.

In the early evening you are invited to watch a presentation on Nepalese wildlife, nature and culture given by a naturalist. Dinner and overnight stay at the Park Village Resort.

2. Day

Kathmandu - Park Village Resort

After a rich breakfast with lots of fruits at the Farm House Café of the Park Village Resort we walk to Budhanilkantha, a small vibrant village. We visit the huge statue of a sleeping Vishnu carved from a single monolith. From there we proceed to the entrance gate of the Shivapuri National Park.

We stop for birding at Pani Muhan, the reservoir of the National Park. Around 1820, Dr. Francis Hamilton did the first planned expedition to the Shivapuri region. The vegetation mainly consists of alder woods, schima-castanopsis and mixed oak-laurel forest and shrubs like wild yellow raspberry, barberry, gaultheria and many other small plants. The world’s famous ornithologist Brian Hodgson has extensively studied and collected bird specimen that live here. There are 311 species of birds that live in and around Shivapuri National Park. It is an excellent place to watch fork-tails, redstarts, kingfishers, blackbirds and many other birds. The forest is also home to many butterflies, for example the common grass yellow, the tortoise shell, the grass blue, the cabbage white, the chocolate pansy, the peacock pansy, the evening brown, the Indian fritillary, the common crow, the striped blue crow, the common tiger, the plain tiger and the glassy tiger. Rare and uncommon are the following: Krishna peacock, oak leaf, ypthima sps, dodona spp, pappillio, blue bottles, common mormon and red helen.

Whilst watching birds, butterflies and orchids, we climb towards Nagi Gompa, a large nunnery and Buddhist monastery. We have a picnic lunch at Nagi Gompa overlooking the Kathmandu valley from a birds-eye perspective.

The Shivapuri National Park harbours even more wildlife. Wild boars, barking deer, serows, the Himalayan black bear, civet cats, golden jackals, yellow-throated martens and flying squirrels are found here. The biggest attraction is the population of leopards. There is even a record of black leopards living in Shivapuri. Endangered birds still living here include the kalij pheasant, the common hill partridge, the booted eagle, the black eagle, the steppe eagle, the crested serpent eagle, laughing thrushes, sunbirds and tits.

We return to the Park Village Resort. Relax or have a foot message at the Park Health Club. Dinner and overnight stay at the Park Village Resort.

3. Day

Kathmandu - Park Village Resort

Breakfast. We drive to Nagarjung Royal Forest. On our way for lunch we have a picnic. The forest is home for barking deer, wild boars, leopards and interesting birds like the Nepal fulvetta, the red-billed blue magpie, the blue-throated barbet and the long-tailed minivet.

In the afternoon, we take you for guided sight seeing tour to the famous Swajambhunath. It is one of the most important Buddhist Temple in the whole of Asia. It is situated on the top of a hill. The temple is commonly known as the ‘monkey temple’, because it is a fine place to watch monkeys.

The John Hopkins University regularly organizes monkey watch trips to photograph and study the social behaviour of the rhesus monkeys in this place.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Park Village Resort.

4. Day

Pokhara - Pokhara View Garden Hotel (Hotel options: Barahi, Shangri-La

Pokhara and Fishtail

We drive to Pokhara by a private coach. It is a seven hours drive through a picturesque landscape along the Trishuli River. On our way we have the opportunity to experience typical village lifestyle.

Lunch: a “typical hill tribe Nepali meal” at the Riverside Spring Restaurant.

Arrival at Pokhara. Check in to the Pokhara View Garden Hotel.

This hotel is situated on the lake side overlooking the great Himalayan range. Pokhara is one of the most outstanding scenic places in Nepal. There is no other place on earth where one can encounter the elements of a subtropical and a high mountain ecosystem in a short span of 20 kilometres distance. Sometimes when the weather is clear, you can virtually touch the beautiful mountain peaks by hand. The microclimate of this region is created by the thermals of subtropical lowland and the cold winds from the Himalaya. It enables birds of prey to soar at great heights. This trip provides an opportunity to observe birds of prey gliding in the sky against a background of the majestic Machhapuchre and the Annapurna mountains.

Overnight stay at the Pokhara View Garden Hotel.

5. Day

Pokhara - Jomsom (Hotel Om’s Home)

Flight to Jomsom. Check in into Om’s Home, a unique Thakali hotel at the gateway to Mustang. Jomsom is the capital of Mustang. The altitude over here is 2713 metres. Jomsom is on the old salt trading route between Nepal and Tibet. You have the possibility to watch birds in Jomsom, Thini, Dhumba Lake and the surrounding area.

6. Day

Jomsom - Om’s Home

Breakfast at Om’s Home. We walk to Kagbeni to watch birds like the white throated and white winged redstart, the white browed tit warbler, the fire-fronted serin, the streaked and great rose finches. Lammergeyers and the red and yellow billed chough.

Lunch at Kagbeni.

Return to Om’s Home.

Dinner and overnight stay at Om's Home.

7. Day

Jomsom – Marpha - Tukuche

Breakfast at Om’s Home. We pay a visit to Marpha, an exciting Thakali village along the Kali Gandhaki River. At the other side of Marpha is the Thingsang forest which is another good place for birding. The landscape is unique and colourful. On the way we watch birds of the transhimalayan region. Dinner and overnight stay in Marpha.

8. Day

Marpha - Jomsom – Om’s Home           

Breakfast. We walk back to Jomsom and stay again at Om’s Home. The rest of the day is free. Dinner and overnight stay at Om's Home.

9. Day

Jomsom – Pokhara, Pokhara View Garden Hotel

Breakfast. Flight back to Pokhara.Check-in to the Pokhara View Garden Hotel.

We visit Sarangkot and the David Falls.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Pokhara View Garden Hotel.

10. Day

Pokhara - Chitwan, Maruni Sanctuary Lodge

Breakfast. We drive to the Royal Chitwan National Park. It takes about four hours to get there. Recognizing its unique ecosystems of international significance, UNESCO declared the Royal Chitwan National Park a World Heritage Site in 1984. One of the highlights of this trip is to travel through the tall grasslands on the back of an elephant. Chitwan offers excellent opportunities to view other rare and endangered wildlife species.

Check in to the Maruni Sanctuary Lodge.

Maruni Sanctuary Lodge is located in one of the least disturbed areas of Sauraha. The lodge is located adjacent to the Jankauli Community Forest. Nearby lays the Kumrose Tharu Community, an ethnic tribe of the area. Therefore you also have the chance to experience the culture of the people of the Terrai region.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Maruni Sanctuary Lodge.

11. Day

Chitwan - Maruni Sanctuary Lodge

Breakfast. Elephant ride through the Chitwan National Park to watch wildlife including rhinos, deer, bears and if lucky, also tigers or leopards.

Lunch. Afterwards we make a canoe ride into the Rapti river forest to watch birds. Here, you find pea fowls, stork-billed kingfishers, red jungle fowls, brown fish owls, woodpeckers and woolly-necked storks. Afterwards we visit an elephant breeding centre.

Cultural dance activity of the Tharu.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Maruni Sanctuary Lodge.

12. Day

Chitwan - Maruni Sanctuary Lodge

Breakfast. In the morning we start off for a safari. We drive to Beeshazar Lake and the Ramsar Site wetlands to watch storks, herons, ducks, gray-headed fishing eagles and marsh crocodiles. Afterwards we proceed to the Kasara Park Headquarter and the Garial Crocodile Conservation Centre.

The garial is a slender crocodile that grows up to seven meters in length. It is a critically endangered species. They live in rivers and feed only on fishes. A short hike up to Tamar Lake gives us a greater chance to see tigers, sloths, bears and gaur bisons.

Dinner with cultural dance and overnight stay at the Maruni Sanctuary Lodge.

13. Day

Chitwan - Kathmandu Guest House

Breakfast. Flight back to Kathmandu from Bharatpur. If you like you can also travel by bus. Check in at the Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel.

The Kathmandu Guest House is one of the most popular iconic Hotel in Asia. The Kathmandu Guest House was a Rana mansion and only converted into a hotel in 1967. Shopping in Thamel.

Cultural programme followed by dinner.

Overnight stay at the Kathmandu Guest House.

14. Day

Kathmandu - Kathmandu Guest House

Breakfast. Whole day free for optional trips, relaxation, shopping and packing.

15. Day

Departure

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport and flight back to Germany in the early morning.