Chitwan jungle safari
Nepal's flagship lowland park — and a different country, culturally, from the mountains.
Chitwan was Nepal's first national park, declared in 1973 partly to protect the country's last one-horned rhinos. Today, with ~700 rhinos (2021 census) and a recovering tiger population, it's one of Asia's great conservation stories.
We work only with park-licensed naturalist guides — never with the commercial elephant-back operators that still run nearby. Our base is a small lodge in the buffer-zone village of Sauraha, walking distance to the river.
What you'll do
Jeep safari
4WD drives along the buffer-zone tracks with a park-licensed naturalist. Best for distance and big-mammal sightings.
Walking safari
On-foot transects with an armed park guard. Closer to birds, prints, scat — and a real awareness of what shares the forest with you.
Canoe drift
Dugout canoe down the Rapti or Narayani rivers. The gharial spotting is exceptional, plus kingfishers and storks at every bend.
Tharu village evening
Evening walk to Tharu households in the Sauraha buffer zone. Hosts share food and stories; traditional dance if the village is organising one that night — not a packaged performance.
Wildlife you may see
One-horned rhinoceros (high probability), gharial and marsh mugger crocodiles, sloth bear, wild elephant, sambar and chital deer, Bengal tiger (low probability, possible), 540+ bird species.
Our wildlife trips
Bird and Red Panda Expedition — Eastern Nepal
A 16-day expedition through four eastern-Nepal habitats — Phulchowki above Kathmandu, Sindhuli Gadi, the Koshi Tappu wetland, and the Ilam hills — tracking red panda (Ailurus fulgens, IUCN Endangered) alongside resident and migratory birds including Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea). Naturalist-led, small group, starts and ends in Kathmandu. Red panda sightings are not guaranteed.
Rhododendrons of Milke Danda
A 16-day botanical walk from Basantapur to Tumlingtar along the Tinjure–Milke–Jaljale ridge in east Nepal's Koshi hills, topping out around 3,200 m on Milke Danda. Expect rhododendron forest in bloom — Rhododendron arboreum among them — and mid-hill cloud forest, not megafauna. Small group (min 4), naturalist-led, walking through Basantapur, Chauki, Gupha Pokhari, Milke Danda, and Khandbari.
Nepal Wildlife — Chitwan & Bardia
A 12-day naturalist-led tour through Chitwan and Bardia National Parks — Nepal's sal-lowland and riverine-forest terai. Game-spotting is on foot, by jeep, and by dugout canoe, never on captive elephants. Max-12 group, full-board lodges next to the parks, and a park-licensed naturalist on every drive and walk. Bookended by the Kathmandu Valley and a half-day at Lumbini.
Snow Leopard Tracking — Nar Phu Valley
A trans-Himalayan expedition of 18 days into the Nar Phu valley behind the Annapurna massif, tracking snow leopard (Panthera uncia, IUCN Vulnerable) and its blue sheep prey (Pseudois nayaur). Naturalist-led, with a community wildlife tracker on every expedition. Nar Phu is a restricted area; passes here sit above 5,000 m. Sightings are not guaranteed — come for the landscape, treat the cat as a bonus.
Red Panda Tracking — Eastern Nepal
An 11-day naturalist-led wildlife trip from Kathmandu into the Ilam tea-garden belt and the temperate broadleaf forest around it (2,200–3,600 m), tracking red panda (Ailurus fulgens, IUCN Endangered) on foot alongside Himalayan Monal and Satyr Tragopan. We track with a local community tracker who works these forests year-round, and sleep in tea-garden home-stays.
Chitwan National Park
A 3-day jungle safari in Nepal's first and largest national park — UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, home to 694 one-horned rhinoceroses (the world's second-largest population), 128 Bengal tigers, sloth bears, gaur, and gharial crocodiles. Jeep safaris, walking safaris with armed guides, dugout canoe trips, and stays in family-run lodges among the Tharu villages of Sauraha.