Nepal wildlife tour, Chitwan & Bardia

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

Efforts to Reduce Flying
Travelers arrange their own international flights into and out of Kathmandu, which means they can weigh up airlines and routings on carbon performance rather than accepting a fixed flight chosen for them, and travelers already in the region can avoid an unnecessary dedicated return leg.
The itinerary contains just one internal flight, from Nepalganj back to Kathmandu on Day 11, and this is a considered choice rather than a default. Bardia National Park lies in the far west of Nepal’s Terai region, and the entire outbound journey to it - by way of Shreeban Nature Camp and Chitwan National Park - is made overland by road over several days. Returning that full distance to Kathmandu by road would absorb the best part of two further days; the short homeward flight keeps the trip to 13 days while still allowing the long, scenic drive to be experienced once, in the other direction. Where domestic flights are used, airlines are selected carefully for their current reputation in Nepal.

Shared Local Transport
Aside from that single internal flight, every part of the tour is covered by shared road transport. The group of up to 12 travelers moves together in a private car, minivan or minibus matched to the group size, and the long transfers linking Kathmandu, Shreeban, Chitwan and Bardia are run at a deliberately leisurely pace with stops along the way rather than being broken into separate individual journeys. Within Chitwan and Bardia, game drives are made in shared 4x4 jeeps so that one vehicle carries the whole group. Arrival and departure airport transfers are also included and shared, backed by a 24-hour meet-and-assist service in Kathmandu.

Human-Powered Exploration
A wildlife safari lends itself naturally to low-carbon, human-powered activity, and this itinerary makes the most of that. Sightseeing in Kathmandu on Day 2 is on foot around Durbar Square and up to the Swayambhunath stupa. Day 3 is a walking nature trail through the Nagarjun Forest Reserve, and reaching Shreeban Nature Camp on Day 4 involves a couple of hours of walking, with further easy trekking through the surrounding farmland and forest. The core wildlife experience in Chitwan and Bardia is built around guided jungle walks and walking safaris, birdwatching on foot, river journeys by traditional log canoe and easy river rafting - all of which carry travelers through the landscape without burning fuel.

Advising Customers to Reduce Carbon Impacts
The tour notes set out several practical ways for travelers to keep their own footprint down. They are asked to use power and water sparingly in lodges and hotels, switching off lights and fans when rooms are empty, and to strip excess packaging from kit before leaving home so it does not end up in a waste system far less able to deal with it. Travelers heading into the parks, and on any trekking, are specifically asked to pack biodegradable soap and shampoo.
To cut single-use plastic, travelers are encouraged to carry a Water-to-Go filter bottle. The bottle’s filter makes water safe to drink straight from non-salt sources and, over its life, removes the need for somewhere between 260 and 400 plastic bottles - particularly valuable around national parks where recycling and waste collection are limited.

For the international flight itself, the notes encourage travelers to look past price alone and check the CO? figures that booking tools such as Google Flights and Skyscanner now display, so that a more fuel-efficient airline or routing can be chosen wherever one is available.


ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

National Parks and Protected Areas
This is a trip that depends almost entirely on protected land, and it pays directly into the system that protects it. All national park entry fees and activity fees are included in the tour price, covering the three protected areas the itinerary is built around: the Nagarjun Forest Reserve on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley, Chitwan National Park in the central Terai, and Bardia National Park in the far west. Entry and activity fees of this kind are a central part of how Nepal funds the management and protection of its reserves.

Contributing to Wildlife Conservation
Chitwan and Bardia are strongholds for some of Asia’s most threatened large animals, with the itinerary putting travelers in search of tiger, one-horned rhino and wild elephant. By routing park and activity fees into these reserves and employing specialist local safari guides, the tour helps give the parks a continuing economic reason to keep their wildlife and habitat intact - which is one of the more durable forms of protection these species have.

Low-Impact Wildlife Viewing
Wildlife on this tour is observed rather than handled or disturbed. Across Chitwan and Bardia, encounters are made by shared jeep safari, on foot with a guide on jungle walks and walking safaris, by traditional log canoe and on gentle river-rafting trips - all observation-based ways of experiencing the parks. Travelers are encouraged to wear drab, muted colours on jungle walks specifically so as not to draw the attention of wildlife, a small but telling sign of the watch-don’t-disturb approach the safaris are run on.

Expert Local Nature Guides
Every wildlife and sightseeing activity is led by fully trained, English-speaking Nepalese guides. There are specialist wildlife safari guides in Chitwan and Bardia and specialist city guides in Kathmandu, with a local escort accompanying the group for the full 13 days. Only local Nepali guides and reps are used; many travelers single them out as a highlight of the trip, which keeps wildlife interpretation in the hands of people with first-hand knowledge of the parks and the species in them.

Environmental Awareness
Travelers are encouraged to take an active part in protecting the places they pass through. The tour notes encourages:
• Avoiding litter altogether, and carrying plastic waste out of areas where local collection is weak.
• Choosing biodegradable suncreams, shampoos and detergents to limit pollution of forest and river systems.
• Using local resources, including water and power, sparingly.
• Treating the forest reserves and national parks - where much of the trip is spent - with the same everyday care as the structural choices behind the tour.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

Locally Run Accommodation
The accommodation used on this tour is a series of locally run, independent properties rather than international hotel chains: 3-star hotels in Kathmandu, the remote Shreeban Nature Camp in Dhading, a park lodge at Chitwan and the Bardia Eco Lodge on the edge of Bardia National Park. Using independent Nepalese hotels, camps and lodges keeps accommodation spending within the country, and in the case of the park-edge lodges and the nature camp it puts that spending directly into rural communities next to the protected areas.

Village Visits and Cultural Experiences
Meeting local communities is written into the itinerary rather than left to chance. Day 4 offers the option of visiting Nalang Village for an introduction to the culture of the region; Day 6 in Chitwan includes a village tour showing the traditional daily life of local people; and the days in Bardia include visits to local people and cultural shows that the communities themselves put on. These experiences give host communities a direct share of the tour’s value.

Supporting Local Trade
In Kathmandu, travelers have time among the market stalls around Durbar Square, trekking and outdoor gear bought locally in Kathmandu both save carrying it from home and support local shops. It is recommended that in rural and hill areas, travelers stick to published price lists and to pay fair prices for local food, accommodation and services - precisely because doing so keeps money circulating in village economies.


EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

Local Employment
Only local Nepali guides and representatives are used for this tour. The group is looked after by a local escort for the full trip, by fully trained English-speaking Nepalese safari, trekking and rafting guides, and by specialist Nepalese city guides in Kathmandu. Running the tour this way means the income it generates - from guiding and leading through to driving and lodge work - stays with Nepalese workers.

Fair Pay for Porters
Where the tour uses trekking porters, international guidelines are followed for their employment, including those of the International Porter Protection Group (IPPG). All porters are paid a higher-than-average wage.

Accessibility
This is an active, outdoors tour. Alongside the wildlife drives it includes nature walks, guided jungle walks and walking safaris on uneven ground, a couple of hours of walking to reach Shreeban Nature Camp, river rafting and log-canoe trips, and several long road journeys across the Terai. It therefore suits travelers with a reasonable level of fitness and mobility. Let us know in advance about any physical disabilities or pre-existing medical conditions so that we can advise honestly on whether the itinerary will work for you.

Cultural Respect
Travelers are encouraged to learn a few words of the local language, to dress modestly -something the tour notes flag as especially important for women in Nepal, where loose-fitting and non-revealing clothing is expected - and to follow local dress and behaviour conventions at religious and sacred sites such as the temples of Durbar Square and the Swayambhunath stupa, with the tour leader on hand to advise.