Established in 1973, this is the oldest designated nationals park in Nepal and a chief safari destination. This park is situated merely 150 kilometers south-west in inner Terai, the nearest one from Kathmandu. It was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1984.

Geographical Location
Chitwan lies in the lowlands or Inner Terai of southern central Nepal on the international border with India. The park's boundaries extend from the Dauney Hills on the west bank of the Narayani River eastward 78km to Hasta and Dhoram rivers. The park is bounded to the north by the Narayani and Rapti rivers and to the south by the Panchnad and Reu rivers and a forest road. 27°20-27°40'N, 83°52'-84°45'E

Parsa Wildlife Reserve is contiguous to the eastern boundary of the park and extends as far eastwards as the Bheraha and Bagali rivers. 27°15'-27°35'N, 84°45'-84°58'E

Area
Chitwan was enlarged from 54,400ha to its present size of 93,200ha in 1977. Parsa Wildlife Reserve covers 49,900ha. There was a proposal to further enlarge the protected areas complex by establishing the 25,900ha Bara Hunting Reserve (Wegge, 1976; Smith and Mishra, 1981), adjacent to and east of Parsa Wildlife Reserve, but this has been dropped (B.N. Upreti, pers. comm., 1986).

Altitude
Altitude ranges from 150m to 815m on the Churia Range.

Physical Features
Chitwan is situated in a river valley basin or dun, along the flood plains of the Rapti, Reu and Narayani rivers. The Someswar and the Dauney hills form thesouthern catchment and both drain into the Narayani. The Churia Hills bisect the park, their northern face falling within the catchment of the Rapti and southern side forming the catchment of the Reu. The Rapti is bounded by the Mahabharat Range on the north. Both the Rapti and Reu flow westwards and drain into the Narayani, which meanders southwards for about 25km through a narrow gorge between the Someswar and Dauney hills until it reaches the Nepal-India border.

Climate
Conditions are subtropical with a summer monsoon from mid-June to late-September, and a relatively dry winter. Mean annual rainfall is 2400mm with about 90% falling in the monsoon from June to September. Monsoon rains cause dramatic floods and changes in the character and courses of rivers. Temperatures are highest (maximum 38°C) during this season and drop to a minimum of 6°C in the post-monsoon period (October to January), when dry northerly winds from the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau are prevalent (Bolton, 1975; Laurie, 1978).

Animal Kingdom
There are more than 43 species of mammals in the park. The park is especially renowned for its protection of the endangered one- horned rhinoceros, tiger, and gharial crocodile along with many other common species of wild animal. The estimated population of rhinos is 400. The park also secures populations of endangered species such as gaur, wild elephant, four horned antelope, striped hyena, pangolin, Gangetic dolphin, monitor lizard, and python.

Some of the other animals found in the park are sambar, chital, hog deer, barking deer, sloth deer, common leopard, ratel, palm civet, wild dog, langur and rhesus monkeys. There are over 450 species of birds in the park. Among the endangered birds are the Bengal florican, giant hornbill, lesser florican, black stork and white stork. A few of the common birds seen are peafowl, red jungle fowl, and different species of egrets, herons, kingfishers, flycatchers and woodpeckers. The best times for bird watching are in March and December.

More than 45 species of amphibians and reptiles are found in the park, some of which are the marsh mugger crocodile, cobra, green pit viper and various species of frogs and tortoises. The park is actively engaged in the scientific study of several species of wild flora and fauna.