Page 74 - World of Animals - Issue #39

Look into the eyes of a tiger

Stalking the dense forests of Nepal’s in patience and luck as it is in following a trail.
national parks is Asia’s most fearsome Here, they can be observed bathing, cooling off,
mammal, the unmistakable striped or lying in wait to ambush prey, which can range
form of the Bengal tiger. Though from boar to water buffalo.
their roar can be heard as far as three With human activity over the past century
kilometres (two miles) away, tigers reducing their range by more than 90 per cent,
are rarely so conspicuous, their unique the majority of Nepal’s tiger population resides
patterning keeping them deceptively in Chitwan, but smaller concentrations can be
well hidden in the dense sal forests of found in Bardia and Suklaphanta. Sightings are
Nepal. Unlike most other members of the far from guaranteed – park rangers estimate
cat family (Felidae), tigers are excellent a density of four to six tigers per 100 square
swimmers, and watering holes are some kilometres (39 square miles) – but with local
of the most fruitful locations for sightings, numbers tentatively on the rise, Nepal is the best
though spotting one is as much an exercise country outside of India to see tigers in the wild.

Get up close with

gentle giants

The magnificent Asian elephant (specifically its
Indian subspecies) provides one of Nepal’s most
memorable wildlife encounters. Historically an
extremely significant animal in Nepalese culture,
both religiously and agriculturally, elephants
remain one of the country’s biggest draws for
wildlife tourists today. The largest mammals
in Asia can be observed roaming wild in the
country’s expansive jungles and Terai plains,
though the captive population is understandably
easier to get acquainted with. Bathing and feeding
sessions in particular allow visitors to observe the
incredible dexterity in the elephants’ trunks (each
of which contains over 40,000 muscles), while
elephant safaris are an extremely popular method
of traversing Nepal’s rich parkland. They offer a
unique vantage point from which to spot some of
the country’s other remarkable wildlife, too, from
rhinos to water buffalo.
While the overall number of elephants in
Nepal remains low, and they are still classed as
endangered by the IUCN, the country has taken an
encouraging approach to conserving and fostering
its elephant population, centred around protecting
the groups in its major national parks. Visitors to
Chitwan National Park can take in its elephant
breeding centre, where the enthralling and playful
relationship between mothers and calves can be
intimately observed in a comfortable environment.

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