On the last day of your excursion, you have an easy time ambling downhill for five to six hours to Shaktikhor (355 m), and here you’ll find small Chepang museum, as well as the Sinti waterfall and Sinti cave nearby. Now, having ended your trek in the Chepang heartland, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take the time to visit Chitwan National Park, since it’s only one hour away. As you may know, this is the first such national park of the country, and was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in the “natural” category by UNESCO some decades ago (around the 1990s). This beautiful park attracts a lot of visitors, and is home to a diverse variety of interesting wildlife, and an equally interesting variety of flora. It is especially famous for its inhabitants like the greater one-horned rhinoceros and the Royal Bengal tiger, which are on the endangered list of animals in the world. The high importance of this national park can be gauged by the fact that, out of the remaining population of 2,000 greater one-horned rhinos in the world, 600 are to be found here. Similarly, out of about 2,500 of the remaining Royal Bengal tigers around the world, 120 live in Chitwan National Park. During the years of the ten-year Maoist insurgency (1996-2006), it had been difficult to secure the safety of these magnificent animals, and many were killed by poachers, taking advantage of the uncertain circumstances then. However, it is indeed good news that, since then, extensive efforts by the government, and its “Zero Poaching” campaigns, has yielded good results, with the tiger population alone increasing to 120 from just about 90 in 2009, and a similar rise in rhino numbers.
There are quite a few renowned resorts around the park, all offering great facilities. Till a few decades ago, there were some very famous resorts inside the park itself, such as Tiger Tops and Gainda Wildlife Camp, to name just two. However, with a view of safeguarding the heritage all the more, all such resorts were made to close down, and most of them now have their establishments on the perimeter of the park. However, they conduct very exciting forays into the park, giving you the option of elephant rides, driving on four-wheelers, or just plain hiking through the dense jungle, including a ride down the crocodile infested river in dug-out canoes. There’s also a gharial breeding farm inside the park that should interest you, since this alligator-like snout-nosed animal too is in the endangered list. Back in Shaktikhor, you’ll be treated to an entertaining cultural program that will make your mood for the six-seven hour drive back to Kathmandu the next day.