Bardiya National Park
Explore the Wilderness
A 4-Day Adventure in Bardia National Park
The Bardiya National Park is a 4-day tour starting and finishing in Bardiya. We run it as a private trip on your own dates, or as a small group departure.
Tharu, the indigenous people of the Terai, with stick dances and longhouse architecture. Tharu thali, river fish, and lodge buffets.
This is a cultural trip, not a trek. Expect vehicle transfers, guided site visits and short walks of an hour or two, with the option to add a longer hike where the itinerary allows. Low, provided you follow your naturalist on foot. Heat and humidity from April onward are the real discomfort.
Best time to go. October to March is the reliable window. February to April gives the best sightings as the grass is cut back and animals come to water.
Permits and getting there. National park entry permits and activity fees for jeep safari, canoe and guided walks, all included. Chitwan is a 5 to 6 hour drive or a 25-minute flight from Kathmandu to Bharatpur. Bardiya is a flight to Nepalgunj plus a drive.
Where you sleep. Jungle lodges and resorts in Sauraha or inside the buffer zone.
Why book with us. Trekking Team is a family company in Gongabu, Kathmandu, running trips since 1991 under TAAN licence 1106. About ten thousand people have travelled with us and we hold more than 630 TripAdvisor reviews. Every departure runs with a government-licensed guide, permits arranged before you arrive, insured and equipped staff, and a fixed price. If the dates or the route do not suit you, write to us and we will rebuild the itinerary around what you want.
Trip Summary
Duration
Difficulty
Max Elevation
Start point
End point
Daily Activity
Group Size
Best Season
Included
- All transfers in the itinerary, by private vehicle or domestic flight as listed
- National park entry permits and all activity fees
- Licensed naturalist guide for every activity inside the park
- Jeep safari, guided jungle walk with two armed naturalists, and a canoe or float trip
- Lodge accommodation on a full board basis, twin share
- Tharu village visit and cultural programme
- All government taxes, VAT and company service charges
Not Included
- International flights and the Nepal visa fee
- Travel insurance, which we require you to hold
- Drinks, laundry and items of a personal nature
- Elephant-back safari, which we do not book on welfare grounds
- Additional activities beyond those listed
- Tips for your naturalist, driver and lodge staff
- Anything not listed under what is included
Get started on your journey
Detailed itinerary
Arrival at Bardia National Park
Arrive at Bardiya, either on the flight from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj followed by a two to three hour drive north, or overland if you are already in the west.
Bardiya National Park in the far west is larger, wilder and far less visited than Chitwan, and it holds Nepal's highest density of Bengal tiger. Sightings here are realistic rather than lucky, particularly from the river beds between February and April. Wild elephant, rhino, swamp deer and Gangetic dolphin in the Karnali are the other draws.
Check into the lodge at Thakurdwara, meet your naturalist and take a first orientation walk along the buffer zone in the late afternoon, when deer come out to the forest edge and the birdlife is at its best.
Altitude: 300 m | Overnight: Lodge | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Bardia National Park: Jungle Safari, Cultural Exposure
A full day of jeep safari inside the park, going deep into the sal forest and the grassland along the Karnali and Babai river systems.
The animals you are most likely to see are spotted deer, sambar, wild boar, langur, rhesus macaque and a great deal of birdlife. Rhino are established here after reintroduction. Wild elephant move through in herds, including the large tuskers that the far west is known for, and Bardiya is the best place in Nepal for a realistic tiger sighting.
In the evening there is time with the Tharu community around Thakurdwara, whose stick dance and longhouse architecture are their own rather than a performance built for visitors.
Altitude: 300 m | Overnight: Lodge | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Bardia National Park: Float Safari, Bird-Watching, Cultural Dance Program
A float safari down the Karnali in the morning, drifting past gharial and mugger crocodile on the sandbanks, with a real chance of Gangetic river dolphin in the deeper pools. It is the quietest way to move through the park and it puts you at eye level with everything on the banks.
Bird watching through the middle of the day: Bardiya holds well over four hundred species, including the Bengal florican, sarus crane, and a great range of raptors and kingfishers. Bring binoculars, which the lodge can also lend.
The evening is given over to a Tharu cultural programme in the village, which the community runs itself and which supports the buffer zone households directly.
Altitude: 300 m | Overnight: Lodge | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Jeep Safari, Final Departure
A last jeep safari at first light, which is when the forest is most active and when the odds are best.
Back to the lodge for breakfast, then the drive to Nepalgunj for the flight to Kathmandu, or onward if you are continuing west or into India.
If you have time to spare, an extra night here is almost always worth it. Tiger sightings are a function of how many dawns you spend in the park, and three days give you meaningfully better odds than two.
Altitude: 300 m | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Getting ready
No special training is needed. Comfortable shoes for uneven cobbles and stone steps at the heritage sites, and a light layer for early mornings, will cover it.
Permits and paperwork
National park entry permits and activity fees for jeep safari, canoe and guided walks, all included.
Nepal issues visas on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport: 15, 30 or 90 days, payable in cash in most major currencies or by card. Bring two passport photographs and make sure your passport has at least six months validity.
Money, tipping and costs on the ground
Nepali rupees are the only currency accepted on the trail. Draw cash in Kathmandu or Pokhara before you leave; ATMs have a per-transaction limit of around NPR 35,000 and charge a fee, and above the roadhead there are no machines and no card terminals.
Budget for drinks, souvenirs and any meals not listed in the itinerary.
Tipping is customary and genuinely matters to the crew, but it is not compulsory and never demanded. As a guide to the guide: around USD 8 to 12 per day for your trekking guide and USD 6 to 8 for each porter, pooled by the group and handed over at the end.
Staying in touch
Wi-Fi at the lodges, mobile coverage throughout.
Ncell and Nepal Telecom tourist SIM cards are sold at Kathmandu airport and take about ten minutes. Bring your passport.
Health and safety
No vaccinations are legally required for Nepal, but hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus are sensible and a rabies course is worth discussing if you are travelling for a long time. Check with a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly.
Drink bottled or treated water and be sensible about street food in the first few days.
Our guides carry a comprehensive first aid kit. We hold a 24-hour operations line in Kathmandu throughout your trip, and we run rescue coordination ourselves rather than handing it to a third party.
Booking and cancellation
A deposit confirms your dates and the balance is due before departure. If your plans change we will move your booking to another date rather than treat it as a cancellation wherever the ground operators allow it.
Written quotes are fixed. We do not add fuel or permit surcharges after you have booked, and if a government fee rises between your booking and your departure we absorb it.
Questions before you commit are welcome and never rushed. Write to us with what you actually want and we will tell you plainly whether this trip is the right one, including when the answer is that a different route would suit you better.
Ready to start your journey?
Start planning your dream trip today. Enquire now for more information or customize this trip to tailor it to your needs and make it truly unforgettable.