Photo: Hopingyousuf · CC BY-SA 4.0National Parks / Terai / Banke
Est. 2010 · A 'Gift to the Earth'
Nepal's 'Gift to the Earth' — a young Terai park on the Churia hills that forms a vital tiger corridor alongside neighbouring Bardiya.
Established on 12 July 2010 as Nepal's tenth national park, Banke was created following its recognition as a 'Gift to the Earth' — and forms a vital link in the conservation of the Bengal tiger.
The park covers 550 km², with most of its terrain falling within the Churia (Sivalik) range, and is surrounded by a 344 km² buffer zone across the Banke, Salyan and Dang districts. Together with neighbouring Bardiya National Park it forms the Bardia–Banke Tiger Conservation Unit, a contiguous protected block of around 1,518 km².
To the south, the park connects through the Kamdi corridor to India's Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, making it a key transboundary link in the wider Terai Arc Landscape.
Photo: Bharatadhikarimb · CC BY-SA 4.0The Landscape
Banke's landscape is built from eight distinct ecosystem types, from sal forest and grassland to riverine habitat along the Rapti and Babai rivers. Its subtropical monsoon climate brings three seasons — summer, monsoon and winter — and the regenerating Churia forests provide cover for an expanding wildlife population.
Wildlife
Banke shelters around 34 mammal species and serves as critical tiger habitat alongside Bardiya.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0The park's reason for being — part of the Bardia–Banke tiger landscape.
Endangered
Photo: Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY-SA 4.0One of several protected species, alongside striped hyena.
Photo: Sabina Bajracharya · CC BY-SA 4.0Asian elephants move through the park and its corridors.
EndangeredVisiting
Quiet and little-visited, Banke pairs naturally with a Bardiya safari.
Jungle drives and walks in a quieter setting than the larger Terai parks.
Boating on the Rapti and Babai rivers within the wider landscape.
Regenerating Sivalik forest, increasingly rich in wildlife.
Reference
Administration
Each park is managed on the ground by a chief warden who reports into Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).
Wildlife & Ecology
Banke is one of Nepal's youngest parks, gazetted on 12 July 2010 as the 10th national park and announced as a WWF 'Gift to the Earth'. Together with neighbouring Bardia it forms the 1,518 km² Bardia–Banke Tiger Conservation Unit, and the 2022 census recorded 25 tigers here. The park is quieter than Bardia, less developed for tourism, and still building a wildlife reputation around tiger, elephant, four-horned antelope and striped hyena.
Banke's tigers are functionally part of a single Bardia–Banke population: animals move freely between the two parks across the contiguous Churia foothill forest.
Solitary, mostly nocturnal/crepuscular; uses the sal-forested Churia hills and the Babai and Rapti river corridors.
Chital, sambar, wild boar, hog deer. The 2024 carrying-capacity study found Banke's ungulate prey density at about 26 per km² — well below Bardia's 69 per km², which is why Banke holds a smaller tiger population.
Sal-dominated Churia (Siwalik) hills along the Rapti and Babai rivers.
Nepal's 2022 national tiger survey recorded 25 tigers in Banke — the smallest of Nepal's five tiger-park populations, but a substantial increase from the small numbers (~10 or fewer) at the time of the park's 2010 gazetting. The 2024 carrying-capacity study modelled an ecological capacity of around 28 adult tigers, meaning Banke is now close to its current habitat ceiling.
Banke was gazetted specifically to extend Bardia's tiger landscape eastward, and the structural decision has paid off: tigers now use the full Bardia–Banke complex as one habitat block. The corridor onward to India's Suhelwa sanctuary makes this a transboundary tiger system.
Banke has minimal visitor infrastructure compared with Bardia; the realistic safari is a Bardia–Banke combination through Bardia's operators.
Banke's elephants are part of the western-Terai population that also uses Bardia and the corridor to India's Suhelwa. They are listed among the park's five formally protected mammal species.
Matriarchal family groups; bulls more solitary; transboundary seasonal movements.
Grasses, bark, leaves, fruit; crop-raids in the buffer zone are an active management concern.
Sal forest, grassland and the Babai/Rapti river corridors.
Endangered globally; park-specific count not published.
Encountered irregularly on guided safaris; sightings are not predictable.
A medium-sized, sloping-backed hyena with a striking black-and-buff striped coat and an elongated dorsal crest. Largely scavenging, frequently misjudged as aggressive — but in fact one of South Asia's most cautious large carnivores.
Strictly nocturnal; solitary or in small family groups; ranges widely.
Carrion, bones (its powerful jaws crack what other scavengers cannot), occasional small prey and fruit.
Open scrub and dry sal forest; uses old burrows or rocky outcrops as dens.
Near Threatened globally. Listed among Banke's five formally protected mammal species, along with pangolin, four-horned antelope, Asian elephant and Bengal tiger.
The first confirmed striped-hyena den in Nepal was documented in this western-Terai landscape (2017) — a sign that Banke's protected mosaic is now ecologically functional for the species.
Effectively impossible to see; documented mainly through camera trapping.
A small, slim, sal-forest antelope; males uniquely carry two pairs of horns (front pair small, rear pair larger).
Solitary or in pairs; shy and crepuscular.
Grasses, leaves, fruit and flowers.
Sal forest understorey of the Churia hills.
Vulnerable globally. Past studies record the species in Nepal only at Parsa, Chitwan, Bardia and Banke — Banke is the western anchor of that range.
Rare and shy; the chance is essentially the same as in Bardia.
A small, scaly, ant-eating mammal whose keratin scales drive massive illegal wildlife trade across South and East Asia.
Solitary, nocturnal, burrowing; rolls into an armoured ball when threatened.
Almost exclusively ants and termites, taken with a long sticky tongue.
Forested ground of the Churia hills.
Critically Endangered globally. Documented as a protected resident of the park, with population figures not reliably published.
Pangolins are the most-trafficked mammals on Earth — the species' presence in Banke makes anti-poaching work on the park's edges as important as the tiger story.
Effectively impossible to see; encounters are very rare.
More than 300 bird species have been reported. The list is still developing — the park has been gazetted only since 2010 — but already includes the great hornbill, Bengal and lesser florican and black stork.
About 24 reptile species, 7 amphibians and 58 fish recorded across the Rapti and Babai systems.
About 124 recorded plant species so far, including 113 trees, 107 herbs and 85 shrubs and climbers. Sal is the dominant tree, with axlewood (Anogeissus latifolia) and khair (Acacia catechu) on more open ground.
Species pages
Long-form, sourced editorial on the species this park protects — their populations, their recoveries, the policy and the science behind them.
Plan Your Visit
Practical context for visitors arriving from another country — how to get here, how long to stay, what you'll actually see, and whether this park fits the trip you have in mind.
Banke is the small Terai park east of Bardiya — established in 2010 specifically to extend Bardiya's tiger habitat. It's a niche choice for international visitors, almost always added as an extension to a Bardiya stay rather than visited standalone. Air access is via Nepalgunj (about a 1-hour flight from Kathmandu), then about 1.5 hours by road east toward Kohalpur.
Banke and Bardiya together form the Banke-Bardiya tiger landscape — a single ecological unit, gazetted as two parks for administrative reasons. Tigers move between them. For a visitor seriously interested in tiger conservation policy and landscape-scale habitat, Banke makes sense; for a casual safari traveller, it adds little that Bardiya doesn't already offer better.
October to April, same as the rest of the Terai. Tiger-tracking peaks in February through April. The monsoon (Jun–Sep) makes most of the park inaccessible.
Banke is a forest-corridor park first, a destination park second. The wildlife list largely overlaps Bardiya's, with lower visitor density and noticeably thinner infrastructure.
Season note. February to April is the dry hot window favoured by tiger-trackers; October and November are cooler and more comfortable for general game-driving.
Banke's entry fee is not currently published on the Nepal Tourism Board's website, and we don't quote figures we can't verify against an official source. Confirm the current foreign / SAARC / Nepali fee structure directly with the DNPWC or the Nepal Tourism Board, or with your operator before booking. Banke is in the Terai, where parks are typically priced per day; assume similar structure to Bardiya but verify.
Re-confirm before booking — Terai park fees have been adjusted in past years and not always announced widely.
Visitor Guide
A quieter, developing Terai park and a vital tiger corridor beside Bardiya. Visitor infrastructure is still growing, so confirm details locally.
Visitor infrastructure is still developing; access is by guided safari rather than marked self-guided trails.
Around 300 bird species, including the giant hornbill, Bengal and lesser florican and black stork; gharial and python among 24 reptile species, with 58 fish species and around 34 mammals.
Eight distinct ecosystem types across the Churia hills and Terai mosaic.
Specific lodge names and availability. Fees, hours and operators change — confirm current details with the DNPWC and Nepal Tourism Board before travelling.
Entry fees and opening hours. Fees, hours and operators change — confirm current details with the DNPWC and Nepal Tourism Board before travelling.
Transport details and visitor-centre information. Fees, hours and operators change — confirm current details with the DNPWC and Nepal Tourism Board before travelling.
Tharu communities, alongside Brahmin, Chhetri, Magar, Tamang, Majhi and Gurung people in the buffer zone.
Established on 12 July 2010 as Nepal's tenth national park and recognised as a 'Gift to the Earth'; managed with Bardiya as the roughly 1,518 km² Bardiya–Banke Tiger Conservation Unit.
Specific tour operators. Fees, hours and operators change — confirm current details with the DNPWC and Nepal Tourism Board before travelling.
From the Journal
