Photo: Ganesh Paudel · CC BY-SA 3.0National Parks / Terai / Bardiya
Est. 1988 · The largest Terai park
The largest and most undisturbed wilderness in Nepal's Terai — a stronghold of the Bengal tiger, where the Karnali and Babai rivers cut through sal forest and grassland.
Established in 1988 as Royal Bardia National Park, Bardiya is the largest and most undisturbed national park in Nepal's Terai, covering 968 km² in the Bardiya District of the western lowlands.
The park adjoins the eastern bank of the Karnali River — Nepal's longest — and is bisected by the Babai River, with its northern limit marked by the crest of the Siwalik (Churia) Hills. It began as the Karnali Wildlife Reserve in 1976; around 1,500 households were resettled from the Babai Valley, and the freely regenerating vegetation has since made the valley prime wildlife habitat. Together with neighbouring Banke National Park it forms the Bardia–Banke Tiger Conservation Unit, a 2,231 km² block of alluvial grassland and subtropical deciduous forest.
About three-quarters of the park is forest, with the remainder grassland, savanna and riverine forest. A buffer zone of roughly 327 km² is managed jointly with local communities.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0The Big Cats
Bardiya holds Nepal's second-largest population of Bengal tigers, and its quieter trails offer some of the country's best odds of a sighting. The park has seen remarkable conservation success — from 1994 to 2000 no rhinos were lost to poaching, and tiger and rhino numbers have climbed over recent decades.
Wildlife
61 mammal species, alongside more than 500 birds, 42 reptiles and amphibians and 120 fish.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0The park's flagship predator, hunting across grassland and forest.
Endangered
Photo: Lurey Rohit · CC BY-SA 4.0Reintroduced from Chitwan in a series of translocations from 1986 onward.
Vulnerable
Photo: Kukil Gogoi · CC BY-SA 4.0The Karnali River is one of the last Nepali strongholds of this rare freshwater dolphin.
Endangered
Photo: श्रेष्ठ भूपेन्द्र · CC BY-SA 4.0Landscape & Rivers
The regenerated Babai Valley is a majestic, little-disturbed wilderness where rhino, tiger and elephant roam. The Karnali — Nepal's longest river — borders the park to the west, offering white-water rafting and dolphin-watching, and over 835 species of plants grow across the park's forests and grasslands.
Visiting
Bardiya offers a quieter, wilder safari experience than the better-known Terai parks, amid Tharu communities.
Guided jungle walks and jeep safaris with high odds of tiger sightings, especially in the dry season.
River trips on the Karnali combine rapids with dolphin and gharial spotting.
A remote inner valley of pristine habitat — the heart of the park's wilderness.
Reference
From the Terai tiger country to the glaciers of Everest.