Chitwan National Park

Chitwan National Park
Landscape in the Chitwan National Park
Coordinates: 27 ° 32 ′ 57.8 "  N , 84 ° 19 ′ 50.8"  E
Location:	Bagmati , Nepal
Surface:	932 km²
Founding:	1973
Address:	Kasara
Chitwan National Park with buffer zone
Kapok, the tree with the silk cotton
Bengal tigress
Indian rhinoceros

The Chitwan National Park ( Nepali चितवन राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्ज Citvana rāṣṭriya nikuñja ) is a national park in Nepal , which was founded in 1973 as the first national park in the country under the name Royal Chitwan National Park .

It occupies an area of ​​932 km² and is located in the Terai , the southern foothills of the Himalaya . The southern border of the national park is also the national border with India . The Parsa game reserve joins in the east . The Rapti River to the north and the Narayani River to the west form a natural boundary to populated areas. Together with the Parsa Wildlife Reserve and the Valmiki National Park in India, the area forms the Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) Chitwan, which is over 2000 km² .

history

Since the middle of the 19th century, Chitwan - the heart of the jungle - has been a popular hunting ground for the ruling class of Nepal during the winter season. From Kathmandu , the south of Nepal could only be reached on foot with great difficulty until the 1950s, so that the feudal big game hunters had comfortable camps set up for themselves and their entourage, in which they lived for several months. Hundreds of tigers , rhinos , leopards and sloth bears fell victim to them.

In 1950 the forest and grassland in Chitwan extended over 2600 km² and were home to 800 rhinos. By the late 1960s, 70% of this area had been cleared using DDT , and a massive influx of people started using the region more and more for agriculture. In 1957, the first nature conservation law came into force, protecting rhinos and their habitats , but in 1968 there were only 95 rhinos left in Chitwan. The extent of the poaching prompted the government to set up the Gaida Gasti - rhino scouting parties that consisted of 130 armed men and a network of guards across Chitwan. With the establishment of Chitwan National Park in 1973, the small remaining population of rhinos was to be protected from extinction. At the beginning, the protected area took up an area of ​​544 km², which was expanded in 1977 to 932 km².

The Chitwan National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and expanded in 1997 by a buffer zone of 766.1 km², which includes populated areas north and west of the Narayani-Rapti river system and extends in the southwest of the park to the Indian border.

climate

The area is located in the eastern climatic zone of the Himalayas , where the monsoon rains begin as early as mid-June and only subside in late September. During these months, most of the annual precipitation of up to 2500 mm falls. From mid-October it no longer rains until the end of December. Until then, the humidity will gradually decrease, the thermometer will show a slightly lower maximum temperature every day: leisurely from approx. 36 ° C to approx. 18 ° C, and the nightly one will settle at a low point of 5 ° C for a while. After the few rainy days of the winter monsoon , it is slowly getting warmer again. By the end of April, temperatures climb to over 40 ° C. Then the first harbingers of the monsoon with thunder, lightning, violent storms and short heavy rain showers reach the area, the humidity increases rapidly. From mid-June it rains almost permanently. One rainy night after the other at this time of year has already caused the river system of Rapti and Narayani to change direction, to trigger conflicts over the course of the border, to flood the protected area in the south and the agricultural area in the north and west on a large scale. Hundreds of animals have drowned and thousands of people have lost their fields.

vegetation

The forest, which is typical for the Inner Terai and consists mainly of sal trees ( Shorea robusta ), takes up about 70% of the total area of ​​the national park. The proportion of Sal is particularly high in the low, well-drained areas in the center of the national park. On the southern slopes of the Churia Mountains, the Sal forest is mixed with pine ( Pinus roxburghii ). In addition to Sal, shrubs such as Dalbergia ( Dalbergia latifolia , Dillenia indica ), winged plants ( Terminalia belerica , Anogeissus latifolius ), balsam trees ( Garuga pinnata ), creepers and creeping plants ( Bauhinia vahlobus ) , Spifatholus are growing on the north-facing slopes .

Along the rivers, bushfires, floods and erosion contribute to the constant change in the colorful mosaic of grassland and riparian forest. Groups of gerber acacias ( Acacia catechu ) with sissoo ( Dalbergia sissoo ) dominate on new alluvial soil and in the lowlands . With increasing siltation, the Indian silk wool tree ( Bombax ceiba ) grows with the "rhinoceros apple tree" ( Trewia nudiflora ), the fruits of which they taste so good.

Low, dense bushes of beautiful fruits ( Callicarpa macrophylla ), "Rajbeli" called loose bushes ( Clerodendrum viscosum ) and Indian gooseberries ( Phyllanthus emblica ) offer a rich variety of species shelter and hiding place.

Grassland covers 20% of the area of ​​the national park. Here more than 50 different types of grass, including some of the world's tallest grasses grow like this as elephant grass called Ravenna grass ( Saccharum ravennae ), giant reed ( Arundo donax ), reed ( Phragmites Karka ) and several types of grasses . Saccharum spontaneum is one of the first types of grass to colonize newly created sandbanks and to be washed away again with the annual monsoon floods.

fauna

The wide range of vegetation types in Chitwan National Park is habitat for more than 700 animal species and an as yet unknown number of insect species . In addition to king cobra and tiger python , 17 other species of snakes , yellow-headed turtles and Bengali monitor lizards live here . 113 species of fish and marsh crocodiles live in the Narayani-Rapti river system, its small tributaries and numerous stagnant oxbow lakes . Their population has shrunk from around 200 individuals in 1978 to 70 in 1988.

At the beginning of the 1950s there were still 235 Ghariale living in the Narayani. However, the population has become catastrophically small as a result of overfishing , water pollution and poaching: in 2003 only 38 wild gharials were counted. In the rearing station of the Gharial Conservation Project , eggs have been hatched since 1978 and animals up to an age of 6 to 9 years have been raised. Since 1981 juveniles have been released into the Narayani-Rapti river system every year, but very few of them survive.

Mammals

The "king of the jungle" is the Bengal tiger . Since the creation of the national park, the small population has grown from an estimated 25 to 70–110 individuals by 1980. As a result of poaching and flooding, the population declined in some years, but according to a long-term study it stabilized from 1995 to 2002 with 82 adult tigers and a density of 6 females per 100 km². Leopards compete with tigers for prey.

To the domestic more than 40 species also include fishing cats , jungle cats , marbled cats , leopard cats , jackals , Dhole , sloth bears , Bengalfüchse , Binturongs , Fleckenlinsange , Civet , Large and Small Indian civet , honey badgers , several species of mongoose and Charsas . Indian otters settle in the countless small streams and rivers. Striped hyenas are rare and mainly live in the Churia Mountains to the south .

The park is known for its population of rhinoceros that was up to the turn of the century to 544 animals and by the spring of 2015 increased to 645 rhinos. Since 1986 animals have been relocated from Chitwan to the Bardia National Park and the Suklaphanta Game Reserve every year . However, the population was repeatedly endangered by poaching: in 2002 alone, poachers cruelly killed 37 animals in order to be able to saw off the precious horn and sell it. The last count in 2011 showed a total of 503 rhinos in the park, during the same period two animals died from poachers. In the spring 2015 census, 645 animals were found in Nepal, 605 of them in Chitwan National Park, while at the same time no animal was killed by poachers in the past three years.

Every now and then wild elephant bulls come from the Valmiki National Park into the valleys of the park, apparently in search of seductive cows.

Gaure spend most of the year in the inaccessible Churia Mountains in the south of the national park, but come to graze in the grasslands in spring when lush grass grows again after the bushfires. The population increased from 1997 to 2007 from around 200 to around 300 animals. In spring 2008, 37 of these mighty wild cattle were counted in the neighboring Parsa game reserve.

In addition to numerous wild boars , sambar deer , axis deer , pig deer and Indian muntjacs are native. Four-horned antelopes are mostly found in the mountains.

There are also rhesus monkeys , Indian langurs , pangolins , white-tailed porcupines ( Hystrix indica ), black-necked hares , bristle rabbits and several types of flying squirrels .

Ganges dolphins have not been sighted since 1990, when a dam was built on the Indian border.

Birds

Every year, passionate bird conservationists collect nationwide bird species. In 2006, 543 species were counted in Chitwan National Park, more than in other protected areas of Nepal and about two thirds of the threatened species found in the whole country. In particular, Chitwan grasslands preferred habitat for the rare Bart bustards , gray Hood Prinien (Prinia cinereocapilla) , Schlankschnabeldrosslinge and Sunda marabou . The globally threatened Indian spotted eagle ( Aquila hastata ) breeds in the national park.

In addition to the permanently present, around 160 species such as the rust geese come to winter from northern latitudes. Striped geese, on the other hand, only rest for a few days. As soon as the overwinterers have moved away in spring, other species arrive from southern latitudes to breed in Chitwan over the summer, such as the Paradise Flycatchers and Bengali Pittas .

People

Originally only indigenous Tharu lived in Chitwan. Since the 1950s, numerous settlers moved from the hills in search of arable land in the lowlands. In 1980, around 260,000 people lived in 320 settlements in the area of ​​the national park. The Friendship Clinic Nepal is also nearby .

In the park there are two Hindu sites of great religious importance for the region, but also for Indian visitors.

tourism

Chitwan National Park is one of the greatest tourist attractions in Nepal. In 1989, 31,446 visitors were counted, 10 years later the figure was 77,266.

Within the national park there are several resorts that offer , in addition to accommodation and meals, safaris with elephants and jeeps, rafting tours and guided bird watching . The oldest resort is the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge , which has been welcoming guests since 1972 and paving the way for ecotourism concepts : Tiger Tops has been supporting the long-standing Tiger Monitoring Project and the work of anti-poaching units in the national park since the mid-1980s .

On the edge of the national park, Sauraha is the most famous place for tourists, from where day trips to the protected area are possible.

The International Elephant Festival has also been taking place here since 2004, including an elephant race , elephant football and a beauty competition.

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  In the Salwald

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  Open grass area

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  Indian rhinoceros with calf

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  Sambar deer

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  Fish eagle owl

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  Safari with elephant in Chitwan National Park

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  Safari with elephant in Chitwan National Park

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  Marsh crocodile

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  Indian rhinos in a high grass area of ​​the park

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  Indian rhinoceros in the water

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  Axis deer

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  Marabou

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  Elephants bathe in the river

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  Indian rhinoceros

literature

• Gurung, K. (1983) Heart of the Jungle: the Wildlife of Chitwan, Nepal . Andre Deutsch, London. 197 pp.
• Bird Conservation Nepal (2006) Birds of Chitwan . Comparison list with 543 sighted species. Published in collaboration with DNPWC and Participatory Conservation Program II , Kathmandu.

Web links

Commons : Chitwan National Park  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• UNESCO world heritage
• Info from Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation , Nepal, in (English)
• BirdLife IBA information about Chitwan National Park
• Vulture Breeding Center in Chitwan National Park
• Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge
• BIRD CHECKLIST - CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK & BUFFER ZONE March 2015 , from www.cloudbirders.com, accessed November 18, 2017
• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Adhikari, TR (2002) The curse of success . Habitat Himalaya - A Resources Himalaya Factfile, Volume IX, Number 3 pdf
2. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Chitwan National Park. Retrieved August 29, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Dinerstein, E., Wemmer, CM (1988) Fruits Rhinoceros Eat: Dispersal of Trewia Nudiflora (Euphorbiaceae) in Lowland Nepal . Ecology, vol. 69, no. 6: 1768-1774.
4. ↑ Shrestha, BK, Dangol, DR (2006) Change in Grassland Vegetation in the Northern Part of Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal . Scientific World, Vol. 4, No. 4: 78-83
5. ↑ Priol, P. (2003) Gharial field study report . A report to Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal.
6. ↑ Barlow, A. et al. (2009): Temporal Variation in Tiger ( Panthera tigris ) Populations and its Implications for Monitoring. Journal of Mammalogy , 90 (2): 472-478
7. ^ ^{A b} Daniel Lingenhöhl: Good news: Nepal's rhinos are multiplying. Spektrum.de, May 15, 2015.
8. ↑ Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, BT (2011): Asian Rhino Specialist Group report. Pachyderm 49: 16-19.
9. ↑ Rhino population up.Kantipur.com, May 5, 2015.
10. ↑ Sanjib Chaudhary: In the midst of the great earthquake trauma, Nepalis celebrate unprecedented success in nature conservation. Oximity.com, May 23, 2015.
11. ↑ Wild Cattle Conservation Project Gaur census in Parsa Wildlife Reserve at wildcattleconservation.org ( memento of the original from March 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ^ Chitwan Elephant Festival