Luxury Bardia Tiger Safari - 8 Days

The adventure of a lifetime begins before you even arrive. Look out the window of your plane and see the mighty snowcapped mountains of the Himalayas. Mt. Everest is toward the rising sun and when the rays of the effulgent sun hit its white peak, the entire mountain glows in a blinding brilliance.

The plane touches down and once you are through passport control, you will meet your representative of Trekking Mart. You are taken by private car to your luxury hotel where you can rest from your long flight. In the evening, enjoy a cultural program with authentic, delicious Nepali food and traditional dancing from the high mountain communities.

We will take a unique rickshaw tour of the old city. This is the best way to navigate the narrow streets of the ancient city. We will see numerous temples as your guide helps you to see and understand the unique culture of this mystical place. Asan Market is the ancient market of the city, so old no one even knows when it started centuries ago. The place is crowded with vendors and buyers haggling over products. You will see all kinds of sounds, sights and smells of incense and spices forming a cacophony that will delight your nose.

Following Asan Market we reach Kathmandu Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its old royal palace and nearly 50 stupendous temples and monuments. In the evening, return to your hotel for dinner and rest.

After breakfast we travel to the local airport to take our one-hour flight to Nepalgunj, the principal city in western Nepal. A bus trip is 14 – 15 hours, but we can fly there in an hour. And what a flight! Get a seat on the right-hand side of the plane and you can look at the mighty Himalayas.

Once in Nepalgunj, you will meet your guide from your luxury resort who will take you by private vehicle to Bardia National Park. It’s a three-hour journey to reach Bardia. Once you arrive, check into your room and enjoy lunch. Spend the rest of the day relaxing by the pool or enjoying the surrounds. Dinner in the evening.

Your day starts early as we want to see the animals. The park is alive with so many jungle animals including playful monkeys. Your guide will take you by private jeep into the park. The Terai region of Nepal is relatively flat, the northern tip of the plains of India. We will see lots of animals today. We find ourselves at one of several good viewing spots to see tigers in the wild.

The best time to go to Bardia is from March through May when it's the dry season and the water holes are drying up. Tigers are elusive creatures. We haven’t been able to get them to punch a time clock – they show up when they darn well feel like. I guess when you are the king (or queen) of the jungle, you can do whatever you feel like it and on their schedule.

Your Trekking Mart jungle guide will climb a tree and be lookout. He will have arranged for comfortable chairs to sit on while you wait. Be quiet – the animals can get spooked by loud noises. Don’t wear reds or bright colours. We blend into the jungle as we look from our observation post.

We may move to other locations. The ground is level and easy to walk the short distances to the observation sites. In the afternoon, see some of the animals around the entrance. Hurt and recovering animals are treated and nursed back to health. The Nepali National Park service is very good about taking care of these rare and magnificent animals.

In the evening, visit the elephant breeding grounds and you may even see baby elephants. They are 100 kg when born. A big baby! Really cute.

If you haven’t seen a tiger yet, don’t despair. Unlike their cousins, lions, tigers are solitary creatures. They don’t socialize except to mate, and that’s not for very long. They are very territorial. We take our spot and wait for its arrival.

In the afternoon, we visit a Tharu village to learn about their unique culture. The Tharus have lived in this region for centuries and speak a unique language that is only recently being written. They could live here for centuries because their blood is immune to malaria (malaria has been eradicated for decades here in the Terai).

You will also learn how the native population and the national park work together to preserve the animals.

In the evening, enjoy a Tharu cultural program.

Today we’ll do an elephant safari into the jungle. We will also take time to look for tigers as well as go to the Babai River to see both marsh muggers and gharial crocodiles. The gharial is endangered, and looks mean with a long snout full of teeth. The good news is that he only eats fish.

By now, we should have seen our tigers, and hopefully, we will have one more day to see tigers. Enjoy some time in the afternoon to relax as you prepare for your journey back to Kathmandu tomorrow.

We say goodbye to our friends here at Bardia National Park. While there is never a guarantee of seeing a tiger, the odds of seeing one in three days are quite likely. These guides know the park and where the tigers are. We’ve seen rhinos, elephants, deer, antelopes, and other jungle creatures. The monkeys will bid you goodbye.

The journey back to Nepalgunj is three hours through wonderful little villages on the main east-west road. In fact, it’s the only east-west road in Nepal, and it wasn’t completed until 1999.

On the one-hour flight back to Kathmandu, sit this time on the left-hand side of the plane to see those incredible snowcapped peaks. The flight is just an hour, and you’ll be back in Kathmandu. Your Trekking Mart host will pick you up at the airport and take you back to your luxury hotel to relax. You can take some time and even do a little last-minute shopping for great Nepali products. In the evening, enjoy a farewell dinner at your hotel.

It has been a great week, as you’ve seen the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas as well as explored the jungles of Bardia National Park. You’ve seen plenty of jungle wildlife and no doubt a tiger or two. Nepal is a land of amazing adventures. It is said that a lifetime is not long enough to see everything in this amazing country. Your friends at Trekking Mart can help you to find new adventures in Nepal for a return trip. Trekking Mart also has trips to neighbouring Bhutan, India, and Tibet. We are now offering tours with our associates in East Africa, which include amazing African safaris.

Trekking Mart will take you to the airport three hours before your departure. Remember, as you prepare to leave, Trekking Mart is your gateway to the world.