About Us
Parsa National Park (12th National Park of the Country), is located in south central lowland of Nepal of province 2 and 3 in Parsa, Bara and Makwanpur districts. It is connected with Chitwan National Park ( A World Heritage Site) in the West and Valmiki Tiger Reserve of India in the South-western part. It was initially established as Parsa Wildlife Reserve in 1984 ( 2041 B.S. ) with a an area of 499km2 aiming to preserve Asian Wild Elephant (Elephus maximus) and their remaining habitat of historical Char-Koshe-Jhadi which was spread over Terai from east to west of Nepal. Through the gazette of August 24, 2015 (Bhadra 7,2072) , an area of 128.39 km2 of Bara district was added to it including Halkhoria lake as one of the major wildlife habitat making a total area of 627.39 km2. With this extension, the status of Wildlife Reserve was changed to National Park on July 3, 2017 ( Ashadh 19,2074 ).
In June 27, 2005 (Ashadh 13, 2062 ), an area of 285.3 km2 in an around the park was declared as a buffer zone. Buffer zone ( area adjacent to park boundary ) management is a joint venture between the park office and local communities. Local communities have a decision making role in the management of such areas. Additionally, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973 has made provision of ploughing back 30-50 percent of the park’s revenue into community development and conservation of the buffer zone.
How to Get There?
The PNP headquarter located at Aadhavar, is the most accessible headquarter amongst all protected areas of Nepal. This headquarter is connected with other parts of the country via air and road. The park headquarter can be easily reached from Kathmandu in 15 minutes flight to Simara Airport, which is located at a distance of about 8 km south from Aadhavar. The park headquarter at Aadhavar is about 5-6 hours drive from Kathmandu and 6-7 hours drive ( approx.230 km ) from Pokhara ( the tourist destination in Nepal after Kathmandu ). Aadhavar is 5-6 hour drive from Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Gautam Buddha. Hetauda and Birgunj, the two major industrial and business centers of Nepal, are located just about 25 km north and 23 km south from Aadhavar respectively. From both of these towns, Aadhavar can be reached by bus in a less than one-hour. Birgunj is also the gate way to Nepal from India.
Flora and Fauna
The forests are mainly composed of tropical and subtropical species. Sal forests compose about 90 percent of the reserve's vegetation. Along the banks of the rivers, riverine forests are found containing species like Khair and Silk cotton tree. In the north-eastern part of the reserve, at higher altitudes, Sal and Pine forests are occurring. On the southern slope of the Siwalik hills, the forests are dominated by pine. Sabai grass is commercially important species, grows well on the southern face of the Churia hills. The reserve supports good populations of various endangered species include wild Asian elephant, Royal Bengal tiger, Sloth bear, and Leopard. Blue bull, Sambar, Chital, Hog deer, Barding deer, Langur, Rhesus macaques, striped hyena, Jungle cat, and Palm civet are also found in the reserve. The reserve also provides habitat for more than 500 species of birds. For example White breasted kingfisher, Paradise flycatcher, Large racquet-tailed drongo, Golden backed woodpecker, etc are some of the common sights. Giant hornbill, one of the endangered bird species is found in some forest patches. The reserve is also famous for reptiles and different kinds of snakes include common Cobra, Common and banded Karit, Python and King cobra.
