Shuklaphanta and Rana Tharu Country

Shuklaphanta is in the last district of Nepal before India, and almost nobody goes. It became a national park in 2017 after forty years as a wildlife reserve, and it protects something the rest of the Terai has mostly lost: open phanta, the tall grassland that once covered this whole belt before it was drained and farmed.

The single reason to come is the deer.

Barasingha

Shuklaphanta holds the largest herd of swamp deer in the world. Counts run into the low thousands, and in the dry season they gather on the open grassland in numbers that are hard to describe from a photograph. A moving field of antlers across Hirapur Phanta, which is the biggest of the grasslands and gives the park its name.

There is a viewing tower there. Going up it at dawn in February or March is the thing.

The rest of the list is real but harder: tiger, in numbers that have grown; a small rhino population; wild elephant crossing between here and India; hispid hare, which is one of the rarest mammals in Asia and which almost nobody sees; leopard, sloth bear, blue bull.

More than 450 bird species have been recorded, and the grassland specialists here (bengal florican, swamp francolin, grass warblers) are the ones that draw birders who have already done Chitwan and Koshi Tappu.

Rani Tal, a lake inside the park ringed by forest, has a tower and is good at dusk.

Rana Tharu

The Tharu of the far west are Rana Tharu, and they are culturally distinct from the Tharu around Chitwan and Bardia, different language, different dress, and houses built as long clustered structures with painted interiors. The women’s dress is bright and heavily ornamented and is worn daily rather than for visitors.

There are homestays in villages on the park’s edge. This is not a developed tourism area, and what that means in practice is simple rooms, no menu, and very little English. It also means the visit is not a performance.

Ask before photographing anyone, particularly women. The dress attracts cameras and people are aware of it.

How to visit

Jeep and tower, mostly, because the interest here is open grassland rather than forest. Walking is possible with a guide. The park is 305 square kilometres and the roads inside it are rough.

Accommodation is in Mahendranagar or in a small number of lodges and homestays near the park gate. Do not expect anything resembling a Chitwan resort.

Why the far west at all

Nepal’s tourism is concentrated in a corridor from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan, and the far west sees a tiny fraction of it. The consequences run both ways: the parks are empty of other visitors, and the infrastructure to serve you barely exists.

A trip that puts Bardia and Shuklaphanta together over a week, flying into Nepalgunj and out of Dhangadhi, is the sensible shape. Shuklaphanta on its own is a long way to go for two days.

Practical things

• Getting there is the hard part. Dhangadhi has flights from Kathmandu; the drive west from there is about two hours. The overland route from Kathmandu is a very long day and a half.
• February to April is hot and dry, which is exactly when the grassland is visible. The grass is cut and burned in the early part of the year, and until it is, sightlines are poor.
• The monsoon closes it. June to September, much of the park is under water or unreachable.
• Cash only, and bring it from Dhangadhi.
• The Indian border at Banbasa is close, which makes this a plausible entry or exit if you are travelling on to Uttarakhand.