CHITWAN: The tiger census in Chitwan National Park, which began on December 18, 2025, is underway. Chitwan and Parsa National Parks are being counted as a single block, with the first phase of the census now completed.
According to Avinash Thapa Magar, the Park’s Information Officer, the next step involves setting up camera traps. “Camera setup began on Saturday, and the first phase will be completed by Monday,” he said. A total of 150 trained enumerators have been deployed for the census.
The first phase covered the Triveni, Amaltari, Kasara, and Barandabhar areas, comprising 286 grids. After camera installation, the second phase will begin, covering areas from Sauraha, Khagendramalli to Lothar Pratappur, Hudi, Bote Simara, Swameshwor, Bagai, and Ambuwa up to the hunting grounds. Thirteen camps will be set up for this phase.
“The tiger count will be divided into 336 grids in the second phase, with a pair of automatic cameras in each grid,” said Magar. Cameras will remain in each grid for two weeks to capture tiger activity. In total, 958 grids in the Chitwan-Parsa block are being monitored, with each grid covering roughly two square kilometers. Tigers are also being counted in Banke, Bardiya, and Shuklaphanta National Parks.
The census is expected to take three months. Park staff, technicians from the National Trust for Nature Conservation, local volunteers, students, and conservation partners are participating. A technical camp has been set up centrally in the grids to support the work. Enumerators monitor cameras in groups of eight to twelve grids daily.
“The study begins once the cameras are retrieved. Cameras are placed in areas where tigers move frequently and will photograph them. Tigers are then identified based on unique markings on their bodies,” Magar explained.
He added that the census divides the tiger population into three complexes: the first for Chitwan-Parsa, the second for Banke and Bardiya (with three sub-blocks), and the third for Shuklaphanta National Park and Laljhandi, treated as a single block.
The previous tiger census conducted in 2022 recorded 355 adult tigers in Nepal, including 128 in Chitwan, 125 in Bardiya, 25 in Banke, 41 in Parsa, and 36 in Shuklaphanta.
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