CHITWAN: Visitors will now be able to enter the Elephant Breeding Centre at Khorsor and the Gharial Breeding Centre at Kasara inside Chitwan National Park free of charge.
The National Trust for Nature Conservation has removed the entrance fees collected at the two centres effective from July 19, resulting in free access for both domestic and foreign tourists.
Previously, foreign visitors were charged Rs 100, domestic visitors Rs 50 and students Rs 30 for entry.
The breeding centres are popular among tourists visiting Sauraha. The Elephant Breeding Centre had been collecting around Rs 7 million annually in entrance fees, while the Gharial Breeding Centre collected around Rs 4 million.
Chief Conservation Officer of Chitwan National Park, Dil Bahadur Purja Pun, said the park’s regulations do not allow it to collect such fees and that collecting them through the trust could create administrative complications. The fees have therefore been removed for the time being, he said.
At the Elephant Breeding Centre, visitors can learn about the elephants’ behaviour and care and watch adult elephants and calves interacting.
Manpuran Chaudhary, chief of the breeding centre, said around 400 visitors come to the centre every day.
Established in 1987, the centre has so far recorded the birth of 69 elephant calves. It was established with five elephants—four brought from India and one from Thailand.
The centre currently has nine adult elephants and seven calves.
Meanwhile, around 500 gharials are housed at the Gharial Breeding Centre. Eggs are collected from rivers and the hatchlings are raised at the centre before being released into rivers.
Visitors are particularly attracted to watching elephant calves playing with their mothers and gharials swimming in the water.
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