CHITWAN: A total of 20,087 tourists visited Chitwan National Park during the Dashain festival, following the resumption of jeep safaris inside the park.
According to Ganesh Tiwari, the park’s information officer, the visitors included 11,891 Nepali tourists, 7,365 foreign tourists and 831 visitors from SAARC countries.
Tourists visit the park to observe its rare wildlife, particularly the one-horned rhinoceros, leopards, elephants, bears and gharial crocodiles, as well as a wide variety of bird species.
Tiwari said the park collected Rs 17.344 million in revenue from tourists during the Dashain period. Of the total, Rs 1.783 million was collected from Nepali visitors, Rs 831,000 from tourists from SAARC countries and Rs 14.73 million from visitors from other countries.
Although jeep safaris inside the park are suspended during the rainy season, jeep and elephant safaris continue in the buffer zone and community forests.
A total of 74 jeeps operate inside the park, including 32 from the Sauraha area, 22 from Kasara, 11 from Meghauli, eight from Amaltari and one from Madi. Tourists use these vehicles to explore the park and observe its wildlife.
The recent sightings of rare leopards have further increased interest in wildlife safaris in the park.
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