Royal Chitwan National Park, Phulchowki-Shivapuri Wildlife Reserve & Langtang National Park
Other best routes for birdwatching and wildlife experience areas in Nepal will be Royal Chitwan National Park, Phulchowki-Shivapuri Wildlife Reserve, and Langtang National Park. A long birding tour itinerary of 20 days will be great to plan for this birdwatching trip. All these three areas have very diverse bird habitats. Royal Chitwan National Park is a floodplain adjoining India and a major confluence of multiple Himalayan rivers like Kali Gandaki, Trishuli, Rapti, etc.
This south-central forest is known for Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos, and Water buffalos. Apart from the megafauna of this National Park, it is also known for many rare and endangered bird species. The combination of grasslands, Sal-Teak forests, riverine swamps, small lakes, and well-wooded small hillocks around the protected area hosts rare bird species like Jerdon's Babbler, Slender-billed Babbler, Swamp Francolin, Bristled Grassbird, Indian Grassbird, etc.
Around the lakes and rivers, one might see different species of Fish-eagles. Grasslands are also famous for sighting Harriers. Whereas, the adjacent hillocks are great places for Hornbill species, Trogons, Broadbills, and eagle owls.
At a slightly higher elevation, Phulchowki Mountain and Sivapuri Wildlife Reserve offer the habitat of mixed montane & subtropical temperate broadleaf forest. Spiny Babbler - which is the only bird endemic to Nepal is mostly reported and recorded in these parts of the country, apart from that the mixed flocks of different babbler species and laughingthrushes of mid-elevation will keep the birdwatchers busy. Since this part of the protected areas is laterally connected to the north with Langtang thus during the winter months we see some of the altitude migratory thrush species and finches down here. Summer and pre-monsoon are also great when Rhododendrons bloom and all the bird species start vocalizing and active for the breeding season.
The last leg of this bird trip will cover the highland of Langtang Valley for that, we will go to the Syabrubesi base; from here the hiking starts. There will be three stops on the way up and on the way down, thus it requires a total duration of 7 days at least. We will cover the sub-tropical temperate forests, sub-alpine vegetation, bamboo rhododendron-birch forest, steppe grassland, and high-elevation rocky outcrops. Blood Pheasant, Satyr Tragopan, Himalayan Monal, Ibisbill, Nepal Wren Babbler, Sunbird species, Finches, and Allies can be well covered during this birding visit to Langtang Valley. A summer birding plan from March to May would be regarded as the best for this birding itinerary.
Itinerary:
Day 1: After you arrival at Kathmandu International Airport (preferably before 10 AM); we will fly from this Airport to Bharatpur Airport (which is the closest airport to Royal Chitwan National Park). Alternatively, you can arrive one night before also to Kathmandu and stay overnight at Hotel. Kathmandu to Biratnagar flight takes 30 minutes. From the Bharatpur Airport terminal, we will directly drive to Royal Chitwan National Park for your next few days of exploration. This would take just 30 minutes to arrive at the Sanctuary outskirt. After check-in at the resort, we will explore for bird species in and around the resort campus. Overnight at resort at Chitwan.
Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 & Day 5: We will keep four days for safaris in the Royal Chitwan National Park. There will be both morning and evening safaris and in total we will go for eight safaris. There are multiple routes also. In some of our visits we will go to Jatayu Vulture Resturant, jungle walks, watch tower visits etc. Located in the central terai region of Nepal, this national park is home to more than 540 species of birds and roughly 120 different tigers. The large mega fauna includes Gaur, Indian Rhinoceros, Elephants, Tigers, Sloth Bears, Indian Leopards, Water Buffalos, etc. The itinerary can also be modified for the guests, if they want to stay one night inside the jungle in Jungle Tower. Otherwise for all four days, we will stay at the resort at the edge of the jungle.
Day 6: Today we will start leisurely after breakfast from Chitwan. If we start by 9 AM, it is expected that following the Darechowk – Bareni highway; it will take roughly 6 hours to arrive at Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park. However, we will have lunch on the way at Baireni and arrive at the Shivapuri-Nagarjun NP by afternoon only. In the afternoon, we will explore for some owl species in the jungle. Overnight at resort under Shivapuri Ecotourism.
Day 7 & Day 8: For the next two days our prime target will be to get a good look at the Nepal endemic bird species – Spiny Babbler. Apart from that, the area also offers good spot for Rock Eagle-owl, Himalayan Prinia, Brown-fronted Woodpecker, Kalij Pheasant, Laughingthrushes, Tits, different species of Babblers, etc. After a full day of birding we will arrive back to the resort. It is expected that, you will thoroughly enjoy the first experience of birding in the hills. Overnight at resort under Shivapuri Ecotourism.
Day 9: After two days of rigorous birding, we start late after breakfast and we will be heading to the new destination and landscape for the last leg of the trip. We will start by 8 AM in the morning from Shivapuri and arrive at Shyabrubesi village, after 4 hours of driving. Here in Shyabrubesi we will have lunch and we will get ready for the afternoon hike to Sherpa Gaon. This will be the first leg of the trek. The entire trek will be very moderate to easy and we will get acclimatized and hike up, while enjoy the avian fauna on the way. We will start birding at 3 PM in the afternoon, after arriving at the edge of Sherpa Gaon. The porters will take our luggages, and we will continue birding and trail them. Our first night halt will be here at Sherpa Gaon.
Day 10: Today we are going from Sherpa Gaon to Riverside (above Ramche). The entire journey will be a 4 kilometers or jungle hike for the entire day, while we will come from temperate broadleaf landscape to sub-alpine region. The place is full of conifers, thus hosting a lot of finches, phylloscopus warblers, timaliidae babblers all the way. Overnight stay at trekkers’ hut at Upper Ramche.
Day 11 & Day 12: Today we are going from Upper Ramche to Thangsyap village. This will be a 7 kilometer walk and we will do it for the entire day by talking multiple halts on the way. It is important to note that, the fun of birdwatching will not be spoiled for hiking as this roads are extremely low gradient. There are no steep uphill walks, thus you can take time for birding as long as you want. At Thangsyap, the elevation reaches to 10,000 ft. We will stay for two nights here. On the next morning, we will explore the upper ridges of this hamlet for Himalayan Monal and Satyr Tragopan. Alongside, Yellow-rumped Honeyguide, Nepal Cupwings, Spot-winged Rosefinches are also expected here.
Day 13: We will start very early in the morning from Thangsyap village and arrive at Kyanjin (4 kilometers) by noon. Here also we are expected to see Himalayan Monal as well as Blood Pheasant. The habitat for Wood Snipe and Ibisbill also starts from this elevation. We will thoroughly check the riverine areas for Ibisbill and swamp grassy meadows for Wood Snipe. Staying overnight at Kyanjin.
Day 14 & Day 15: In the next two days, we will the highest elevation for birding. The glacial moraine at the base of Kyanjin mountain is a very interesting place to explore for Snow Partridges, Blood Pheasants and other highelevation species like Grossbeaks and Southern Nutcracker. Accentors, Mountain Finches as well as rarely seen Snowfinches might be sighted in this elevation. For both these two days we will stay at Kyanjin Kharka village complex.
Day 17: Early in the morning, keeping two hours of birding, we will descend downhill from Kyanjin Village and arrive at Thangsyap village. Like the previous days, we will cover the same area for repeated birding and might come across some of the missed-out bird species. Overnight at Thansyap.
Day 18: Today we will further go down from Thangsyap to Sherpa Gaon and repeat birding for the missed-out birds. In the afternoon we will arrive at Sherpa Gaon village and stay there overnight.
Day 19: We will check out from Sherpa Gaon Village homestay in the early morning by 6 AM, while hiking down to Syapru Besi. This will just take 30 minutes to 1 hour. After arriving at Syapru Besi, we will have our breakfast. Our luggages will be loaded up to the vehicles and we will drive out. After 120 kilometers (4 hours) of drive, we will arrive at Kathmandu Town and take a long rest for the whole day. Overnight at Kathmandu Hotel.
Day 20: Today morning we will depart from Kathandu Hotel after breakfast and will drop you at the Kathmandu International Airport as per your return flight back to your country.
