The Royal Chitwan Park is situated in the “Terai” - the lowlands south of the Himalaya shared between India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its main up-market hotel/lodge sports the name “Tiger Tops” and one may be tempted to go to Chitwan in order to see Tiger.

When I visited in 1977 I did not stay at Tiger Tops but instead at the rather more down-market Gaida tented camp site a few miles away!! I cannot say whether the additional wild life expertise which might be available from Tiger Tops makes it a good place to see tiger or not but I did not see one and indeed had to try several Indian wildlife parks before eventually being successful at Kanha.

From what I know however I would suggest that you should not go to Chitwan with the prime objective of seeing tiger. What makes this park a special place to visit is the far greater likelihood of seeing the Greater One-Horned Indian Rhinoceros – and in excellent viewing circumstance too.

I was able to take several elephant rides. The park was only created in 1974 and, possibly for that reason, the elephants did not come equipped with the “tourist friendly” sitting platforms with safety rails which I have come across elsewhere – rather a simple platform with a rope which one had to hang onto like grim death! The grass in Chitwan really is “as high as an elephant’s eye” and it was a wonderful experience to be transported through the grasses in the morning mist looking for rhino. We had some great views - though you might not guess so from one of the photos I was able to take with 1 hand whilst hoping not to slither off into the charging rhino! Such charges didn’t seem to worry the elephant 1 iota and the rhino too seemed to recognise which of the 2 animals was really “boss”!

PS 6 June 2005. I have just read of the deaths of at least 38 bus passengers at Chitwan in a bomb blast perpetrated by the Maoist rebels. Nepal unfortunately appears to be sinking into chaos - hopefully its incompetent and corrupt rulers and its ordinary citizens can escape but the future looks bleak. Not the least of the worries will be another drop in tourism revenues.