Wildlife Safari - Nepal
Your tour will start exploring the narrow streets, and bazaars in the bustling capital Kathmandu. We will visit Nepal’s holiest Hindu pilgrimage site, Pashupatinath, straddling the Bagmati River, with its cremation ghats, temples, and exotic sadhu’s or holy men. You will also visit the Tibetan area around the Buddhist stupa at Bodhnath.
After soaking up the atmosphere that is Kathmandu, your holiday climaxes with a safari in Royal Chitwan National park, on the Indian border. Where you will seek out the elusive Bengal Tiger by Elephant and Jeep, get up close to the parks Rhinos. You'll drift down the Rapti River in a dugout canoe, before taking a circular jungle walk, watching the birds, monkeys and wildlife. On each of the days, you'll get a completely different perspective of the park and its animals. You will visit the Elephant breeding centre near Sauraha, and get wet with the Elephants actually helping wash the Elephants at bath time.
Included.
Elephant safari, Jeep safari, National park entrance, Experienced Big Canvas Adventures tour leader, first-aid kit, transportation, twin-share accommodation and meals as indicated in the detailed Trip Notes. The following sightseeing trips are included: Kathmandu - guided tour to Bodhnath and Pashupatinath including transport and entrance fees.
Not Included.
International flights, airport/departure taxes, visas, pre or post tour accommodation, optional tours sightseeing or activities during free time, transfers outside of the tour program, fully comprehensive travel insurance (obligatory on all trips and must include helicopter evacuation and repatriation), tips, items of a personal nature, laundry, cost of showers on trek (if available).
Local Payment.
Your tour leader will collect US$240 from each person on Day 1.
The local payment is the final part of your overall tour cost. It is to be paid in cash, in the currency indicated, to your tour leader at the start of your trip. Having a local payment helps us to pass cost savings on to you. Please note that the Local Payment is non-refundable.
Route / Itinery.
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Day
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Route
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Activity
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AM
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PM
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Day 1
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Arrive Kathmandu, transfer to hotel, and check-in. No organised activities.
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None
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Day 2
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Kathmandu, day experiencing the sights and sounds of this vibrant city, with some time spare to explore the variety of restaurants, and the rich diversity of shops and boutiques.
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sightseeing
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Optional excursion
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Day 3
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Local Transport to Royal Chitwan National Park on The border with India. Home to an estimated 400+ rhinos and 80 tigers, in addition to over 50+ species of mammals, and 400 species of birds. The park is also home to a huge diversity of Insects, Butterfly’s and moths.
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Transfer to Chitwan
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Day 4
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Rise early for your Elephant Safari, riding on the back of these amazing animals. Watch a mother Rhino with her baby, wallowing in a mud bath, oblivious to your presence just meters away (they just see the Elephant). Seeing Rhino from atop an elephant is an experience not to be missed.
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Elephant safari
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Pm Free
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Day 5
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Jeep safari reaching into the further corners of the park. Stop of at the breeding centre for the rare Gharial Crocodile at Kasara, before moving onto "Tiger Tops" for afternoon tea.
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Jeep Safari
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Day 6
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Start the day in a dug-out canoe, being paddled down the Rapti River, looking out for crocodile lazing on the sand banks, birds and butterfly’s flit around the waters edge, and villagers bathing and washing their Water Buffalo along the river bank. Leaving your canoe behind you we set of for a circular jungle walk, through fields of Elephant Grass, its high stems towering above your head, before passing through varied landscape of jungle, forest and open plain, with the occasional towering Termite Mound, and the chatter of monkeys in the trees above your head.
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Canoe ride & Jungle walk
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Day 7
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A days light cycling, exploring the countryside and Tikoli Forest around Sauraha, visiting the Elephant breeding Centre. Experience village life and the Terai culture.
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Cycle
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Elephant breeding centre
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Day 8
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An early breakfast, before the return trip to Kathmandu.
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Return Kathmandu
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Day 9
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Kathmandu, a further days sightseeing, Durbar Sq and the monkey temple, or choose an optional scenic flight around Mt Everest itself.
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sightseeing
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Optional excursion
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Day 10
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End of tour and return home.
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None
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Meals.
All Breakfasts are included in tour price. Other meals will need to be paid for. The choice of food in Kathmandu is quite varied, and by UK standards very affordable. In Sauraha, there are a limited number of very pleasant characterful restaurants, each bidding to outdo each other, with their friendly service, and good imaginative but sometime limited menu options. A cold Everest beer, on the river bank, watching the sun set across the river and the trees of the National Park is an ideal way to finish each day in this quiet village.
Fitness.
All walks, and the cycling (which is optional) are graded as easy.
Important Information.
Mosquitoes and other biting insects are notable by their absence in Kathmandu and surrounding areas. The same cannot be said for the Terai region and Chitwan, remember to bring insect repellant for the early evening, and a good sun-screen and hats for the day time sun.
Pre and post tour accommodation.
You may wish to extend your holiday by booking some pre or post tour accommodation - ask Big Canvas Adventures for details and prices when you book your trip.
Optional extras and sightseeing.
Kathmandu.
Mt Everest scenic flight - including transfers. approx US$135
Bhaktapur entrance US$11
Half Day tour to Bhaktapur & Patan US$12
Patan entrance US$4
Sauraha.
Single travellers.
Most of our travellers are single and like the thought of travelling with a few like-minded souls. As part of Big Canvas Adventures' core philosophy, we do not charge a single supplement. You'll probably be sharing your accommodation with a travelling companion of the same gender. You can choose to have your own room whilst in Kathmandu, however because of the limited facilities available in the mountains, separate rooms are generally not available whilst trekking. Because many of our travellers come on their own, your tour will probably have a strong social element and you'll almost certainly come home with some great new friends.