Everyone comes to Nepal for the mountains, and Chitwan is the opposite of that. It sits in the Terai, the strip of subtropical lowland along the Indian border, at about 150 metres above sea level, and it is hot, flat, humid and thick with sal forest, elephant grass and river. It was a royal hunting reserve, then Nepal's first national park in 1973, and it is now UNESCO listed and the reason the greater one horned rhino still exists in any number.
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There are roughly 700 rhinos here now, up from around 100 in the 1960s, along with Bengal tigers, sloth bears, gharial and mugger crocodiles, leopards and wild elephants. Nepal has had multiple years of zero rhino poaching, which is an extraordinary conservation result achieved partly by the army patrolling the park. The base for visitors is Sauraha, on the Rapti river at the park's northern edge, and it is a five hour drive from Kathmandu.
What Makes Chitwan Different to Pack For
It is the hot part of Nepal
April and May reach 35°C to 40°C with high humidity. The monsoon from June to September brings heavy rain, flooding and leeches, and much of the park closes. October to March is the season: 25°C to 30°C by day, dropping to 7°C to 12°C at night in December and January, with thick morning fog.
That night drop is why a merino wool base layer for women belongs in a bag for a jungle destination. A 6am jeep in January in an open vehicle in fog is genuinely cold, and the same layer is the one that does not stink after four humid days.
Neutral colours are a practical requirement
Khaki, olive, brown and grey. Not white, which is visible for a mile, not bright colours, and not dark blue or black, which attract tsetse and horseflies. This is standard safari practice and the guides here enforce it on walking safaris.
The grass is taller than you are
Elephant grass reaches four or five metres. It is cut in January in a community grass cutting week, which is the best time for visibility. Otherwise the sightlines are short, which matters when the animal you might meet is a rhino.
Mosquitoes and the malaria question
The Terai has malaria risk, low and seasonal but real, along with dengue and Japanese encephalitis. Repellent, covered skin at dawn and dusk, and a travel clinic conversation before you go.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Chitwan Packing List
Footwear
Waterproof hiking shoes or light boots that cover the ankle, for walking safaris through grass and mud and for the riverbank. Closed shoes are required on a walking safari and sandals are refused.
Flip flops for Sauraha and the lodge. If you are travelling in or near the monsoon, add leech socks or long socks tucked into trousers, because the leeches are not a rumour.
Clothing
Neutral coloured long sleeved shirts and long trousers, light and breathable, which cover you against sun, thorns, grass cuts and mosquitoes at once. Two of each, because they will be wet.
A warm layer and a hat for the early morning drives in winter, and a packable rain jacket year round, which is essential in the monsoon and useful for a canoe morning.
Modest dress in Sauraha and the Tharu villages, meaning shoulders covered and knees covered, which is Nepali village norm and is expected of women more than men. Swimwear is not useful; there is nowhere appropriate to swim, and the rivers have crocodiles.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat, sunscreen and sunglasses. The jeep is open, the canoe is open, and the riverbank has no shade at all.
Practical
Binoculars, which transform this place; the wildlife is often at distance across grassland. Strong insect repellent with DEET or picaridin. A torch or headlamp, because power cuts happen and Sauraha is dark at night. Cash in Nepali rupees, since card acceptance is patchy outside the bigger lodges. A dry bag for the canoe. A refillable bottle and a way to treat water. A copy of your passport for the park permit.
What to Wear at Key Activities
Jeep safari
An open 4x4 into the park with a naturalist, usually four or five hours, or a full day into the interior towards the Kasara headquarters and the Tamor Tal lake.
Practically: neutral layers, warm top for the first hour in winter, sun hat for the last. It is dusty, so a buff or scarf helps, and sunglasses are for the dust as much as the sun. Binoculars. Full day trips are much better than short ones for tigers, which is still a matter of luck.
Canoe on the Rapti or Narayani
A dugout canoe, traditionally a single hollowed sal trunk, drifting down the river at dawn past crocodiles on the banks, with rhinos coming to drink and an enormous quantity of birds.
Practically: this is the best thing to do in Chitwan and it is usually combined with a walk back through the forest. The canoe is low, narrow and unstable, so keep still and keep your hands in. Dry bag, warm layer for the dawn cold over water, life jacket if offered. Go at first light.
Walking safari
Two guides, on foot, in a park with rhinos, sloth bears and tigers in it. The guides carry sticks and nothing else.
Practically: closed shoes, neutral long clothing, no perfume, no bright colours, and total obedience to the briefing. The rules exist because rhinos charge: the instruction is to run in a zigzag and get behind or up a tree, and a sloth bear is the animal the guides actually worry about. Do not take a walking safari with a lodge that sends one guide, and do not take one if you cannot move quickly. Go with a licensed guide through a reputable operator.
On elephants, which needs saying plainly
Sauraha sells elephant back safaris and elephant bathing. The animals are captive, usually chained between rides, and the practices involved in making an elephant carry tourists are not defensible. Nepal's own conservation bodies have moved away from elephant back patrols, several lodges have stopped offering rides, and the National Trust for Nature Conservation runs a breeding centre and has pushed for chain free management.
Practically: you can see everything Chitwan has from a jeep, a canoe and your own feet, more comfortably and for less money. If you want to see elephants, the Elephant Breeding Centre at Khorsor is a walk or cycle from Sauraha, and wild elephants do come through the park. Declining the ride is the whole of what is required, and enough people declining it is what changes the market here.
Tharu culture
The Tharu are the Indigenous people of the Terai, historically resistant to the malaria that kept others out, with their own language, architecture of mud and lattice, and stick dances.
Practically: the Tharu museum at Bachhauli and a village walk or cycle are worthwhile; the evening cultural show in Sauraha is a performance for visitors and is fine on those terms. Dress modestly in the villages and ask before photographing people, particularly women at work.
The 20,000 Lakes and bird watching
Chitwan has over 500 recorded bird species, including the Bengal florican and the giant hornbill, and the wetland areas east of Sauraha are the concentration.
Practically: dawn, binoculars, neutral clothing and repellent. A dedicated bird guide is inexpensive and worth it.
What Not to Bring
Leave white, black and bright clothing. Leave shorts for the park, which the grass and mosquitoes will punish.
Leave perfume and scented deodorant on safari. Leave the drone, which is banned in the national park. Leave sandals for a walking safari. Leave the expectation of guaranteed tiger sightings, and leave any intention of riding an elephant.
Essential Resources for Women in Chitwan
Emergency numbers in Nepal: 100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance, and 1144 for the Nepal Police tourist service. Coverage in the Terai is thinner than in Kathmandu and your lodge is often the fastest route to help.
Tourist police: Nepal Police operates a Tourist Police unit, with a presence in Sauraha in season and headquarters in Kathmandu at Bhrikutimandap. For a wildlife or park incident, the park warden's office at Kasara and the army posts inside the park are the immediate authority.
US Embassy: the US Embassy in Kathmandu at np.usembassy.gov covers all of Nepal; there is no consular presence in the Terai. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: Bharatpur Hospital in Bharatpur, about 20 kilometres from Sauraha, is the regional referral hospital, with the Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital and the College of Medical Sciences also in Bharatpur and both reasonably well equipped by Nepali standards. Anything serious goes to Kathmandu, five hours by road or 25 minutes by air from Bharatpur airport. Carry insurance that includes air evacuation.
Official health authority: Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population at mohp.gov.np, with the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division publishing the seasonal dengue and malaria situation for the Terai districts. See a travel clinic about malaria prophylaxis, Japanese encephalitis, typhoid, hepatitis A and rabies before travelling.
US State Department travel advisory for Nepal: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Nepal: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the road safety warnings, which are the most important part of the Nepal advice, and the monsoon landslide and flooding information.
Official tourism authority: the Nepal Tourism Board at welcomenepal.com, with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation for permits, park rules and closures, and the National Trust for Nature Conservation for the Biodiversity Conservation Centre at Sauraha.
Solo women safety assessment: Chitwan is straightforward for a woman travelling alone and Nepal generally is one of the more comfortable countries in South Asia for solo women. Sauraha is a small village of lodges where everyone works in tourism, people are friendly and hassle is low, and a woman eating alone or cycling to the elephant centre alone is unremarkable. Crime against tourists is rare and petty: occasional theft from rooms, so use a lockable bag and the lodge safe. Street harassment is mild compared with neighbouring India and is mostly staring and conversation; dressing modestly, which means covered shoulders and knees, removes almost all of it and is also simply the local norm. Choose your guide and operator on reputation rather than price, book through the lodge or a recognised agency, and do not arrange a private walking safari with an individual who approaches you on the street, which is the one situation here where women have reported feeling uneasy. The serious risks in Chitwan are animals and roads, not people. Rhinos are responsible for the deaths and injuries in and around this park, more than tigers: they are short sighted, fast and aggressive when surprised, they wander into the buffer zone and onto village paths at night, and walking or cycling around Sauraha after dark is how people meet one. Do not walk the riverbank or the village paths at night; ride in a vehicle. Never approach a rhino for a photograph, keep a large distance, and follow your guide's instruction immediately and without discussion. Crocodiles mean no swimming or wading in the rivers, and the Rapti drowns people in the monsoon. The road from Kathmandu is mountainous, poorly maintained and the single biggest statistical danger of a Chitwan trip, so travel in daylight, use a tourist bus or a private car rather than a local night bus, and consider flying to Bharatpur. Mosquito borne disease is a real consideration and the monsoon brings leeches, flooding and closures.
Reading On
Chitwan is the counterweight to a Nepal trek: five hours from Kathmandu, 150 metres above sea level, and the reason to pack something other than down. The Nepal travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Nepal packing list for women covers a trip across it. For the cities and the trailheads, the Kathmandu packing list for women and the Pokhara packing list for women cover where you will arrive and where the treks start. For the mountains themselves, the Annapurna Circuit packing list for women and the Everest Base Camp packing list for women cover the two great walks, and between them and this page you have the full temperature range of the country, from 40°C in the Terai to well below freezing at 5,000 metres. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why one thin wool layer works in both places, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
