Chitwan National Park generates over Rs 100m in revenue in 5 months

NAWALPUR: Chitwan National Park (CNP) has generated over Rs 100 million in revenue from 72,461 tourists in the first five months of the current fiscal year, from mid-July to mid-December.

CNP's Information and Conservation Officer, Avinash Thapa Magar, reported that foreign tourists outnumbered domestic visitors, with 33,730 foreign tourists compared to 32,880 domestic tourists. An additional 5,851 visitors were from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.

Magar stated that the total revenue from both domestic and foreign tourists amounted to Rs 106.71 million over the past five months.

In the same period, the park released 41 gharials reared at the Gharial Breeding Centre Kasara into their natural habitat. This included 40 female and one male gharial, which were released into Rapti River on three separate occasions, according to Officer Magar.

Magar also noted that the park has been conducting meetings and preparing action plans in collaboration with local communities to protect wildlife and prevent poaching. He highlighted an increase in the number of rhinos in the western part of the park and stated that preparations are underway to relocate some rhinos to the eastern region to protect them from flooding in Narayani River.

The relocation plans were discussed in a meeting attended by senior ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Haribhadra Acharya, Senior Conservation Officer at Chitwan National Park Office, Ganesh Panta, the battalion commander of the New Gorakh Battalion, the Divisional Forest Officer, Chairs of the Buffer Zone Users Committees, tourism committee officials, local businesspersons, and representatives from local levels.

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