Bardia National Park is one of Nepal’s seven national parks and is the most westerly. It is a haven for wildlife and in particular endangered species such as Rhinoceros, Wild elephant, Tiger, Swamp deer, Gharial crocodile, Gangetic dolphin, Bengal florican and Sarus crane. We are helping to build a carbon neutral wildlife lodge with the aim of providing an environmentally sympathetic and sustainable destination for tourists, which will also benefit the local community.

Bardia National Park

Bardia National park is situated in the mid far western Terai, in a remote part of Nepal, east of the Karnali River, and covers an area of 968 sq km. It is about 585 km away from Kathmandu and one of the largest national parks, though one of the least explored by foreigners. The park is the largest and most undisturbed wilderness area in the southern part of Nepal. About 70% of the park is covered with predominantly sal forest with a mixture of grassland, savannah and riverine forest. The park’s headquarters are situated in Thakurdwara, surrounded by idyllic villages inhabited by the indigenous Tharu ethnic group.

The park provides excellent habitat for endangered animals like the rhinoceros, wild elephant (including one of the last known herds of wild elephants in South Asia), tiger, swamp deer, black buck, Gharial crocodile and Gangetic dolphin. Endangered birds include the Bengal florican, silver-eared mesia and Sarus crane. More than 30 different mammals, over 200 species of birds, and many snakes, lizards and fish have been recorded in the park's forest, grassland and river habitats. A good number of resident and migratory birds are also found in the park.

The concept

The purpose of our project is to build an eco friendly lodge on a site on the edge of the Royal Bardia National Park, in Nepal.   The lodge development is to be eco-friendly, in that it will have as little impact as possible on the land and ecosystem in which it occupies.  The lodge will also strive to minimize negative socio-cultural impacts on the area population.  The lodge will be planned to meet these goals, while also offering a variety of comfortable lodging choices for travellers, and a design that is both highly functional and tasteful.

The main aim for this development is to create a lodge that meets the goals of an eco lodge, and also to be “carbon neutral”.   The goal of being “carbon neutral” is to offset the Carbon Dioxide (CO²) produced through the use of propane, gas powered vehicles,  and other creators of CO², by increasing vegetation on site which will absorb the CO² and transform it into oxygen.

Other aims for the lodge include:

Posted: 03 October 2007
We have now secured a website address and over the coming months we will be constructing a full website. www.bardiaecolodge.com

Posted: 21 Septmeber 2007

Back in February 2003 we secured a perfect plot of land, which overlooks the Khauraha River, a branch of the Geruwa River, just a few hundred metres from the park entrance. It is about 160 metres long by 50 metres wide and should be ideal for a good sized lodge complex. We immediately started planting trees and shrubs on the land in preparation for building, however the political situation in Nepal deteriorated and we were unable to continue with the project. Now that the situation has improved we are keen to get this project back on track and will be updating this page on a regular basis as the project develops. Below are some photos of the land as it has changed over the last few years:

Taken in 2003, the above photos show the land when it was being farmed
Taken in 2007, the above photos show the land under early development