Nepal is a paradise for bird lovers
with over 848 species (almost 8% of the world total)
of birds. and among them almost 500 hundred species
are found in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The most
popular bird watching sports in Kathmandu are phulchoki,
Godavari, Nagarjun & Bagmati river. Out of Kathmandu
Valley Specially Koshi Tappu, Bardia national park
and so on. Get your binoculars and look forward to
a rewarding experience with Himalayan Worldwide Treks
& Expedition.
Koshi
Tappu National Park
Koshi Tappu is the famous for bird’s
watchers. Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (175 km2) lies
on the flood plains of the Koshi River. The rectangular
- shaped Reserve is contained within the east and
west embankments of the Koshi Barrage. Therefore,
the entire Reserve is subjected to seasonal flooding
during monsoon. This Reserve was gazetted in 1976,
and established mainly to preserve the habitats for
the last remnant population of wild water buffalo
in Nepal. In addition, there are larger ungulates
such as gaur, nilgai, hog deer and wild pig, and medium
sized predators such as fishing cat, jungle cat, and
civets. The Koshi River also supports sparse populations
of endangeded species such as the Gangetic dolphin
and gharial.
The Koshi Barrage at the boder
of the east Nepal and India, was completed by the
Koshi Project, a Government of India undertaking,
in 1964 to contain the monsoon floods as they had
become more devastating, and to irrigate farmlands,
creating abundant marsh and littoral habitat making
it Nepal's most important wetland. At 75m elevation,
the Koshi Barrage is one of the lowest area in Nepal
with 14 species of birds found nowhere else in Nepal
have been recorded. Because of its great wetland importance,
the Government of Nepal acceded to Ramsar Convention
in 1987, and thus Koshi Tappu has been included in
the list of Wetlands in International Importance.
Because of open access to the Koshi
Barrage area from India, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve
is equally threatened with wildlife-related damages.
Also, herders from both India and Nepal have set their
bases for cross-breeding their domestic herds with
the wild buffalo for vigor and for fodder. Today,
feral cattle in the Reserve outnumber wild buffaloes.Both
feral and wild buffaloes raid crops by wandering as
far as 10 km from the reserve boundary into farmlands.
The high incidence of crop raiding, and ensuring conflict,
is a cumulative action of over 100 wild buffaloes,
some 500 feral water buffaloes, and over 7,000 cattle.
