Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge

Before Chitwan was a national park, Tiger Tops was already there. Established in 1964 by two Texans as Asia's first commercial game-viewing company, and sold in 1972 to the British adventurer Jim Edwards and his partner Chuck McDougal, the outfit advised Nepal's government on gazetting Chitwan National Park in 1973. McDougal then set up the world's first long-term tiger monitoring programme in 1974, and it still runs. Tharu Lodge itself was built in 1982 at the western end of the park, in the longhouse style of the surrounding Tharu villages.

Twelve rooms, nine tents, twelve elephants

The lodge offers 12 traditional rooms built with local materials and Tharu techniques, all with en suite bathrooms, plus 9 safari tents with attached fixed bathrooms for anyone who wants the forest soundtrack at full volume. The residents that matter most are the 12 Asiatic elephants. In 2016 Tiger Tops stopped all elephant safaris and built spacious corrals instead; guests now walk with the herd on its daily jungle rounds, cut elephant grass with the mahouts, or simply watch. The day ends with elephant sundowners on the bank of the Narayani river, drink in hand, while the herd cools off in the water.

In 2016 Tiger Tops ceased all elephant safaris and built spacious corrals at our Tharu Lodge to provide the resident elephants with more autonomy and freedom.

A lodge with a track record

Jeep safaris go out in restored open-top Land Rovers after Bengal tiger, one-horned rhino, gharial and over 500 bird species; back at the lodge there is al fresco dining under a mango tree, a pool and evening bonfires. The history keeps intruding pleasantly: the first chukka of the World Elephant Polo Championships was played at the nearby Meghauli airstrip in 1982, Prince Philip visited in 1986, and a Swiss Air joint venture opened a school for disadvantaged children on the lodge grounds in 1996, with over 250 graduates since. Getting there is a 20-minute flight from Kathmandu to Bharatpur and about 90 minutes by road. In our book, this is the most storied address in Nepalese wildlife travel.