Chitawan and neighbouring areas of Nepal have long been famous for their abundance of big game, including the Great Indian One-horned Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, which is now one of the vanishing species of the world. For many years this part of southern central Nepal was the strictly guarded shooting preserve of the rulers of that country ; but with the advent of democracy and unsettled political conditions in 1951, the exact status of the area and of the rhinoceros in it has not been clear to the outside world. Reports were in circulation of alarming slaughter by poachers in recent years, especially in the year 1958–59 ; but lack of authentic information prompted the Survival Service Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to ask me to investigate the distribtion and status of the Rhinoceros in Nepal, and to suggest measures for the preservation of this species in Nepal.

The rhinoceros area in Nepal covers approximately 1,250 square miles, comprising the valleys of the Rivers Narayani, Rapti, and Reu. Although it is dun country, it contains most of the sub-tropical vegetation usually associated with terai country, and can roughly be divided into (1) riverain, (2) grassland above flood level, and (3) sal forest. The hills are almost entirely under sal (Shorea robusta), a valuable hardwood.

The present rhinoceros areas of Nepal, in fact the whole of that country, have been up till recent times a closed book to foreigners. Visits by outsiders were discouraged, even forbidden. Perhaps the first foreigner to tour in the Nawalpur, Chita wan, and Reu Valley areas was Mr. E. A. Smythies, who during World War II, was Forest Adviser to the Nepal Government. In the course of his duties Smythies visited almost all the submontane tracts along the 500 mile sal belts of the Nepal terai.

The present rhinoceros area comprising the valleys of the rivers Naranyi, its tributary the Rapti, and the Rapti's tributary the Reu, is often loosely spoken of as part of the Nepal terai. Terai in northern India and Nepal is, strictly speaking, moist country a few miles from the base of the Himalayas, below the bhabar, which is dry country with a subsoil of boulders right at the foot of the Himalayas. Chitawan, or the Rapti Valley, is a dun—a plateau or flat valley inside the foothills of the Himalayas ; its altitude is between 900 and 1,000 feet above sea level, and it has most of the typical vegetation of the terai which is usually at 350 to 600 feet.

Administration will be considered only as far as the rhinoceros and its preservation are concerned. Three different divisions of the Forest Department are involved. The Rapti Valley is under the Divisional Forest Officer of Chitawan residing at Hitaura; the Nawalpur area (west of the Narayani river) is under the D.F.O. of that district residing at Parasi, a journey of some distance from the rhinoceros area with no roads for travelling; the Reu Valley is under the D.F.O. of Birganj. From the rhinoceros preservation aspect it is unfortunate that this area of Nepal should fall under the jurisdiction of three different D.F.O.s, under two separate Circle Conservators, with no means of communication between them except via Katmandu. The D.F.O., Chitawan, residing at Hitaura, is in charge of the whole Rhinoceros Protection Department which operates in all the three areas ; but he is unable officially to visit the Nawalpur or the Reu Valley areas except by arrangement with the D.F.O. of the district concerned. All this is not a criticism of the Forest Department: it merely states the position as it happens to be to-day. The Narayani river is possibly too great a physical barrier for both sides of it to be under one D.F.O.

After a brief halt in Calcutta to discuss with Dr. Roonwal {Director of the Zoological Survey of India and Secretary-General of the Indian Board for Wild Life) ways of assisting Nepal to stop any possible traffic of rhinoceros produce through India, I arrived at Katmandu by air on 15th March. There I spent six days before going into camp in the rhinoceros areas, which are a day's journey by road. This period was very usefully employed in making contact with officials and non-officials, and in obtaining information of every description. These contacts included : General Kiran, S.J.B.R. (Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana), who is the present authoritative and acknowledged leader in all matters pertaining to sport and wild life in Nepal; Field Marshal Kaiser, S.J.B.R., who, though he has not visited the rhinoceros area since 1933, has a vast store of knowledge of shikar and natural history; Mr. Balarama Paul Baidya, Chief Forest Officer; Major Lok Bikram, in charge of elephants (Government and others); Captain Tej Jung Thapa, Circle Conservator; Colonel and Mrs. Proud of the British Embassy; Mr. N. Pal, Adviser on Forests, India Aid Mission ; and Mr. Boris Lissanevitch, of the Hotel Royal, who knows the rhinoceros area.

Status and Distribution.

It is difficult to obtain accurate information about the former range and distribution of rhinoceros in Nepal. W. T. Blanford, in The Fauna of British India, Mammalia, Part II (1891), wrote of it as being found in 1850 “… along the base of the Himalayas in Nepal and as far west as Rohilcund” (a district of India near the border of West Nepal). From information obtained in Katmandu it appears that the last rhinoceros in the Morang District of south-eastern Nepal was shot at the turn of the present century, and that the last rhinoceros in the area immediately east of Chitawan was killed in 1927. It would be safe to say that about 100 years ago rhinoceros were found all along the southern border of Nepal. Since 1930 they have been confined to the area covered by this Report.

The following recommendations are made :—

(1) That the present Mahendra National Park be enlarged and extended (a) Southwards to include the migration routes and rhinoceros areas as far as the Reu valley, and (b) Northwestwards to include the scenic area in the north-west. See Sections V and VI and Map 3. And that this national park be fully protected with buffer belts where possible.

(2) That the riverain tracts of the Narayani, Rapti and Reu rivers which contain rhinoceros be designated as National Park Extension Areas or Protected Areas, with rights of local villagers for grazing, cutting firewood and cutting thatch to continue as before, but to remain free of settlement and cultivation.

In conclusion, I must record my deepest appreciation of the help given to me in Nepal by officials and non-officials. First and foremost, to General Kiran Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana who gave me his fullest moral support and advice as well as much information; to the Chief Forest Officer, Mr. Balarama Paul Baidya, who kindly made his departmental information available to me and allotted an officer to take me round the rhinoceros area; to Circle Officer Captain Tej Jung Thapa, an experienced sportsman and naturalist; to Major Lok Bikram, who helped me to obtain elephants in the Rapti Valley; to Mr. K. B. Malla, Chief of the Rapti Valley Multi-Purpose Project, who kindly allowed me camping facilities and transport to Dadrahani; to Mr. Boris Lissanevitch, of the Hotel Royal in Katmandu, who very kindly made available to me some camping equipment as well as much information; to Colonel and Mrs. Proud of the British Embassy, Mr. Sen of the Indian Embassy, and Mr. N. Pal of the India Aid Mission, all of whom showed much interest in my mission.

Blanford, W. T. (1891). The Fauna of British India, Mammalia, Part II.

Shebbkark, E. O. (1953). “Status of the Three Asiatic Rhinoceros,” Oryx, Vol. II, No. 3.

Smythies, E. A. (1942). Big Game Shooting in Nepal.

Smythies, Olive (1953). Tiger Lady.

Stracey, P. D. (1957). “The Status of the Great Indian Rhinoceros (R. unicornis) in Nepal.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, August, 1957.

Bhabar: dry country, with a subsoil of boulders, at the foot of the Himalayas.

Bhangala: a channel of a river.

Bheel: a small lake (in Assam).

Chowki: a post, or a hut (for a forest guard, etc.).

Dans: horse-fly or gad-fly.

Dun: a plateau in a valley or a flat valley in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Hatisar: an elephant station.

Khola: a stream.

Sal: a hardwood species of tree of great commercial value.

Savannah: tropical or sub-tropical grassland containing scattered trees or shrubs.

Shikar: shooting, or sport.

Tal: a small lake.

Tand: look-out tower for frightening away crop-raiding rhinoceros and other animals.

Tapoo: an island in a river.

Terai: moist country a few miles from the base of the Himalayas, at the edge of the bhabar.

Tongi: the Assam equivalent of tand.