NAWALPARASI, Dec 19: Chitwan National Park (CNP) has collected over Rs 100 million in revenue from 72,000 visitors after the current fiscal year witnessed 72,461 people visiting the park from Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August) to Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December).
CNP’s Information and Conservation Officer, Abinash Thapa Magar, said that among the visitors, the highest number were foreign tourists, totaling 33,730. According to him, during this period, 32,880 Nepali visitors and 5,851 tourists from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries also visited the park. From the entry fees of domestic and international tourists, the park collected revenue of Rs 161 million within five months.
Rescued rhino released into CNP
Meanwhile, during this period, the park released 41 gharial crocodiles raised at the Gharial Breeding Center in Kasara into their natural habitat. Conservation Officer Thapa Magar informed that 40 females and one male, all over five years old, were released into the Rapti River in three phases. He also mentioned that the park holds meetings and prepares action plans in collaboration with the local community at various times to conserve wildlife and control poaching.
He stated preparations are underway to relocate rhinos to the eastern region, as the western area of the park has reported a high rhino population. Since the Narayani River's floods could wash the rhinos into India, relocation has been deemed necessary for their conservation.
Thapa Magar mentioned that a preparatory discussion and interaction for the internal relocation of rhinos was held in the presence of senior ecologist Hari Bhadra Acharya from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, senior conservation officer Dr Ganesh Panta from the CNP office, the newly assigned Gorkha Battalion Commander for park security, divisional forest officers, chairpersons of the central area user committees, tourism committee officials, businesspeople, and representatives of local governments, along with other stakeholders.
