As per the new rates, any hunter will have to pay Rs 926,000 and Rs 330,000 for Jharal and Nayaur hunting, respectively. The costs are around one third more than last year, Chief of reserve office, Bishwa Babu Shrestha said. Last year the price for hunting Jharal was Rs 626,000.
The hikes in prices come at a time when the numbers companies bidding for hunting license have been increasing year after year. Shrestha informed that the competition between companies trying to acquire the hunting license is on the rise. "The bidding for awarding hunting license is made through electronic bidding system. Interested companies submit tenders through online process and are selected accordingly," he said.
Each year agencies are selected for providing license to individual hunters. This year, Nepal Wild Life Adventure Pvt. Ltd, Himalayan Safari Pvt. Ltd, Track and Travels, Nepal Wildlife Safari and Global Safari have been won the bidding to provide license to tourists from all over the world.
As part of its operational guidelines, the reserve has already gained permission from other national parks and wildlife reserve for hunting certain species of animals in the reserve at the beginning of the fiscal year 2015/16. According to this year's permission, the reserve has been given permission for allowing the hunting of 19 wild animals in five blocks of its area.
The licenses however have limitation on the numbers of animal that can be hunted. Each year, the reserve allocates fixed number of any animals to be hunted on the basis of its population. "Various companies have been provided license to hunt 6 Jharal and 19 Nayaur," Shrestha said.
Hunting packages cost attracts many tourists to Nepal annually. Shrestha informed that a tourist spends about Rs 3 million during a visit to the reserve including costs incurred during their camping in the jungle. The expenses also include helicopter charter and certain funds provided separately to the local community for environmental conservation.
Along with the revenue that hunting generates, it has also been creating ample of employment opportunities. "Hunting reserves have also been creating jobs. Around 20-25 workers are employed for every hunter in the reserve," he said.
Despite its popularity, the reserve does not remain open for hunting throughout the year. Each year, the reserve opens for two seasons during September-November and February- April. According to reserve statistics, hunting at the reserve is mostly popular among USA, Spain, Denmark, Hungary, and Russian citizens.
Despite the huge amount of revenue generated through hunting, stakeholders remain skeptic about authorities' ability to invest it in the district's development. During the last fiscal year, the reserve collected total revenue of Rs 100 million.
The revenue however had sliced down by over 50% since the reserve took initiative for introducing buffer zones. "Revenue generated by the reserve had slashed by 50% of the total revenue after the proposal for introducing buffer zone was floated around two years back." Shrestha said that the ongoing debate with locals on the declaration of Buffer zones has added obstacle in providing the revenue.
The local population has been protesting against the provisioning of buffer zone in the hunting reserve, which they see as depriving them of development and other opportunities. In a memorandum submitted to the reserve in 2013, locals had protested against the buffer zone proposals claiming that the reserve had only served to provide entertainment for the ruling class and affluent elites from within Nepal and abroad.
The reserve is home to many species including the Ratuwa, Snow Leopard, Leopard, Kasturi, Bandel, Thar, Lizard, Red Panda, Nayaur and Jharal. However hunting license is only provided Jharal and Nayaur hunting.
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