Lake
Badhaiya Tal
A large lake on the Bardiya plains, known locally for birdlife and quiet farmland surroundings.
Lumbini Provinceबर्दिया
Bardiya District
Home to Bardiya National Park, one of Nepal's best places to look for wild tigers, with Tharu villages and the broad Karnali river.
- Province
- Lumbini
- Headquarters
- Gulariya
- Area
- about 2,008 km²
- Places on Firfirey
- 3
About Bardiya
Bardiya lies on the western Terai of Lumbini Province, bordering India to the south, Banke to the east and Kailali across the Karnali river to the west, with Surkhet in the hills to the north. Most of the district is low, flat farmland and sal forest, rising to the Churia hills in the north. The Karnali and Babai rivers run through it, and a large part of the north is protected as Bardiya National Park.
The Tharu are the main indigenous community, and their mud-walled homes, festivals and cooking remain a strong part of local life alongside hill settlers who arrived in recent decades. Farming dominates the economy, with tourism centred on Thakurdwara at the park edge. Visitors come for jungle walks, jeep safaris and rafting on the Karnali, with good chances of seeing rhinos, elephants and, with patience, tigers. Gulariya, the headquarters, is a quieter market town to the south.
Places in Bardiya
National park or conservation area
Bardiya National Park
Nepal's largest lowland national park, a quieter alternative to Chitwan with tigers, rhinos, wild elephants and the Karnali river.
Town or village
Thakurdwara
The quiet Tharu village at the gate of Bardiya National Park, base for jungle walks and river trips.
Getting there
The usual approach is to fly to Nepalgunj and then drive west along the East-West Highway, turning off for Thakurdwara; the transfer typically takes a few hours. Buses from Kathmandu take a full long day or night along the same highway.
Best time to visit
October to April is the main season, with February to April best for wildlife as the grass is cut and animals come to the rivers; it becomes very hot before the monsoon, and parts of the park close or become hard to reach in the rains.
Other districts in Lumbini Province
Editorial draft: the district overview is being checked. Headquarters and Nepali names: nepal-places dataset (MIT). Area and map position computed from the district boundaries of the Government of Nepal, Survey Department, via OCHA.