A true eco-friendly lodge

BARDIA ECO LODGE, NEPAL

Bardia National Park is one of Nepal’s seven national parks and is the most westerly. It is a haven for wildlife and in particular endangered species such as Rhinoceros, Wild elephant, Tiger, Swamp deer, Gharial crocodile, Gangetic dolphin, Bengal florican and Sarus crane. We are helping to build a carbon neutral wildlife lodge with the aim of providing an environmentally sympathetic and sustainable destination for tourists, which will also benefit the local community.

Bardia National Park
Bardia National park is situated in the mid far western Terai, in a remote part of Nepal, east of the Karnali River, and covers an area of 968 sq km. It is about 585 km away from Kathmandu and one of the largest national parks, though one of the least explored by foreigners. The park is the largest and most undisturbed wilderness area in the southern part of Nepal. About 70% of the park is covered with predominantly sal forest with a mixture of grassland, savannah and riverine forest. The park’s headquarters are situated in Thakurdwara, surrounded by idyllic villages inhabited by the indigenous Tharu ethnic group.

The park provides excellent habitat for endangered animals like the rhinoceros, wild elephant (including one of the last known herds of wild elephants in South Asia), tiger, swamp deer, black buck, Gharial crocodile and Gangetic dolphin. Endangered birds include the Bengal florican, silver-eared mesia and Sarus crane. More than 30 different mammals, over 200 species of birds, and many snakes, lizards and fish have been recorded in the park's forest, grassland and river habitats. A good number of resident and migratory birds are also found in the park.

The concept
The purpose of our project is to build an eco friendly lodge on a site on the edge of the Royal Bardia National Park, in Nepal.   The lodge development is to be eco-friendly, in that it will have as little impact as possible on the land and ecosystem in which it occupies.  The lodge will also strive to minimize negative socio-cultural impacts on the area population.  The lodge will be planned to meet these goals, while also offering a variety of comfortable lodging choices for travellers, and a design that is both highly functional and tasteful.

The main aim for this development is to create a lodge that meets the goals of an eco lodge, and also to be “carbon neutral”.   The goal of being “carbon neutral” is to offset the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) produced through the use of propane, gas powered vehicles,  and other creators of CO2, by increasing vegetation on site which will absorb the CO2 and transform it into oxygen.

Other aims for the lodge include:

  1. Minimize impact- minimize the negative consequences of tourism on the environment through the use of recyclable and renewable resources.
  2. Build environmental awareness- educate tourist and residents of the local Tharu community, through literature, and well trained guides
  3. Provide direct financial benefits for conservation- help fund environmental protection, research, and education
  4. Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people- provide tangible benefits to the local people, including potable water, roads, health clinics, jobs, etc.
  5. Respect local culture- help educate travellers about local customs, dress codes, and social norms.

Note: If you'd like to visit Bardia now, we're afraid we're not quite ready for you, but are pleased to recommend Nepal Uncovered who are very keen on promoting Bardia and who will be happy to help make arrangements for you to visit the park, as well as the rest of Nepal.

Posted: 28 May 2008
After several further recent site visits and the transformation of Nepal's political situation, we are now working our way gradually through the maze of Nepalese bureaucracy and completing our tourist and other licenses. The last monsoon caused some damage to the track in front of the land (washed it away!), and has caused some re-thinks about vehicle access. Our lodge design is complete and building has commenced with staff houses already on site.

We're learning more all the time about the possibilities and problems associated with making the lodge as 'eco' as possible, and have learnt more about composting toilets than you probably want to know.

Managing waste water and toilet waste is one of the biggest issues facing us if we want to do this right, especially when there are no local options for the responsible removal & disposal of waste from septic tanks. Our garden will need lots of compost though!

Final building of the main lodge restaurant and cottages is planned to start after the next monsoon season, fingers crossed.

Posted: 21 Septmeber 2007
Back in February 2003 we secured a perfect plot of land, which overlooks the Khauraha River, a branch of the Geruwa River, just a few hundred metres from the park entrance. It is about 160 metres long by 50 metres wide and should be ideal for a good sized lodge complex. We immediately started planting trees and shrubs on the land in preparation for building, however the political situation in Nepal deteriorated and we were unable to continue with the project. Now that the situation has improved we are keen to get this project back on track and will be updating this page on a regular basis as the project develops. Below are some photos of the land as it has changed over the last few years:


Taken in 2003, the above photos show the land when it was being farmed



Taken in 2007, the above photos show the land under early development