Bardia Eco Lodge is located around 500 metres from the entrance to Bardia National Park, and sits directly facing a branch of the Karnali river, with the park on the opposite bank. Due to the proximity of the park and the river, a lot of wildlife can be spotted from the grounds of the lodge, including monkeys and deer coming to drink at the river, and a host of birdlife.
Around the lodge there are agricultural fields and local villages where you can feel the Tharu culture up close. The main East-West Highway that runs through the lowland Terai region of Nepal is around 30 minutes drive away. The main access point to the lodge from the highway is at Ambassa where all the buses along the highway will stop. A local road then takes you to the village of Thakurdwara which is around 10-15 minutes walk from the lodge.
Walking downstream along the riverside track from the lodge, you will pass farming fields, other lodges and some local houses. Walking upstream takes you to the park entrance and headquarters, and on towards Thakurdwara. Along the way you will find shops selling local products, such as vegetables, fruits and products handmade with dried grass by the local population. In the village there are also sewing shops, pharmacies and a local market where the Tharu people sell their products. There is also an ATM dispensing Nepali rupees.
There are several other tiny villages in the Bardia region, focussed on small-scale agriculture. The central time for agriculture is the monsoon season. In this time people come to the Terai, one of the main regions for agriculture in Nepal, to work the paddy fields for rice production, some even come all the way from their seasonal jobs in India. The flooded paddy fields are not only an incredible scenery but also a very important landmark in the year’s food production. After the monsoon the fields are prepared to have crops of potato, carrot, cauliflower and beans followed by wheat, lentils and mustard in December. From February to March corn is the main crop that you can find on the fields.
The Tharu are the prevalent indigenous ethnic group living in the Western Terai lowlands. The Tharu people make up 6.6% of the Nepali population and are a very hardworking people who live from agriculture. The Tharu community speaks the Tharu language and in terms of cuisine, it is based a lot on the traditional rice with lentils, however it is always very adapted to the style of their culture, with some differences from other Nepalese peoples.
We believe that it is essential that indigenous populations have rights and are respected on the land. It is crucial that they go hand in hand with conservation and that local governments in the management of national parks consider not only the importance of preserving the species but also the indigenous populations that inhabit the regions. For the creation of a sustainable ecosystem, it is important that the population actively participates in the conservation measures applied, and benefits in a certain way from the fact that they are often blocked from access to parts of their surroundings due to the creation of protected areas. There are already some conservation projects underway in the Bardia National Park that work hand in hand with the Tharu people.
