Bardia (Nepal)

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Bardia is a geographic region in the Kingdom of Nepal.

Bardia comprises a portion of the Terai, or lowland hills and valleys of southern Nepal. The Terai is over 1,000 feet (300 m) in elevation, and extends all along the Indian border. The Terai once supported a healthy wildlife population in a habitat of 25 foot (8 m) high elephant grass and dense hardwood forests, but had very few people, due to virulent malarial mosquitos.

[edit] Royal Bardia National Park

The Royal Bardia National Park is the largest and most undisturbed wild area of the Terai region of Nepal. Similar to Chitwan park, but with a drier climate and a more remote location, Bardia encompasses 1,000 km² of riverine grassland and sal forests.

Bardia was a royal hunting reserve of Nepal's Rana rulers from 1846 to 1950. In Nepal, wildlife lost whatever protection the royal hunting reserve conveyed when the Rana rule ended in the 1950s. A well-meaning malaria eradication program in the 1950s and 1960s opened the terai for settlement, and transformed about 75% of the native Terai to agricultural land. Wildlife populations declined with the combination of increased settlement and widespread poaching.

Bardia was declared a wildlife reserve in 1976, first measuring 134 square miles (347 km²) and expanded in 1985 to 374 square miles (969 km²). In 1988, it became the Royal Bardia National Park.