From private hunting ground to tiger refuge
Before it was protected, the forest of Parsa was a private game reserve and hunting ground for the elite of Nepal and British India. The Churia hills and their sal forests were full of tigers, elephants and gaur, and hunting parties came in winter as they did in Chitwan. Villages along its edges grazed cattle and collected wood and grass, and the forest stayed thick largely because few people lived inside it.
In 1984 the government set up Parsa Wildlife Reserve, mainly to protect wild Asian elephants and their habitat. A buffer zone followed in 2005, and in 2015 the protected area was enlarged. In 2017 it was upgraded to a national park, recognising its role as the eastern half of the Chitwan–Parsa forest block. The park headquarters is at Aadhabhar, on the highway between Hetauda and Birgunj.
Protection has paid off. Tiger numbers rose from about four adults in 2008 to 19 detected in 2017, and gaur herds use the hills. A few rhinos have moved in from Chitwan. Challenges remain: the park's edges meet busy highways, industry around Birgunj and farmland where elephants raid crops. Park managers work with buffer zone communities on fences, compensation and community forests to reduce conflict, though the work is far from finished.
