A royal hunting ground turned deer refuge
For generations the grasslands of Kanchanpur were a hunting ground for Nepal's ruling families, who came in winter for deer, tiger and wildfowl. In 1969 the area was declared a royal hunting reserve, and in 1973 it was gazetted as the Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve, covering 155 sq km. It was enlarged to its present 305 sq km in the late 1980s, a buffer zone was added in 2004, and in 2017 it became a national park. Its old royal status is why the grasslands survived when much of the surrounding forest was cleared.
Protection made the deer flourish. Barasingha, named for the twelve tines its antlers can carry, has vanished from most of its old range across northern India. Here a survey in 2007 counted an estimated 1,674 animals, the largest known population anywhere. In spring, when the grass has been cut, you can see herds of a hundred or more on the open phanta, the stags bugling in the rut. Local people are still allowed to cut thatch grass in the park for a few days each year, which keeps the grassland open and helps the deer.
Other animals have been brought back. Rhinos were moved from Chitwan to establish a third population in Nepal, rising from eight to 17 by 2021. The gharial, extinct in the park since 1993, was reintroduced to the Chaudhar river in March 2024. Tigers have recovered too: the national count released in July 2026 put Shuklaphanta at 50, up from 36 in 2022. Other species have been recorded for the first time in recent years, including the rusty-spotted cat, photographed by a camera trap in 2016, a sign of how little this corner of Nepal has been studied.
