Any serious nature enthusiast cannot miss a visit to Royal Chitwan National Park when touring Nepal. Machan, a wildlife resort located inside the National park, offers an ideal living experience for all such people. The resort offers accomodation in cottages spread around in the jungle with tent facilities also available. The cottages are decently furnished and offer a rustic experience, perfect for a quiet vacation. Although, there is no facility for electricity at nights, the resort offers kerosene lit lanterns to be used for lighting.
Rapti river that flows along the national park provides a great canoeing experience. Travel from the main highway to the Machan resort is arranged by the resort in an old British make Land Rover and it cuts across the Rapti river and moves over pebbles and sand giving you a thrilling jeep safari experience.
The resort conducts jungle activities on a daily basis which include Elephant Safari, Jeep Safari, Get-to-know-Elephant experience, Canoeing and an evening cultural dance and slide show. Each of these jungle activities are unique in themselves and are highly memorable. If you’re lucky, you might see a tiger ! I was fortunate enough to have seen a one horned Rhino during the Elephant back ride through the dense forest. The naturalists speak good English and are very knowledgeable.
Highly recommend this place for any traveller to Chitwan National Park. The food served is Nepali, Continental and very well prepared. The staff is very cordial and professional. The resort has solar-panels based heating system and hot water is available for use in the cottages. It gets cold during the winter season and the resort also provides hot water jackets for guests. It has a swimming pool and an outdoor shower area for guests.
Staying at Machan was a Truly Memorable Experience for me !