Kanchanpur: Mahendranagar, Shuklaphanta National Park and how to get there

Kanchanpur is accessible by road from Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and other western towns⁹. Buddha Air measures the road distance to Mahendranagar from Dhangadhi Airport in neighbouring Kailali³. Shuklaphanta National Park is the district’s best-known draw¹. The map point marks the district centre as given on Wikipedia, not the town of Mahendranagar. Other districts are in the districts hub.

Where it is

Kanchanpur is part of Sudurpashchim Province in the Terai plain, one of Nepal’s seventy-seven districts¹. It covers 1,610 square kilometres, with Bhimdatta as the district headquarters¹. Geographically it is on the Terai, but the northern part has some higher altitudes¹. The highest point is 1,528 m and the lowest 176 m¹.

The first headquarters was Belauri Municipality, and Mahendranagar was declared the current headquarters in 2019 BS¹. The majority of the population is ethnic Tharu¹. Its culture includes Tharu, Chhetri and Brahmin communities⁹. Dashain, Tihar and Maghi are widely celebrated⁹.

Municipalities

The District Coordination Committee lists seven municipalities: Krishnapur, Punarbas, Bedkot, Belauri, Bhimdatta, Dodhara Chandani and Shuklaphanta⁷. The two rural municipalities are Beldandi and Laljhadi⁷.

Getting there

Kanchanpur is accessible by road from Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and other western towns⁹. Dhangadhi Airport provides domestic flights to Kathmandu and other major cities⁹. It is owned by the Government of Nepal and operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, and stands 210 m above sea level⁵. See flights to Dhangadhi.

Long road journeys and high travel costs limit foreign tourist arrivals to Shuklaphanta³. The long overland route is covered in Kathmandu to the far west by road. Mahendranagar Bazaar offers hotels, lodges and restaurants with tourist-friendly facilities³.

When to go

March to June is the best time for Shuklaphanta, when wildlife sightings are most frequent³. For the district as a whole, October to April is the best time, with mild temperatures and dry weather⁹. The two ranges overlap in March and April. Visitors must enter the park before 3 PM and leave before sunset³.

Shuklaphanta National Park

Shuklaphanta covers 305 km2 of open grasslands, forests, riverbeds and wetlands at 174 to 1,386 m⁴. It is bounded by the Mahakali river to the west, the Mahendra Highway to the north and the Syali river to the east⁴. One-third of the park is grassland³. The Shukla Phanta grassland is the largest continuous grassland patch in Nepal, and the park takes its name from it⁴.

The park’s status has changed over time. The area was gazetted as Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in 1973⁴, and the same page gives 1976⁴. King Mahendra designated it a hunting reserve in 1969, and it became a national park in 2017³.

Wildlife includes barasingha, Royal Bengal tigers, rhinoceroses, wild elephants and birds³. Deer are commonly seen on the grasslands, and tigers and rhinoceroses can often be spotted resting near ponds³. The park has 120 ponds, natural and man-made, that suit migratory birds³. Tigers rose from eight in 2015 to 17 by March 2021⁴. Buddha Air’s undated “latest statistics” give 44 tigers, 23 rhinoceroses, 2,323 barasingha and 465 bird species³; the tiger counts differ and the dates do not match. The blackbuck count in Hirapurphanta has reached 309³. Twenty nature guides operate within the park³.

The park headquarters is in Majhagaon, near Mahendranagar Bazaar³.

Other places to see

The district’s 1,456.97 metre multi-span suspension bridge crosses the Mahakali River¹. Jhilmila Lake, Bedkot Lake, Bandatal, Shovatal, Ranital and the Vishnu Temple are other attractions¹. Rafting is available on the Mahakali River, which forms the border between Nepal and India³.

Permits and park fees

Shuklaphanta charges an entry fee per person per entry; in October 2026 the Nepal Tourism Board’s park entry-fee page listed it as follows⁸:

A park entry permit must be obtained to enter protected areas, and entrance fees must be paid⁸.

Fees for other parks are in national park fees.

Population

Kanchanpur held 513,757 residents in 2021, 240,686 male and 273,071 female². That makes it the second most populous district of Sudurpaschim Province, with the highest density, 319 per km2². The 2021 census report and Wikipedia agree on the total^2,1. The 2011 national report recorded 451,248 people, a density of 280 per km2⁶.

Khas people make up 67% of the population¹. Tharus and Rana Tharus are the largest minority, at 26%¹, and hill Janjatis, mainly Magars and Tamangs, are 3%¹.