Overview

Somewhere in the forested hills of Karnali Province, a community of fewer than 150 people continues to move. The Raute have refused settlement into the present generation - foraging, hunting, carving wooden vessels to trade at village margins, and deciding for themselves whether any encounter takes place. This is one of the last genuinely nomadic communities on earth. This trip enters their territory. Raute Nomads & Bardiya Wildlife is a 9-day small group Nepal tour that begins in Kathmandu - a valley built across 2,000 years of dynastic succession - before flying west into Karnali Province, the country's most remote region. The route descends through Tharu forest villages and a Terai town split between Hindu, Muslim, and Chepang communities, before reaching Bardiya National Park, where one of South Asia's most significant conservation recoveries has restored rhinoceros and tiger populations to a riverine forest still crossed by the undammed Karnali River. The return to Kathmandu arrives in time for Bisket Jatra - the Newari New Year festival in Bhaktapur, a five-century tradition - and closes on Sindur Jatra, when vermillion powder turns the valley ceremonial red. Guaranteed to depart from just 6 travelers, the group stays small enough to approach the Raute on their own terms, access community visits that do not scale, and move through national park terrain guided by naturalists reading the forest rather than following a route. Nepal beyond trekking. This is what that means.