East Champaran Valmiki Tiger Reserve Terai Ecology

The Valmiki Tiger Reserve in East Champaran district is Bihar's only Tiger Reserve and Project Tiger site, covering 900 square kilometres of Himalayan Terai sal-dominated moist forest along the Nepal border that provides habitat for Bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros (rare visitor from Nepal's Chitwan), Asian elephant, gharial, and Gangetic river dolphin in the Gandak river. The Reserve's buffer zone supports Tharu tribal communities who have traditionally practised farming and NTFP collection in the Terai ecosystem and maintain indigenous ecological knowledge of the forest. Valmiki Nagar on the Gandak is a pilgrimage site believed to be where Valmiki wrote the Ramayana and where Sita gave birth to Luv and Kush.