Tiger Track Nepal
Channel: Building Bureau
Date: 2023-07-17

The Tiger Track Lodge is a rammed earth conservation center and ecolodge now under construction by our partners Sustainable Future Nepal for wildlife conservationist Hemanta Acharya of Tiger Track in association with Manoj Gautam and Dakshina Khadka of Burhan Camps. Home to a Community-Based Anti-Poaching Unit (CBAPU), the small lodge is located just outside of Bardiya National Park, a conservation area in Nepal’s lowland Terai region that is home to many endangered species of wildlife including the one-horned rhinoceros, Indian elephant, Gangetic dolphin, and – most famously – the Bengal Tiger. 

The site is a north-south oriented plot of land with narrow frontage along the road to Bardiya National Park’s western entrance. The Lodge is within the Khata Corridor, a 15-mile long swath of protected land along the Girwa River that connects Bardiya in Nepal to the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India. The existing lodge has no reception or administrative areas and only five guest rooms. New structures, durably built from rammed earth, will provide a reception and office area to receive guests, staff accommodations, a kitchen and pantry, and a twenty-seat dining hall and bar. The existing block of guest rooms will remain and two new guest cottages will be added beyond to double the lodge’s capacity. The rammed earth walls, due to their natural thermal mass, will ensure passive thermal stability despite the typical hot and humid temperatures of the Terai. For the new roofs, Tiger Track has collected and reclaimed traditional wood rafters and terracotta tiles from nearby demolished farmhouses. 

Construction began in January 2023 and is expected to conclude by September, 2023. ■

location  |  Bardiya National Park, Nepal
client  |  Tiger Track Nepal & Burhan Wilderness Camps
site area  |  0.5 acres (4 ropani)
built area  |  4,250 sq ft (395 sq m)

credits
Tiger Track Nepal
Burhan Wilderness Camps
Sustainable Future Nepal
Building Bureau

Background vocals by Harikali Tharu (Angna Ghar)