A little bit of our history at Bardia Hideaway Cottage

We both grew up in Thakurdwara although our families are originally from the mountains, and have lived here all our lives. We have 3 children who are in their teens.

We have been running a camp/hotel in Bardia for the last 10 years and used to have a beautiful, simple little place called 'Nature's Way', nearer the river than our present site. It had 3 traditional Tharu huts but the land was rented and during the conflict it was impossible to keep paying, so we had to leave it to fall down. Once the peace deal was signed another local man went to the government and registered 'Nature's Way', so we lost our name as well as our camp!!

During the war we had a few tourists staying in our family home, which is a few minutes walk away, but apart from a small job for the National Park checking on how the animals were affected by the fighting, our only source of income was from taking people trekking in the Dolpo, Khaptad, Humla and Rara lake areas of Western Nepal. 

Despite all the terrible times for our community and the death of Kali's brother in the war, we managed to save a little money and eventually early in 2008 we bought a small piece of land near the park entrance with plans to build a new camp. 

For the first time ever we borrowed some money from the bank and in July 2008, we built the bridge over the river to our new piece of land, fenced the boundaries and began laying foundations.

The camp is still a work in progress with so many ideas but a limited budget. Much of the labour is done by friends and family and by a small team of local builders. In December 2008 we had our first guests in the new rooms - Simon and Isabelle - old friends from 7 years before, although the grass for the roofs was still being cut.


In January 2009 we finished the 4 traditional Tharu rooms and laid the foundations for the hall/dining room. We have many plans for the future and will have to wait for all the trees and plants to grow before the place will truly be a 'Bardia Hideaway Cottage'

 



We are very proud and excited about our efforts and would love you to come and visit us. We are gradually starting to re-employ some of old guides, people who we consider our very best friends, who worked with us for years before the conflict forced us to let them go.

If you do come to our camp we hope that you have a relaxing but interesting time, a memorable experience and that you will come again and encourage others to do the same. This is how our business has always been.

Mr B & Kali