Kanchanpur कञ्चनपुर

Kanchanpur is Nepal's far south-western corner, pressed between the Mahakali river — the India border — and the East–West Highway, its landscape a flat expanse of sal forest and tall grassland that constitutes Shuklaphanta National Park. The park's 305 square kilometres harbour the world's largest herd of swamp deer (barasingha), numbering over 2,000 animals, alongside Bengal tigers, rhinoceroses, wild elephants and over 450 bird species; a broad floodplain grassland gives sightings that are open and unobstructed in a way the Terai parks rarely afford. Mahendranagar, the district headquarters, sits just a few kilometres from the park's boundary.

The Mahakali river at Tanakpur has sacred significance at the Purnagiri temple on the Indian bank — a major pilgrimage site drawing devotees from both sides of the border. The district's population is a mix of Tharu communities in the older settlements and later-arriving hill migrants; sugar and paddy farming occupy the agricultural land outside the park. Mahendranagar is reached via the East–West Highway — around 80 km from Dhangadhi, roughly 90 minutes by bus. The nearest airport is Dhangadhi, from which a direct road runs west; most wildlife lodges near Shuklaphanta offer transfers from there.