Chitwan Valley

About 20 km (12 mi) west of Hetauda the Rapti meets the eastern border of Chitwan National Park.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the main part of the Chitwan Valley was under forest and sparsely populated by ethnic groups, such as the Tharu, Danuwar, Darai and Majhi people who had acquired some resistance against the infectious malaria raging the region.

When in the beginning of the 1950s poor farmers from Nepal's mid-hill areas emigrated to the south in search of arable land, the Chitwan Valley was opened for settlement.

Subsequently, more than 60,000 people of Chepang, Gurung, Magar, Chetri and Bahun ethnic groups, formerly resident only in the mid-hills, have settled here.

Agriculture is the main driver of economic output in the valley, with rice as the primary crop.