Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge is the most expensive and comfortable way to see the jungles of Royal Chitwan National Park. Guests stay in multi-story barracks with nicely decorated clean rooms and hot running water, and the lodge (above) provides a central place for meals and entertainment. A flat rate (about $300 per night!) covers lodging, meals, and several optional activities each day, including elephant safaris, boat rides, jeep tours, and sitting in wildlife blinds to wait for sightings of tiger, rhinoceroses, rare birds, and many other animals. Photos on the walls show famous celebrities who have visited Tiger Tops: Mick Jagger, Henry Kissinger, Chelsea Clinton, and many others.

For a slightly less decadent experience, I strongly recommend the Tiger Tops Tent Camp (right). The cost is about the same, but you stay in tents along a ridge out in the jungle, in an area only accessible by a short hike from a jungle road (or on an elephant). It's like a 5-star hotel, but without the hotel: they come around at night to turn down your bed and light lanterns, traditional Nepali meals are cooked in a centralized open-air shelter with a view of the river valley, and there's a clean well-lit bathroom with Western-style toilet and shower behind each tent.

For more information on Tiger Tops, see their web site.

Other photos taken while staying at Tiger Tops: rhinoceros, Terai River, monkeys, elephant bathing.