Nepal has nine National Parks and four Wildlife Reserves. About 15,000 square kilometers amounting to almost 18 percent of the total area is protected. This is an amazing commitment to conservation. The Terai lowlands are defined by a belt of well-watered floodplains stretching from the Indian border northward to the first slopes of the Bhabhar and the Siwalik Range. This is the richest habitat in the land with tall grasslands interspersed with riverine and hardwood Sal Forest. Here one can see wildlife such as the swamp deer, musk deer, black buck, blue bull, the Royal Bengal Tiger, gharial and marsh mugger crocodile and the last of a breed of Asiatic wild buffalo. Parks and Reserves are also rich in bird species with a variety of babbles and orioles, koels and drongos, peacocks and floricans, and a multitude of wintering wildfowl.