Harry earns his stripes with tiger impression in Nepal national park

Prince Harry went on safari in Nepal hoping to see some big cats - and ended up pretending to be a tiger.

Harry has a passion for animal conservation and visited Bardia National Park to lean about its wildlife programmes which have seen the attraction's tiger population flourish.

When he reached the site of two camera traps placed next to tiger droppings to capture their nocturnal movements, he was disappointed when they proved to be empty.

His guide, Shailendra Kumar Yadar, from Nepal's National Trust for Nature Conservation, suggested the Prince walk like a tiger to get an idea of how the traps worked.

Casually dressed in a shirt and trousers and wearing a WWF scarf given to him when he first arrived, his impression of the animal was to hunch over and shuffle forward until the camera's flash went off.

Harry was eager to see the results as the wildlife expert reached for his laptop to download the image but was more excited about photos of big cats, saying: "Now you've got your computer out I want to see some pictures of tigers - are they hidden in a secret folder?"

The Prince was shown a picture of a tiger walking past the spot where he was standing by a forest road and he said: "That, was here? Amazing."

He added: "Show me that tiger again please, that was amazing, it's beautiful. Fat, healthy, really healthy. They won't struggle with food, as long as they're fit and well."

When he was shown his efforts at pretending to be a tiger Harry joked: "Not as good as a tiger. You'd be a bit worried if you saw one of those walking towards you."

Tiger numbers are back on the increase at the park in the west of Nepal - following a fall due to poaching - up from 18 in 2009 to more than 50 today. The big cats are worth around 20,000 US dollars (£14,000) on the black market while the average monthly wage in the region is 150 dollars (£104).

Bardia is 968 square kilometres in size and was designated a wildlife reserve in 1976, and eight years later became a national park after originally being a reserve for trophy hunters.

Harry began his visit to the picturesque area by enjoying a paddle boat ride along a river through the park.

He glided along clear waters with a guide and a small entourage and kept a lookout for crocodiles in the water.

The park also has a small population of rhinos introduced by conservationists, and wild elephants.