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Published: August 6th 2007
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Although we had read about it in the Nepal guide weeks ago, we'd totally forgotten about Chitwan National Park until we were standing in the lobby of our guest house in Kathmandu. The photo of our favourite guru, Sai Baba (pictured with Ade in the Kodaikanal blog entry), was smiling down at us from various vantage points and as Ash followed his gaze she saw a poster and hence we were reminded. And how fortunate for us that we were!
We left the following morning at 7am on a bus journey that lasted roughly 7 hours stopping for lunch en route. As we were daydreaming out of the window we spotted a bus carcass that had clearly mis-judged a corner (of which there were many) and landed neatly in some trees halfway down a ravine. Confidence inspiring! After about 6 hours we took a sharp detour in to what can only be described as a bullock cart track. We had initially assumed this was due to the Maoists again (our travel plans were constantly blighted by transport strikes, i.e. roads being blocked for a day or two) but it turned out, much to our amazement, that this was the road
to the village near Chitwan. We were picked up by our tour guide from the Tiger Camp Resort and shimmied across a less than stable bridge to our waiting jeep. 10 minutes later we arrived and were shown to our second floor swanky pants (for a wooden shack) room where we encountered the spider. We sized him up and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth decided it was best to call in the experts. The expert, being our guide, laughed at us. That was after he finally found it. Turns out there are no dangerous spiders in Chitwan especially when they are the size of the nail on your baby finger (in our defence, it was jumping around). During our delicious but over proportioned lunch overlooking the confluence of two rivers and the edge of the park we spotted what we thought were two wild elephants. Turns out they were escaped domestic elephants and there are very few wild elephants in Chitwan. There is however one famous wild male who has been single handedly responsible for the birth rate in recent years due to his frequent visits to the elephant breeding centre.
After lunch we took a routine
trip to the park museum and a short walk through a section of the park on the way to the elephant stables. The only animal we saw on this walk was the dog who was following us. There were plenty of large elephants tethered to big posts (some dancing while waiting for their dinner) and a three year old who we fawned over feeding bundles of grass. At dinner we attracted many large illuminous flying beetle-like creatures as the only light on was over our heads. The Tharu culture night was next on the itinerary so in the company of our trustee guide, Rusam, we wandered through the village to the hall. The dancing was really impressive; there were several acts including sticks of the long, short and flaming variety, a peacock dance (hilarious!) and a guys dressed as girls twirling dance (also hilarious). The ninja outfits with neon pink belts and headbands were also a source of amusement. The final act was a group dance which Ade managed to get suckered into.
Day two started at the ungodly hour of 5am. We were displeased needless to say and fittingly enough hadn't left ourselves enough time for water to
heat so cold showers all round. Grrrr! After breakfast we were transported down the river in a dug out canoe for a bum numbing hour an a half. We were rewarded however with the sighting of a fresh water crocodile not 10 ft from us. We were practically at eye level with the beast. The little, medium, slightly rotund and large egrets paled in comparison (these were some of the exciting birds that were pointed out to us). We were deposited at the edge of a forest for the jungle trek. It became apparent very quickly that we weren't going to spot any animals although there was evidence of their existence all over the place; holes dug by sloth bears looking for termites, deer and rhino prints and lots and lots of rhino poo. Insects were the main theme of this trek and after the two attractive bites on Ash's forehead we renamed the jungle trek, the insect safari.
When we got back to the resort we spotted some elephants in the water and were told these were the guys we'd be bathing with. We dashed off to change into some wetable attire and returned to be introduced to
our bathing companion. We mounted somewhat unsteadily before wading on the elephant's back into the water where we were soaked by shooting water from her trunk. After a few minutes of this the elephant lowered herself down and rolled over tossing us to one side. We quickly swam away fearing a crushing and were a little wary when the handler told us to swim back and climb on. After 15 minutes of this type of nonsense, which we thoroughly enjoyed, it was time for lunch so we said our goodbyes and left.
Next up was the elephant safari through the jungle, which rocked. First we arrived at the boarding area and watched the previous session being unloaded while fobbing off the local children selling bananas. Then we took turns climbing the ladder on to the platform before stepping on to the elephants. We were the luckiest of the whole group and got an elephant to ourselves so no squishing, the norm being four occupants. During the safari we spotted a mommy rhino and her baby which was amazing as there was 6 huge elephants in a circle around them and they weren't concerned in the slightest. Other animals we
came across were a peacock, deer, monkeys and another croc. The elephants walked us back the 4 km to the resort which felt like being stretched out on the rack after the two hours of plodding.
Our last morning at Chitwan we spent at the elephant breeding centre. Unfortunately it involved another 5am start but we'd got wise to the workings of the shower so it wasn't too bad. When we arrived there were no elephants present and our guide seemed to shrug and turn to leave. Just as we were starting to feel irked a baby elephant came bounding out of the long grass followed by her mother and trainer. Two by two the whole poplulation of the centre arrived and we greeted each baby personally by feeding them grass which was piled on standby and water from our own supplies. When they'd all assembled a few cheeky babies decided to have a scrap but when three crowded round the smallest baby, who was only 5 months old, she fell to the ground causing her mother to roar out. This temporarily stopped the messing. We really enjoyed seeing and playing with the baby elephants. This wrapped up the
park activities and following breakfast we were on our way to Pokhara where we hoped to arrange a trek in the Himalaya.
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Jacinta
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Please send me home a baby elephane..... pleeeeeeese..