The one in Chitwan National Park

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Sunday brought with it an early start as we caught the 'tourist bus' to Chitwan National Park, just south of the city of Kathmandu. Tourist buses are exactly that, you pay a little more for the luxury of a private bus, although they still squeeze as many people on as possible and with the heat it's still pretty unbearable... a gruelling 5/6 hours later we arrived on the outskirts of the park and were driven to our resort by the river. We were shown to our little two bed cabin and given the afternoon to rest from the bus journey... the heat made sleeping for a few hours very easy! At 4 we were then shown around the village, where we were told more about the national park and came face to face with our first elephants! Although the excitement of seeing such a beautiful animal was somewhat squashed with the sight of the shackles for the elephants here are all working animals. I tried to not let it bother me and continued the walk around the village until we returned back to the river where we had a beer whilst watching the sunset, snow capped mountains on the horizon making it all more spectacular! We had dinner and clambered under the mozzie nets early so to be ready to go for a day filled with activities!

6am wake up call and a breakfast of boiled eggs, curried potatoes and toast later we were in a hand carved wooden canoe floating down the river, the temperature already too much at 8am.... the views from the canoe were again wonderful and the journey very serene, even a glimpse of a baby croc couldn't shift the calmness. We eventually jumped out of the canoe and headed into the National Park jungle with the hopes of seeing some Rhino's, deer, monkeys or even the rare sight of the few tigers that live there... but other than a few nepalese birds our walk was pretty uneventful. We returned to the river to be paddled back over to the village and t partake in some elephant bathing!! We could see several elephants already in the river spraying water over the people on their backs and so were delighted to get involved. We jumped onto the back of one elephant with it's owner/'driver' and joyfully laughed as the elephant sprayed us with the cool river water on command... it was really very fun and quite surreal to be on an elephants back, but I couldn't help but let the feeling of guilt and cruelty taint the enjoyment, for the further we went into the river the more the owner shouted and the elephant would sit, or shake throwing Anna and I off into the water.... where we then had to ungracefully clamber back on just for him to do it again. So yes a very fun time for us, but for the elephant doing that day in, day out.... I had to ask myself did they really enjoy it? Probably not. Once we'd showered and fed we went back out again to the National park for our next elephant installment - Elephant safari... again the initial thrill of riding on an elephant was short lived. Over a dozen elephants stood with small crates on their backs in which 4 people could sit back to back, once all uncomfortably seated the elephants were 'driven' into the Sal Forest (aptly named) where we could get an elephants-eye view of the wilderness. The ride was pretty uncomfortable, but from a selfish tourist point of view great fun and we managed to get a close up glimpse of a group of rhino's, deer and monkeys... no tigers however! After an hour and a half, a sore back and bum later we returned.... I left with a mixed bag of emotions, happiness of having come so close to such a beautiful animal, having the privilege of riding an elephant and for seeing the treasures of the park but then sadness that this is the elephants life here... one of hard work and almost enslavement.

After dinner we were treated to a cultural show by the local boys.... think tribal morris dancing, the owner of the resort drunkenly introduced the dancing with a slur and we sat and somewhat 'endured' the first few dances before retiring to bed, both feeling exhausted from the heat and the length and excitement of the day.

Another 6am wake up call and this time after a similar breakfast we headed to the elephant breeding ground.... unfortunately our ideas and the reality of the place were pretty different. Again it was a stretch of stables with many elephants shackled to the spot with only their food as entertainment... I found the place quite upsetting and had to keep telling myself that they knew no better and were bred to work... but it didn't take the egde off of it at all... and when the workers used sticks to discipline any 'unruley' animals well it was time to leave. We did, however, have some enjoyment in seeing 8 month old baby elephants roaming free in the grounds... several coming right up to us and allowing us to tickle its head and trunk, another giving a comical performance of scratching every foot on a stone in some form of dance! It was a beautiful moment to be so up close and be able to touch the elephant under its own accord.

We then left and headed back to the resort where we were driven to the bus stop for a gruelling 6 hour bus journey back to Kathmandu!

All in all a wonderful trip, where I got the chance to be up close to such wonderful animals... although the experience is somewhat tainted with the tourist chain that has made an animal such a tourist tool for enjoyment.

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