Rhinos and Tigers and Sloth Bears, Oh My!

Asia » Nepal » Chitwan
November 2nd 2006

Published: November 5th 2006

Tuesday October 31, 2006 - I woke up today at the ungodly hour of 5:45am so that we could meet at 6:15am to start walking to our bus. We arrived at the bus at 6:30 and it was scheduled to depart at 7am. We took our seats and once we got under way we all slept on and off the entire time. We stopped for the bathroom once along the way and arrived around noon. We were picked up at the "bus station" by a jeep from the hotel where we would be staying. Once we arrived at the hotel they showed us to our rooms. I had my own room with two beds and private bath. Not bad. Our first activity was lunch, but we had some time before that was ready so we walked out to the river to take a look around. We saw some working elephants in the water taking a bath and lots of children playing soccer with a tennis ball in the sand near the water. They were all young boys and most of them were naked and covered in sand. As we watched they tired of the game and started hurling themsleves into the river. They would get out and jump in again from the slight cliff that was there. We watched them for almost an hour or so - they were really funny. Some young girls joined in at some point, but they wore their dresses into the water.

After this bit of entertainment, we had spring rolls for lunch. At 3:30pm we met up to go to the elephant breeding center. There are no wild elephants left in this national park, though occassionally some do come from other nearby places, especially when the females at the breeding center are in heat. Many babies have been born here, several that were fathered by one or two wild elephants. There is only one other breeding facility like this in south Asia, in Sri Lanka.

We spent some time reading about the facility and then we bought some elephant cookies to give to the babies. There were several mother/baby pairs that were in particular places, chained up outside under roofs. Some of the babies were strolling freely behind a fence and these came over to get some cookies. We were able to touch them and they were great. It was fun to give them the cookies and watch them take them in their trunks and stuff them into their little mouths.

After this we got a lift to a nearby Tharu village where we walked for a bit, learning about the Tharu people. They came from a region in India back in the 13th century and lived in the Chitwan region, trying to protect themselves from the wild animals that lived there, such as Bengal tigers, Indian rhinos, and sloth bears. They are also a malaria-resistant group of people, but I'm not quite sure how. Malaria has since been eraticated in that region. After the village walk we went to a cultural show, where we watched classic Tharu stick dances. They were amazing. All the dancers were men, which I wasn't expecting. In several of the dances they were holding sticks, sometimes one large stick, sometimes two smaller ones. In each dance they would end up dancing in a circle and tapping their sticks with the person in front of and/or behind them. I can't explain it well enough, but they moved fast and it was impressive. If they missed a beat they could easily be clobbered by someone else's stick. There was even one dance where a man came out dressed as a giant peacock. You could only see his feet and legs. He did a great impression of a peacock dance and it was great. Altogether, it was a great show.

We came back and had dinner around 9pm. It was spaghetti but with a gingery brown sauce. Not what I expected, but good. Sat around chatting and then it was time for bed. Everyone was tired from our long day. I had a brief time to remember it was Halloween at home and wondered what my nephew would be dressed as this year before falling asleep.

Wednesday - Today was a busy day. We had an early morning, with breakfast at 6:30am. I got out of bed at about 5:45am and went up on the roof of the hotel. It was beautiful. There was a mist all around and I couldn't even see across the river early on. The first things I did see were two elephants walking off into the distance through the mist. It looked amazing. Then I was able to see people walking about, starting their day, bathing in the river. It was very quiet and peaceful. At 6:40am or so I headed down - no one else was ready yet and breakfast didn't seem to be done either, so there was no hurry.

I went to sit in the breakfast room and wait. Susanne came in first and then went to walk around by the river. Christoph came soon after and then they were joined by Kindie and Guillaume. They all came in to breakfast shortly before it was served. We ate eggs and potatoes and toast and then we had to get going. Our first activity of the day was to cross the river into the national park with our guide and take a 3-4 hr walk through the jungle. This is what I was most interested in, as it is a good way to see the wildlife. In this forest it is possible to see tigers, rhinos, and sloth bears, as well as several other kinds of animals. But I also knew that we were unlikely to see any big game since we would just be on the perimeter of the park and in the same places where other groups would be walking. After a prep talk about how to avoid dying in case we did run into one of the big animals (rhino means hide behind a tree, tigers and bears mean clap your hands and scare it off), we started out. We did a lot of walking through trails where we had to duck out of the way of a lot of trees and bushes and plants. The trails weren't very defined in that area. We did manage to see the two species of monkeys in the park - Common Langurs and Rhesus Macaques. We also saw several birds and bugs. Overall it was a pleasant way to spend the morning but no real action.

Our next activity was elephant bathing. This was not originally included in our program but I had asked for it and they agreed. We had to run back to our rooms to change clothes and then run to the river. There were two elephants in the water waiting to play with us. Kindie and Guillaume got up on one and Susanne and Christoph got on the other. It was just them sitting on the elephants backs directly. I took some video of Kindie and Guillaume for them at this time. The elephants were in the river and would take water in their trunks and spray everyone down. Then they would shake their bodies until everyone fell off. They did all this at the commands of their trainer. This went on several times until it was my turn. Susanne came up on my elephant with me and then when we climbed back on Christoph came as well. The next time it was just me sitting on this thing and they took some good pictures of me getting squirted with the water. Then my elephant got down low in the water and started to turn over a bit. I had to scurry across it like an ant to keep it from rolling over on me. Kind of scary but very fun. I think it was the best part of the package all together.

After the elephants we changed and ate our lunches before setting off for our elephant ride. We were driven to the elephant site and then had to climb up on platform to get onto the elephants. There were two elephants and unfortunately only four people could be on an elephant. So it ended up with me and three Nepali men on one and all my friends on the other. This is when it becomes obvious you are traveling alone - when everyone else has a partner. On each elephant was a box you sit inside of, with each person in a corner with their legs and arms hanging out. It essentially keeps you all on the elephant. We walked over to a park reserve, and it didn't take me long to figure out that this ride would leave bruises. I was being slammed into the thing we were sitting in - it was unavoidable. There is also a driver on the elephant and he steers it by using his feet on its ears. He also uses a big metal rod to slam into its head when it's not doing exactly as he wants. Pretty harsh to see. We were hoping to see some animals from the ride but this was disappointing. Everyone on my elephant was talking and there was no way we were going to be able to sneak up on anything. I was pretty frustrated at this point, and nobody on my elephant even spoke English. Then the driver finished his bottle of water and just threw it into the trees. Unbelievable. The ride lasted two hours and I was ready to be done at that point. We had a jeep ride back and then we had some time to relax before dinner.

I sat down at a table by the river and wrote in my journal and almost slept for a while. Eventually Christoph came down and sat with me and we watched the sunset over the river. We had some milk tea and relaxed until everyone joined us until dinner began. Dinner was a Nepali meal with chicken curry, dal, naan bread, curd and some other bits and pieces. Overall very good. After dinner we sat around talking with the guys who worked there, playing games and telling jokes. It was a good night but I got to sleep early as it would be another early morning.

Thursday - I got up before everyone else again and went to the roof hoping for the same magic, but it wasn't as good. Still peaceful, but not misty and magical. Today we were supposed to have some tea and then begin a bird walk at 6:30am. By the time everyone was assembled it was 6:45am and I suggested we skip the tea and just go since we were supposed to be back at 8am for breakfast. We walked along the river a bit looking at birds and then continued into a wetland type area. Our guide showed us a rhino foot print and then about five minutes later we found two rhinos! It was great - my first Indian rhinos - and the very last activity we would have in the park. Very nice. After they walked away, we headed to the park museum to walk around and then headed back to breakfast. It wasn't quite ready yet at 8:30am so we went upstairs to finish packing and bring our things down. We ate and then had to rush off to the buses and they left at 9:30am. We got there at 9:25am and I thought I wouldn't even have time to cry at the good byes. I was wrong. As soon as I said good bye to Christoph I started crying. Such a dramatic repeat of Argentina. I said good bye to everyone else and then they got on their bus to the border of India and I got on my bus back to Kathmandu. With any luck I will be seeing them again in India at some point.

Rhinos and Tigers and Sloth Bears, Oh My!

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved