Chitwan park [View Full Entry]

---

---

We'd celebrated our deliverance (again) heavily last night, combining beer with special lassi. Special lassi is just like any other lassi, a slightly sour yoghurt-based milkshake drink, but this had been pepped up with the very best marijuana which grows wild in the ditches and hedges around here. We'd been (good-naturedly) kicked out of the bar at some ungodly hour in near-hysterical laughter, and this morning our heads were aching badly. We walked into the village for breakfast, greeting all the villagers and the mahouts who were walking their elephants back from their morning baths. Aft [View Full Entry]

---

---

We were extremely reluctant to leave Park Side. Over our three or four days there we'd really fallen in love with the park, and the hotel staff were all so friendly and helpful. But press on we must, and so Gopal drove us to the bus pick up point outside the village. The sky was a deep, clear blue, and the air here fresh and crystal clear. If Evian made air, it'd taste like this. The villagers waved, smiling broadly at us as they always do, and the children chased our truck for a while. We wished Gopal all the best [View Full Entry]

---

---

At breakfast Imanou, the Spanish guy, was sitting at the table nursing a terrific hangover. He had been unceremoniously woken at 6am by Gopal for a dawn birdwatching expedition. Gopal whispered to us that he'd knocked for 20 minutes to get Imanou out of bed, and when they got to the park and started birdwatching in earnest, Imanou could hardly see through bright red, hungover eyes. Gopal would point out a particularly interesting avian individual and Imanou would start as if suddenly woken, aim the binoculars in roughly the right direction and slur an acknowledgement before slumping back into [View Full Entry]

---

---

We have been promised so many wake up calls in India (none of which ever materialised) that when Gopal, our Nepali guide and resident looker-afterer, says he'll wake us up at 7am, we are sceptical about how successful he'll be. I set the alarm on my mobile and sleep. The next morning my alarm rings out loud, echoed almost immediately by a knock at the door. Gopal is calling us up to breakfast. We shower and oblige, and when we sit down we're presented with omelette and coffee, toast and jam. Paradise. Gopal is a small, slim, wiry Nepali guy, probably [View Full Entry]

---

---

Chitwan National Park, Nepal, 6-8 March 2008 So, what do you do after applying for an Indian Visa in Kathmandu and being told to come back in a week's time when the Indian Embassy has finished checking that you're not a criminal? You go on a jungle safari in Chitwan National Park, that's what. Never have we been so mobbed by touts as when our bus pulled up. It seems that the trouble in Nepal over the past few years has hit this place as hard as anywhere. Not only have numbers dropped directly due to the political situation, but this [View Full Entry]

---

---

Voici un autre roman-photo de nos deux jours dans le parc national de Chitwan. Devenus explorateurs, nous partons sur les traces des tigres, ours, rhinos et autres animaux sauvages qui peuplent cette magnifique partie du Nepal. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our last stop in Nepal was the Royal Chitwan National Park, home to the endangered one horned Indian Rhino and the regal and rarely seen Bengal tiger. The National Park is in the Terai district of Nepal and is believed to be Nepal's third most popular tourist attraction. The reserve preserves 932 square kilometres of sal forest, water marshes and rippling grassland. We were supposed to stay at a lodge inside the park, but due to a government strike going on we were forced to stay in the nearby village of Sauraha. On arrival at the almost abandoned hotel (tourism is [View Full Entry]

---

---

We went for a jungle walk in the Chitwan Nationalpark for two days. First we went with the canoo for about one hour and then hit into the jungle. We had two guides with us. It was great to walk through the park, learn about plants and animals. On the first day we saw quite a lot of animals (rhino, bears, crocodiles, ...) on the second day we were not that lucky again and did not see many animals. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Early in the morning I left the guest house and went looking for the bus stop. The city was absolutely dark and when I was walking through the little streets and alleys I was kind of scared. I arrived at the bus stop savely and the trip could get started after sorting out the ticket thing. It took a bit more than five hours to get to Sauraha. It is only 90 kilometers from Kathmandu but the streets are in a bad condition. It is not possible for the busses to drive into Sauraha therefore you get dropped a bit outside [View Full Entry]

---

---