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Published: June 14th 2017
Geo: 27.5833, 84.5
Border and Chitwan 1
As soon as we had crossed the border from India, I think I can safely say we all felt a huge sigh of relief. The endless hassling for rickshaws, photos and taxi's had sadly taken its toll in such a beautiful country and Nepal had been beckoning for quite a while…. Well for me since I booked the trip many moons ago. The border itself was so bizarre, I am not sure half of us knew we had actually crossed it until we had to leave the bus, to enter a little hut to issue our visas. Definitely no high tech here, just 3 men, sat at 3 desks in the same office with a stamp, a moneybox and a 'welcome to Nepal' as we were handed our passport back…. I like this place already!!
After emptying the truck of empty plastic bottles, so a very small boy with a very large bag, we were on the road to find a bush camp for the night. There were less people around as a whole, less staring and fewer horns… Nepali heaven. Our bush camp was in an area on the edge of the jungle, off the main
road a little. I decided on looking at the ground that I would attempt to sleep on the truck, as if (or should I say when) it rained again; the place would become a quagmire. I put my mosi net up, hanging it from the overhead lockers (I wasn't being eaten alive again!) and had a lovely night's sleep! People were planning on sleeping on the roof that night, but thought better of it, once the heavens opened as we sat enjoying our non-baked, tuna pasta bake. The tents in the morning can only be described as disgusting! And by the time breakfast had been packed up, pretty much everything that had been outside was caked in mud and a little soggy… including ourselves. Time for a half day drive to Chitwan for a Heffalump adventure or two!
We were to stay at the Monalisa hotel, which is the usual haunt for the company, as Adam and Polly were greeted as old friends. The staff were so friendly and helpful. All the rooms were animal named, rather than numbered (B&B ideas!!) and my room was the ‘Black Necked Stalk'… not a mouthful at all, and if you say it in a
Nepali accent it sounds like black naked stalk half the time!!
After we had all settled in, we had a meeting with Narian, our agent in Nepal, to discuss our Chinese Visa applications and the poor chance we had of obtaining our Tibetan permits. Once he had separated us with our cash for them, it was time to plan the fun stuff! In Chitwan there were opportunities to do so much. I decided upon, a jungle safari by elephant, elephant washing in the river and a trip to the elephant breeding centre …. Not that I am obsessed you understand.
The breeding centre was to be that afternoon, and only a handful of us wanted to go! I was not passing up the opportunity to meet baby nellies!!! We jumped into the back of their open jeep and off we bounced down the road (they call the roads ‘sexy roads' as they are so bouncy!!) We pulled up alongside a river, where a small dugout canoe awaited for us! It was one of the most unstable things I have ever set foot it, and the top of it being all of an inch over the water surface did not help either! We
disembarked after only a few minutes, and clambered up the far river bank where the breeding centre was. Some of the babies, were tiny, one was in fact born on the 7th April, the day we left London…. Coincidence or what!? It was of course very cute to see all of these up close; however the mammas were chained by their ankles by a comparatively short chain, which I did not like. On asking the guy why they were chained so tightly, he just replied with a blunt and confused ‘they're animals'. One was chained by both of her front ankles making her totally immobile… apparently because she was naughty; by my eyes she was probably protecting her baby! One of the cheeky babies, who thankfully were not chained, did make a break for it and came to see us briefly. This was before her mother erupted with a rather loud trumpet and she literally ran back to her, leaving a cloud of dust in her trail, through the gate with her tail between her legs. It was so comical it could have been a sketch from a cartoon! After negotiating our cruise back across the river, and the sexy
roads home, it was chill out time in the hotel's restaurant and bar, where all of the food was organic and freshly picked/butchered on site. Beautiful. During this time, we discussed with Narian our options for the 2 week break, for which Keshab, the manager of the hotel, told us of a community project that would welcome volunteers. They have been helping a community that were removed from the jungle through various disagreements with tribes and government to get on their feet. Through training the men in other trades, teaching the women hygiene and English and schooling the children, of which if they were too young to school, looking after them in a day care centre so the parents could work. It was a fantastic project, which he took us to see in his own time so we could make an informed decision about what we wanted to do! It was so funny when we popped into the day-care centre, as a lot of the babies had never seen a white person before. The starred at us for about 45mins solidly! Hopefully that would not be the case when we returned for a week!!
The elephant ride the following morning was
early doors, but this meant we had the best opportunity of seeing the most animals, and maybe even a Rhino or a Tiger .. eeeeek! We had a ladder up to our wooden seat on top of our heffalump, which wasn't the most comfortable after 2 hours!! We did however see a rhino, who was having a peaceful snooze until 6 elephants with Chinese esque happy snappers on top, surrounded him! We also saw monkeys, deer of varying types, a croc or 2 and many, many insects of gigantic proportions! After the ride, it was time for breakfast, and then down to the river for bath time J. There was Emily, Steph and Myself on one. After jumping on its back from the bank, she (the Nellie) walked into the river and then on command from her master, sprayed water onto her back and consequently us too! We all lay down towards her head for an utter drenching and then again, on command, she rolled over and us off her back into the river! It was hilarious, so back on we clambered for rounds 2, 3, 4 etc. It was such good fun, however avoidance of the ellie poo in
the river was also a tricky business!! It was an amazing experience though, and I think once people got over the ‘muddy' water and keep your mouth shut at all times, it was enjoyed thoroughly by all!!!
That evening it was Dan's birthday, and so myself, Libby and Becca, dressed up for the occasion in our saris, as they would soon be posted back to the UK. His wife Vicky had also organised a cake for him, and the lovely management at the hotel, gave us a round of cocktails on the house to celebrate the occasion! That night there was an incredible thunder storm, which although was miles away, lit up the sky many times over a period of hours! Stunning to watch and a fitting end to a great first few days in what is fast becoming my favourite country so far!
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