chitwan national park

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In the south of Nepal is an amazing national park called Chitwan. This place is packed with wildlife and very protected. We stayed here for three days at a small camp called Island Jungle Resort. It was on an island in the middle of a river. It's all about the wildlife here. Rhino, leapord, deer, monkey, tons of birds, and of course the elusive tiger.

After a long leg numbing bus ride from Kathmandu we arrived and checked into our hut, which were all named after birds. Just like summer camp right? Then without wasting any time, we were whisked off for the first of many nature walks. There were about seven of us and one guide with bamboo pole. Before we started the walk, he rattled off the list of rules.

"I we are attacked by a rino, climb a tree. If we see a tiger, back away slowly. If we see a bear, don't move unless it attacks us. If it attacks us, huddle together and yell real loud. Bear is small but most dangerous of all." Then he lifts up his pantleg to show us one of the gnarliest scars i've ever seen. I wish we had a picture of it. He had four fang marks the size of quarters on his calf where a bear had bitten him seven years ago. "When bear attacked, guests ran away. If bear attacks, stay together."

So began our first nature walk. Every few minutes our guide would stop and hold up his hand, like he could smell or hear something, and look off into the bush. We didn't see any actual animals the first day, but lots of various poops.

But the next day, on another nature walk, we did see a rino. we spent about 20 minutes tracking it, followed by about ten minutes of chasing after it as it crashed through the thick jungle undergrowth. It was totally exciting, and we got a couple close up views when he would stop running to look at us. After the walk was a boat ride down the river where we saw some crocodiles sunbathing on the sand. When our boat came close they scampered into the water.

Later that afternoon was elephant riding where we did more crashing throught the jungle, but this time we were dodging tree branches instead of bushes. It was an amazing experience to ride an elephant through elephant grass. The grass was way taller than us, even sitting on an elephant.

Then came "elephant bathing." It was so cool. Elephants are so powerful but so gentle. Their skin is super tough and warm to the touch. The elelphant sucks up water through its trunk and sprays you like a firehose.

That night we went on another nature walk hoping to spot a tiger. No tiger, but we did see some strange creature called a sable cat eating from the garbage dump. We did see some tiger poop, though. So we knew they were out there watching us.

Chitwan was like being in a zoo but being inside the animals cages.

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Photos

jungle walk
these guys were crazy. they would do anything for us to get up close to a rhino.

elephant bathtime
they call this elephant bathing but its more like elephant rodeo. undewater.

elephant ride
after their bath, the trainers painted there ears and trunk and head to look good for their rides.

shadow
Kim took this picture while riding an elephant and you can see our shadow.

elephant grass
this is elephant grass. it grows up to 20 feet tall and elephants like to eat it. tigers and rhinos like to hide in it too. this was taken from the top of an elephant so you can see how tall it is.