How to scare a Rhino.

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Our first day in Chitwan we got a room at Tiger lodge with the other westerners from the bus ride there - Micky (Isreal), a Canadian and an Assie. I can't remember the names of the others, but let's call them Bruce and Can - OK?
We took a look around the small town and checked out prices and then booked a elephant ride into the Terai to see Rhinos, and a full day hike into the park as far as the Crocodile sanctuary, a night in a village there and back the next morning.
The elephant ride was with the four of us on top plus the 'driver' and it was a pretty lolling, uncomfortable ride. We saw a Black Rhino in a water hole straight away which was great, and then not so much in the rest of our ride. We all did get a turn to be the 'driver' though - which involved steering the elephant with your feet.
The next morning we got up early and went down to the river to start our hike. The first stage of our hike was to traverse the river so we all got in a long narrow boat which was very unstable. We had heard many stories of people getting tipped out of these boats crossing the river, so we were pretty careful. The current was pretty strong, which caused quite a problem for the ferryman. We eventually got close enough to the far back to get out and walk - which wasn't that close, but we all took our footwear off and paddled about 30m.
It was great to be walking through the Terai, in the heat on our safari. The guidebook told us that we would be getting a guide and a safety - a man with a gun. We ended up with a guide and his young friend, and one of them had a big stick. What he would do with this against a Rhino we weren't too sure... but we would find out soon.
We walked through the elephant grass (huge grass as tall as a tree) for about an hour and then we met up with another foot safari. They were crouched looking at a Rhino, which was great for us, because I'm not sure our guide could find a Rhino if it was sharing a kitchen with him. (Actually the guide we were supposed to get was 'ill' that morning).
When we saw the Rhino through the small trees and bushes Tim started edging towards it to get a good photo. It was about 20m away from us - Tim closer than myself and I found a good strong tree to run up if trouble started. Tim didn't seem to have quite the right angle, or proximity and was continuing towards the huge beast. I was a little concerned about Micky - the Isreali girl since she may not be so good at getting up a tree if the animal was to charge.
The Rhino sensed we were there - I guess by the smell since their eyesight is terrible - but mind you Tim was so close maybe it did see him. It turned it's head towards us and then our guide lept into action - banging his big stick on the ground and shouting. The Rhino then turned and ran away from us through a few large bushes which was pretty impressive. Tim was bummed that he didn't get a chance to take the photo.
We headed on through the extremely hot Terai and crossed a few small rivers (carried by our trusty Nepali guides). We saw Tiger footprints, but that was as close as we got to those elusive beasts.
At about 3pm we got pretty close to the Village where we would be staying the night and Micky & Bruce decided to head there rather than check out the Croc sanctuary (wimps).
Tim, Can & I carried on down the river and came upon the Croc sanctuary - it had cages full of Nepali crocs of all different ages - labelled on the outside. We walked around and looked at them all and then when no-one was watching Tim and Can decided to get their photos taken with some that were reasonbly young, but not so young as to not scare the #@%! out of them. So fun was had by all.
We headed back to the village, crossed the river using another dodgy boat and saw a beautiful sunset over the lake and Terai. Dinner was basic and Micky wasn't getting the attention or pampering she needed. Bruce had got annoyed with the facilities and headed out on his own towards 'town'. This caused us some amusement, and we weren't too surprized to see him back within the hour because 'there was nothing in town'.
The next morning we waited an age for a bus to take us back to Tiger lodge. We got so far, and then our guide told us we needed to change buses. We wanted to get back at a certain time so we could catch the bus to Katmandu with all our gear. We ended up hitching on the side of the road - all 6 of us, and then cramming into the small cab of a truck driven by a friendly large Sikh. We got back to the lodge just in time to grab our bags and jump into the jeep for the ride to the bus. whew! Kathmandu here we come...

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