Advertisement
Published: April 22nd 2005
We did get closer than that
I was too scared to pull out the camera when we were really near the crocs, so here's a shot of a baby croc - he's the real tiny thing in the centre.Day two in Chitwan and today promised crocodiles and baby elephants. The day started early with a morning canoe down a river apparently full of crocs. Thankfully most of them were still sleeping, so there was no chance of us getting eaten while paddling down the river.
Our guide was a bit too bold and decided to take us a bit too close to the crocodile holes - holes dug into the bank of the river in which the crocs slept. We actually got within a meter of full sized sleeping crocs. We could see their heads and noses sticking out of the water. It was a bit nerve wrecking because at one point the snout of the croc was pointing right at me and we were only a meter away - way too close for comfort. Too make things worse, the guide decided to point at the croc with a really long stick and looked like he was going to whack the croc on the head.
We also got to see a baby croc lying on the bank. We've decided that most animals have cute babies. However, crocs are the one exception. Their babies are just as ugly
Our canoe guy Jim
Okay, he looked more like a Venkataprakash or something, but we prefer to call him Jim. which perhaps explains why mother crocs abandon their babies after birth. I would too if my offspring looked like that. Some mothers even eat their own babies - probably out of disgust for bringing something so ugly into this world.
Our knowledable guide also pointed out a number of pretty birds including a brilliant blue kingfisher. I never realised they were so small.
After the canoe ride, we were taken to the local elephant breeding centre to see baby elephants. I was always under the impression that baby elephants were also ugly, but was proven wrong. Melenie went gaga over them and took a hundred photos.
- Photo 1 - baby elephant with left foot in air.
- Photo 2 - baby elephant with right foot in air.
- Photo 3 - baby elephant still with right foor in air.
- Photo 4 - baby elephant going to the toilet
We also got to see an elephant that was almost dead. Apparently the local wild elephants like to break into the elephant breeding centre to visit the numerous female elephants. Unforunately the resident male of the centre doesn't like other intruders, and thus there
Cute little babies
Elephants may be ugly, but surprisingly their babies can somethings look quite cute. are often fights between the male wild elephants and the resident male. In this case, the resident male was brutally stabbed. The poor guy was at deaths door - all we saw was a really skinny elephant lying on his side with a number of vets standing around.
We found out though that this particular near-death elephant was actually a very naughty elephant. He was quite violent, frequently attempting to trample his trainers. In fact, he had even once actually killed one of his trainers. Thus, the old adage, 'live by the sword, die by the sword' rings true.
In the afternoon we flew back to Kathmandu and that night decided to forget about sampling local cuisine and went to a local steak house. We got these massive steaks for the bargain price of $6 each. It felt so good to eat beef, because beef isn't common in India and Nepal since most Hindus don't eat beef.
Thus ended our final day in Nepal. The next day we were off to Tibet and would get the chance of flying over the famous Mount Everest.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.354s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 19; qc: 96; dbt: 0.1098s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Enjoyed reading your blog. Very well written. Some suggestions on taking elephant pictures: 1. Elephant with both front legs in the air 2. Elephant with both rear feet in the air and the best 3. Elephant with all 4 in the air!1 Can you do this? If you have missed it, you can have another chance. You can do this in good old Sri lanka Dad