Blogs from Chitwan, Nepal, Asia - page 18

Well what an experience!!! We took 2 guides and went walking through the Chitwan national park, the advice when we got off the canoe and into the scrub land was this..... "If a rhino charges at you run in a zig zag and try find a tree to hide behind" "If you see a tiger which is rare (but one killed 3 cows nearby the other day) don’t run, face the tiger and don’t look away" "If you see a bear there’s no point climbing a tree they can climb too stand back to back to each other" "Walk flat footed as there are many poisonous snakes and if one bites you then it can be a problem" ok ....so I’m basically walking through the jungle and scrub shitting myself that a tiger is going to ... read more

Chitwan National Park We were in for a long, dusty ride down from Pokhara to Chitwan National Park in the south but the changing scenary kept me entertained along the way. We also had a luxurious (in comparison to the minibus) coach to spread out in which made things a lot more comfortable. There were actually seat belts and even the chance to watch a DVD - strangley no-one was interested in watching the only choice - Cannonball Run! The driver was also a lot better and took great care to avoid any bumps and ruts in the road (not for our sake you understand - this coach was his pride and joy!). The scenary along the way started to change from mountains to hills to plains. We travelled for a long while by a huge ... read more

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. After a lot of strong coffee, we felt sufficiently human to do a bit of shopping, and then hit the internet cafe for a few hours so I could catch up on the blog. At 4pm we were back at Park ... read more

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 a state of apparent near-death. Without much for us to do, we wished Imanou a safe trip home (he was on the next bus to Kathmandu and from there was on a flight back to Spain) and ... read more

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 drew military forces away from guarding the animals, allowing poachers an opening for a killing spree and thus reducing the already slight animal numbers. I'm so glad we went, after all. We wanted to do ... read more