Our adventures in Chitwan National Park started the moment we arrived in Sauraha and were swarmed by jeep drivers attempting to convince us that their guest house was the best. It was overwhelming, and were told by out two new friends Emily and James that it was a small preview of India. Yikes. Found a great guest house though with a hammock and badminton net. The next morning we were walking around town when we saw a group of elephants bathing in the river. The elephants owners offered to let us ride on them in the river and "bathe" them for a mere 100 rupees ($1.25 USD). Even though we were all wearing non-swimming clothes, we couldn't pass up the chance. Each of us got to climb on the back of the elephant while it delighted in spraying us with water from its trunk and trying to dunk us underwater. (In the picture you can see me on the back of the nearest elephant and thats Eric on the elephant in the back).It succeeded everytime. haha. It was only afterwards that we were told that there were crocodiles in the river...but they wouldn't mess with an elephant, right??
Afterwards we rented bikes and rode to nearby 20,000 lake to check out birds and we saw a group of wild boars with cute little spotted babies. The next day the five of us (Ian, Eric, Emily, James, and I) embarked on our 2 day jungle safari. We started the morning off with a canoe ride down the river to get us deeper into the jungle. The canoes are carved out of huge logs and although they look unstable, we were able to fit 7 people in one with no mishaps. We saw crocodiles, peacocks, and egrets. Then we started hiking. Hiking though 15 foot fall elephant grass was a trip and felt like a whole other world. If we didn't have a guide we would have been lost in seconds! We soon came across monkeys and lots of really interesting insects. Then we heard some rustling in the bushes and saw 2 HUGE sloth bears only 50 feet from us. In my imagination they were the size of a black bear, but in reality they are probably twice that size. They watched us for a minute before loosing interest and ambling off in the other direction. In the meantime though we were all grouped together just incase they decided to charge us. No weapons are allowed in the park, so the only defense we had was sticks and wits. Later on in the same day we saw more wild boar and spotted deer.
The next day we had high hopes of seeing a tiger, but alas, we were there at the wrong season and struck out. At one point out guide Kamal thought he heard one sleeping near the lake so we tried to get it to move, but whether it was a tiger or not, we never found out for sure. The jungle was beautiful though and so much fun to hike around. The vines were amazing and grew in beautiful formations up the trees. There were colorful butterflies, and lots of bright blue kingfishers. Our third night in the park we stayed in a watchtower. It was a full moon and we could see deer in the prairie below us at night. In the morning there was an adult and baby rhino just a few hundred feet from the tower! After the safari, our bus back to town was full inside so we climbed on top and rode on the roof. The roof was packed with gear, bags of rice, and bales of wool. We clung to the top while watching for low hanging branches and power lines. At first scary, but after you found a perfect place to wedge your bottom in, it felt pretty secure. What an experience! Hopefully I'll be able to go on another wildlife safari again someday!
Our adventures in Chitwan National Park started the moment we arrived in Sauraha and were swarmed by jeep drivers attempting to convince us that their guest house was the best. It was overwhelming, and were told by out two new friends Emily and James that it was a small preview of India. Yikes. Found a great guest house though with a hammock and badminton net. The next morning we were walking around town when we saw a group of elephants bathing in the river. The elephants owners offered to let us ride on them in the river and "bathe" them for a mere 100 rupees ($1.25 USD). Even though we were all wearing non-swimming clothes, we couldn't pass up the chance. Each of us got to climb on the back of the elephant while it delighted in spraying us with water from its trunk and trying to dunk us underwater. (In the picture you can see me on the back of the nearest elephant and thats Eric on the elephant in the back).It succeeded everytime. haha. It was only afterwards that we were told that there were crocodiles in the river...but they wouldn't mess with an elephant, right??
Afterwards we rented bikes and rode to nearby 20,000 lake to check out birds and we saw a group of wild boars with cute little spotted babies. The next day the five of us (Ian, Eric, Emily, James, and I) embarked on our 2 day jungle safari. We started the morning off with a canoe ride down the river to get us deeper into the jungle. The canoes are carved out of huge logs and although they look unstable, we were able to fit 7 people in one with no mishaps. We saw crocodiles, peacocks, and egrets. Then we started hiking. Hiking though 15 foot fall elephant grass was a trip and felt like a whole other world. If we didn't have a guide we would have been lost in seconds! We soon came across monkeys and lots of really interesting insects. Then we heard some rustling in the bushes and saw 2 HUGE sloth bears only 50 feet from us. In my imagination they were the size of a black bear, but in reality they are probably twice that size. They watched us for a minute before loosing interest and ambling off in the other direction. In the meantime though we were all grouped together just incase they decided to charge us. No weapons are allowed in the park, so the only defense we had was sticks and wits. Later on in the same day we saw more wild boar and spotted deer.
The next day we had high hopes of seeing a tiger, but alas, we were there at the wrong season and struck out. At one point out guide Kamal thought he heard one sleeping near the lake so we tried to get it to move, but whether it was a tiger or not, we never found out for sure. The jungle was beautiful though and so much fun to hike around. The vines were amazing and grew in beautiful formations up the trees. There were colorful butterflies, and lots of bright blue kingfishers. Our third night in the park we stayed in a watchtower. It was a full moon and we could see deer in the prairie below us at night. In the morning there was an adult and baby rhino just a few hundred feet from the tower! After the safari, our bus back to town was full inside so we climbed on top and rode on the roof. The roof was packed with gear, bags of rice, and bales of wool. We clung to the top while watching for low hanging branches and power lines. At first scary, but after you found a perfect place to wedge your bottom in, it felt pretty secure. What an experience! Hopefully I'll be able to go on another wildlife safari again someday!
That mushroom looks like a morel! Man, the pictures are spectacular as usual! It sounds like you were scammed though. Not only did you wash a guys elephants but he managed to get you to pay for it to. You can wash Yukon for $1.50 when you come back, it's a good deal! Sounds like a pretty fantastic park though. Perhaps they have an invasive species problem with job opportunities? Don't get any parasites over there and keep having fun!
ReplyDeleteBTW, it's good you rode on top of a bus, your trip probably wouldn't have been complete if you didn't check that one off the list.
Forrest