Chitwan National Park

Hi Again

I spent 2 days in Chitwan national park. 900 sq Km of Rhino and Tiger sanctury. It’s quite expensive there so I didn’t stick around too long. On the first day we crossed the river into the park proper with a guide and did a 3 hour walk through the forest. One of the first things we found was some tiger prints we followed to the river and where there was some blood and obviously some thing had been dragged into the undergrowth. We went in to investigate and found a huge deer (the biggest I’ve ever seen) half eaten. The tiger will likely come back for more in the evening. We saw a few other small spotted deer (like Bambi*) and lots of insects and interesting plants, but not a lot else.

In the afternoon we did a 5 hour jeep ride when you get deep into the jungle where there are lots of vines and things you half expect to see Tarzan swing across the road. Sadly we saw nothing bigger than a kingfisher early on, but there are some really pretty birds there, over 500 species in total, including the wild jungle foul, or chicken to you and I. Was stopped at a Gharial crocodile conservation center. They’re pretty awesome beasts. On the way back we saw a few troops of monkeys, a peacock doing a dance and finally, with in site of the river to cross back a huge stag. It was much bigger than anything we have in the uk, it was almost as tall as me standing up in the jeep and not at all bothered by us being there.

We crossed back, it’d been a nice day in the park but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed not to see a Rhino (Tiger sightings are really rare). We sat outside a bar on some loungers on the river bank chatted about the day and watched the sun set, and then with no warning a rhino just trotted passed on the other side of the river. It was still a long way away but pretty cool to see one in wild. It had a stand off with a man riding an elephant for a minute and then ran along the beach/shore and into the long grass.

(the photos of the Rhino didn't really come out)

The next day I had a long overdue lie in and got up in time to join in with the park elephants bathing at the river, which basically turned into elephant rodeo.

All good fun. I spent the afternoon in the community forest or buffer zone around the park reading and watching the world go by. There’s been a few rhino sightings there but I just saw the locals at work with elephants collecting a few logs.

Also i'm not sure about the cocktails in Chitwan...

(see monkey gland and nightlife)

Yesterday I had the long bus ride to Kathmandu, where I’m beginning to find my bearings and am sat in the tom an jerry pub right now as recommended by Ms Wilkinson (cheers Charlie)

Let you all know how drunk I get soon.

*Indecently Bambi’s parents were two different species of deer, both found in the park, thanks Disney for confusing generations.