Royal Chitwan National Park

You may be wondering why the Royal is crossed out in the photo above? Well the word Royal has been scrubbed off nearly all signs referring to the national park due to politics (no surprise there then). In fact, Nepal has removed Royal references from many official titles. In 2001 The Crown Prince Dipendra gunned down almost every member of his family during a knees up in Kathmandu. The only person to survive the scene (as we understand it) was Paras, the son of Gyanendra. Gyanendra himself was in Pokhara at the time and was pronounced the King of Nepal. Since then the political situation has gone from bad to worse with the King dissolving the government twice - once in 2002 and then again in 2005. Parliamentary democracy was begrudgingly given back by the King in 2006 following the deaths of 16 protesters and mass demonstrations in Nepal. Not long after, the new Parliament then reduced the King to a figure head ending the power that the royal Shah lineage had enjoyed for over 200 years! All that shenanigans aside; the now called “Chitwan National Park” really is something.

After taking the decision to go to the park the previous day, we arrived after what now seems to us as a short bus journey (4 or 5 hours). We got off at a bus station in the middle of a field and were greeted by the usual mob of touts. The guy I spoke to straight away spoke clearly and his taxi ride to where we wanted to go was cheaper than the book recommends, so we just went with him which saved us from the mob quite quickly. We did have in mind somewhere to check out on the hotel front prior to getting off the bus and we wanted to be dropped in that area. After a few minutes in the car the tout suggested a place to us, which actually turned out to be the one we were thinking of anyway, so we headed there. We arrived at the Jungle Adventure Lodge in Sauraha within minutes and got out of the car to see that it is fairly well right on the Rapti river. It had a good feel to it straight away with friendly staff and nice little bungalows al la Thailand (but about two stars smarter we would say). We then had to go about the task of deciding what we would do as they were offering us cheaper rooms if we took a safari package. We got our heads around the deal and said that we would have lunch in order to discuss it. During that lunch we got chatting to the head guide (Raju) and he told us about the jungle walk he had just completed. My ears pricked up and he came across as a spot on bloke. He was making all the right noises with regards to respecting the wildlife and the surroundings, plus he was of a good age (he had been guiding for 16 years or so). We couldn’t arrange anything with the guide so it was just a case of discussing costs for each option with the tout (who we now knew to be called Chris) and then make a decision based on that. Once Chris returned from picking up a couple of Chinese tourists we sat and talked turkey. By now I was really hankering for the walk but costs could have been an issue. As it turned out it was only a small margin between the Safari package and the walk so Dipi agreed and reluctantly agreed to go on the two day Jungle Trek (she had had elephant riding and chilling out in mind so it was quite a change of plan). We paid up and went for a walk down to the river to take in the surroundings.

Whilst we were there we got told by a smartly dressed guy that there was an information centre just up from where we were so decided to take a look. We walked along with him and he talked us through a large map of the park when we got to the information centre. It then became obvious that he worked for a Tour Company and was talking us through programmes that he could offer. Out of curiosity on the money front more than anything, we went to his office and he talked us through some costs. It was way less than what we had just paid for at the lodge! We were obviously a little annoyed and went straight back to the hotel to find out exactly why there was such a difference. When we got there, there was an American guy sat talking to the staff (we had seen him earlier in the day and he had just come back from the jungle walk and looked very happy about it which obviously put some weight behind our original decision). We brought up the subject of costs and after a bit of awkward discussion we decided that we were happy with what we were paying for as we allegedly had the best guide in town and the American guy also beamed about the service he had been given. The lodge also donates part of their profits to the local orphanage which the manager is largely involved with (he used to be an orphan there). This might sound like a story to all you cynics out there but it was ‘true as’ (as the Kiwis would say), so we were ok with everything and hoped that it was the right choice.
That evening we headed off to a place right on the river for sunset and it made an impressive backdrop for a beer.

We ate in a really cheap family run place away from the river front that had made the effort with their tables and decorations out front. The food turned out to be great and the family were fun too. Things were feeling and looking good so we went to bed in anticipation of the early start in the morning.

6am and the alarm sounded. We had packed the previous night so all we had to do was get dressed, have breakfast and dump our bags in storage. Raju our guide arrived and we set off out into the misty morning and up river to get the first crossing which would end up planting us on the other side into the world of Tigers, Rhinos and Bears........

We had a short safety briefing from Raju which basically involved him explaining how to run away from Tigers, Rhinos and Bears. If we were met face to face with a Bear we needed to make loads of noise to tell it to give us way, either climb a tree or run zig zag if we saw a Rhino, and if we saw a Tiger we basically had to hope for the best! With these instructions in our minds we set off sheepishly into the jungle.

The place had such an atmosphere to it in the mist, it was like entering into the unknown (to us) and we were on foot! We walked along a pathway with Raju leading in front with his ear jutting out from under a woollen cap like red hot radars (the other guide, Kamal, was behind us and both of them had a big stick). It was after spotting some monkeys that Raju stopped dead in his tracks after hearing a twig break in the undergrowth. It would seem that we had some action after only half an hour of walking! He stood for a moment listening, looking as alert as you like, and then ushered us smartly up the path until we were well past the area. We then stopped and were told to get behind him as we looked down the path and waited. After a short while, roughly where we had been listening from, a Sloth Bear appeared.

This was such a buzz! He moped about a bit and clawed at a tree before turning away from us and plodding off in the other direction.

We quickly gave pursuit as he turned a slight corner. We quietly rushed to the corner and stopped to have a look round. We were now pretty close to the bear. Raju let out a loud knock noise with his tongue and the bear turned round to have a look at us!

He stood for a second looking at us before plodding off into the jungle. Our first wild bear and it was a great start to the day!
We turned up the path well happy and fell back into line between Raju and Kamal. The going got a little tougher as we headed through Elephant Grass country for a good couple of hours.

We hit the river briefly where we caught our first glimpse of a Gharial, a fresh water crocodile with slim elongated jaws, swimming up river and also saw some Red Jungle Fowl. We then entered the Sal (a type of tree) Forest and were relieved to be done with the long grass as it was starting to get a bit tedious. The forest was quite cool and we saw a Summer Deer (the largest in the jungle) which scared the hell out of us by making a loud alarm call (like a car horn) and bolting off into the Jungle. Raju was as alert as ever and he started to point out some tracks that we had not seen yet. No prizes for guessing who they belonged to.

It was now starting to sink in that we could actually come across a tiger out here at any moment. (This was actually not the largest or freshest print we saw on the journey, but we only have pictures of this one). Raju also pointed out to us some termite mounds, the differences between bear and tiger scratches on the trees along with spotting many types of birds (the jungle is a twitchers dream). The next few hours passed without much action as the animals rest up in the middle of the day and start to get active again around three. We covered quite a bit of ground and approached the lake, by which we had been promised to see many birds, crocodiles and perhaps some rare one-horned rhinos. It was around 12.30 and we were looking forward to taking lunch in the viewing tower by the lake. This was until Raju again stopped in his tracks (for the umpteenth time) and gestured for us to listen. We heard a loud crunching and stomping noise from across the lake and Raju turned to us with a smile and said ‘Rhino’. Within seconds he was tracking back to find a vantage point to gaze across the lake into the long grass on the far side. The sounds came again and he could now spot them, so we headed off to the nearest, most appropriate tree to climb!

There we could see the grasses on the far side being knocked about accompanied by a sound track of squishing mud and water, cracking wood grass vegetation along with the odd deep breath from the rhinos themselves as they grazed. It felt like we were in Jurassic Park! Then Raju pointed to the area behind the grasses and said ‘there Rhino!’ We could see the large grey back of a Rhino at about 100m’s away. Dipi had the first go on the Binoculars and managed to catch a glimpse up close before it headed off into the jungle, all the while the bushes were still moving and crunching around in front of us so our attention went back to this area. We were up that tree for probably an hour looking and watching the vegetation moving around, every now and then we saw small parts of the rhino’s as they moved through or stopped to have a munch. We didn’t manage to see the whole animal but felt very lucky to have seen what we did (we didn’t get any photos of this as it was practically impossible to get a good snap as we needed our hands to hold on to the tree!).
We clambered down and continued our way towards the viewing tower but not before spotting our first wild Marsh Muggers which are a different type of crocodile (the term “mugger” was inspired by these creatures - it was adopted by the English after seeing locals get taken by the crocs in India).

After scaling the tower.......

........we opened up our packed lunch that the hotel had prepared for us and had lunch there (the packed lunch itself was a bit minging and squashed!).
Our lunch break actually turned out to be quite a while as it was a noted rhino spot and we were waiting for the animals to start moving around again. We filled in the time with watching some birds and spotting some more crocs (Dipi also had a little snooze!), but no more rhinos were spotted.

We moved off leaving a group of five tourists and two guides behind us. We tracked along the grass line when Raju did his stopping act again. He leapt up a tree and beckoned us up. We spent about half an hour looking into the undergrowth as a rhino and her baby moved through it.

Raju’s tactics with regards to spotting the creatures is anticipating their next move. He was telling us to concentrate on an area where he thought the rhinos would come out of, same as he did with the bear. All was going ok until some noisy army lads turned up and scuppered the operation sending the rhinos deeper into the greenery. They passed and then the group of five tourists waltzed in from the other side along with their guides. They conversed loudly with Raju who by now was in the area we were looking at, and we were then instructed to come down and join them. Raju pointed us in the direction of where the rhino now was as one of the guides from the other party headed off towards it. We couldn’t actually believe what he was doing and Raju dragged us out of it as these cowboys shouted across to each other in Nepali. We were starting to appreciate the extra cost that went with our package as we had a top guide in Raju!! He explained how dangerous it was on the short walk to the river where at one point he accidentally trod on a snake. I noticed it as I was right behind him and I practically tripped over the thing trying to miss it with my feet! It was bright green and (after swearing about treading on it) Raju informed us it was a Pit Viper!! Luckily it was late in the day and it was quite sluggish as the temperature had dropped (it may have been different if the snake was full of life). It slid off into the grass a little shakily but seemed to be ok. We took a boat back over the river to the lodge where we would stay that evening.


Morning broke and we were off down the river bank once again to catch that same boat back into the park.

We landed on the other bank and shortly into the jungle Raju knelt by a tree....

.....laid some flowers, lit some incense and said a prayer for our safety.

As we walked off Raju’s skills were in full flight and it was not long before he had spotted many deer in the bushes. We passed the same area where we had seen the rhinos the day previous and heard, what we were told was, two rhinos fighting. That Jurassic Park feeling was back but this time round the area was shrouded in mist. We didn’t get any shots of them but some of the deer made it out onto the track to pose (again they were spotted a bloody mile off by Raju).

We passed by the Crocodile Breeding Farm and had opted to skip this the previous evening. Reason being that Raju could get us to an area where we were more likely to see tigers by a certain time if we skipped it. The morning walk was relentlessly straight from then on. The monotony was broken at intervals of course for Raju’s sudden stops (always keeps you on your toes) and deer crossing our path (we were also starting to pick up more tiger tracks).

We were trudging along at one point when Raju stopped in his tracks again, looked round at us and at the same time we heard a deep growl from not too far away in the bush. Raju confirmed what we were all thinking.... Tiger! Dipi had a look of terror on her face, I was grinning inanely and Raju’s eyes were wide open and alert! Employing tactics previously seen, he ushered us along the path explaining that the Tiger was close and that it was warning us. He could see us but we could not see him! Once away from the area we found a log to sit on and peer back down the path with our hearts in our mouths. We had actually heard a tiger and this was now starting to sink in. It was tense!!

Unluckily (or luckily?) the Tiger did not show, which was a real choker but we did console ourselves in the knowledge that we had come pretty close to a wild Bengal Tiger. It felt like a result and it gave us plenty of excitement!
Onward we went.....quietly!
An early lunch was called for as we had been walking pretty much flat out since 6.30 am so we sat down at 11 to tuck into our pack lunch. Dipi was starting to feel the bite of the walking and amazingly, her trekking boots (the ones she walked in for ten days on the trek and had no problems with) were now starting to give her blisters! We assumed all this walking on the flat would be a piece of cake but it was actually pretty tough going. Raju had explained to us that we needed to get through the grasslands by 2pm in order to be safe. The next section could resemble a bowling alley with the rhinos as the Balls and people as Skittles! (My analogy not Raju’s by the way). So we needed to pass through when the animals are least active.

All day we had been looking forward to getting to a lake that Raju had told us about. He had mentioned to us previously that there was a 90% chance of seeing rhinos there and as we hadn’t seen one properly yet we were quite excited when we eventually ended up in the area of the lake. We tiptoed through the mud and undergrowth to get close to the lake with signs of rhinos all around us in the form of many huge foot prints and piles of poo! We tracked along the side of the lake (which is a spring fed salt water hole) stopping periodically to have a look around. Raju led us to a part of the lake where it shallows to a mud flat with light vegetation on top. This is where we spotted a load of deer at the far end grazing. The animals come here to drink, graze and eat the mud which is rich in minerals.

We perched ourselves up a tree (not for the first time) and watched the deer.

One even came up quite close and he was a real handsome fella. He eventually spotted us and stared right at us stamping his front feet (a warning for the others). But as he was in the mud he didn’t make much noise with his stamping! I moved slightly and he let out a loud shriek / barking noise and all the dear at the far end stopped grazing and looked our way. They started to filter out of the clearing as he let out a couple more shrieks and bolted off into the jungle (where we heard him shriek some more from the undergrowth as he charged through it).
Can you spot the Deer?

Damn, now there was nothing to look at! We waited and watched for some time with the odd deer coming back into view to graze and things got a little cramped.

We must have been there for 1 ½ hours and it was getting quite late and a little boring. Between Dipi and I, we had kind of given up hope of seeing a rhino properly when a lone deer that was grazing disappeared from view. About a minute or so later, as Dipi was returning from a visit to the bushes, something large and grey bounced down the embankment at the far end. Rhino!!

Instantly the mood changed and we were all buzzing and smiling at each other as we shifted around to get a good look at him. It was quite a moment seeing a wild one-horned rhino in full view and he was gradually getting closer and closer.


We took some video footage of him and watched him for about half an hour as he got closer and closer. He ended up getting as close to us as the noisy deer which was probably only 30m away from us if that. It would have been great to stay and watch him some more as I’m sure he would have got closer, but the day was now getting on and we had to leave.

He was pointed in the direction that we needed to go so we had to give him a wide birth and quickly run through in order to get out of there. It was all quite exciting stuff! A minute or so after this Raju stopped yet again and leapt up a tree. He instructed us up the tree quickly and as we got up we could see why. We had a very clear view of a rhino and her calf taking a dip in a small river short distance from us! This was just too good to be true! We sat watching as the mother laid down in the stream and the baby stomped about a bit. This was actually quite bad for us as we needed to pass by this area and the mother looked like she wanted to do some chilling out! (You can only see the Calf here as the mother is behind the greenery)

Kamal was instructed by Raju to go along and attempt to spook her out of there so we could pass by. It worked and we watched them both steam roll their way through the bushes (the mother did turn to have a look before turning off again, it was a tense moment!) They didn’t go too far so we had to quickly and quietly jog out of there, bent at the knees all stealthy like. We only slowed when we were well down the main track again where we all looked at each other and laughed quietly and congratulated each other. We all got a kick from what had just happened! Raju told us that he never misses the rhinos at that spot but, what with the day being cooler, the rhinos left it quite late to turn up.
It was a short walk back to the river where we were to cross for the last time. This in itself was a stunning sight with the snow capped mountains in the distance.


That evening we were surprised to find out that we would be staying with a local family and not at a guest house. It turned out to be a really fun evening and we were glad it turned out that way. We had fun with the kids and the family, and the food was good too. (It was also a good chance to get some perspective on the western world and what we have!)




We had had a great couple of days and saw almost everything that we could have done (bar the Tiger of course, but we were not expecting to actually see one). We have to say that without Raju the experience would have been completely different and we don’t think we would have seen a fraction of the things with anyone else. He was constantly alert to every sound and movement in the jungle, and his respect for the surroundings and animals was unsurpassed. We also felt completely safe and in good hands the whole time we were there. All this and he was a lovely guy (Kamal was also cool). So we salute the red hot radar that is Raju!


CHILLING BACK AT THE RANCH
We had only planned to stay a couple of days at Chitwan so when we got back we were expecting to leave the next day. This plan was changed and we decided to stay another day and then the next day we decided to stay another day in the morning and by the afternoon we had added yet another day to the stay. Now I’m not sure how many days that adds up to but from arriving here we have now spent a total of 6 days! It is very chilled out here and Dipi also wanted to go to the Elephant Breeding Centre along with having a bath with the elephants!! So for the last few days we have been taking it very easy, catching sunsets.....

.....checking out the elephants at the breeding centre....

.....eating good local food and Dipi has been rolling around in the river with elephants! (I didn’t get many photos as I spent the time recording the comedy on the video camera!)


Not really knowing what to expect, Dipi was taken out into the river on the back of the elephant, firstly in the shallows where the elephant filled its’ trunk with water and then threw it all back over its’ head and all over Dipi. After a few goes of this the handler pointed the elephant towards the deeper faster flowing water. The elephant ploughed through this like it wasn’t there and then (after instruction from the handler) gave a little wobble of his large arse which sent Dipi back flipping off and over said large arse into the river! After a tense second or so she appeared 10 odd meters downstream coughing, spluttering and laughing; it was hilarious! In order for her to get back up stream the elephant was instructed to lay sideways on to the current which cut the flow down considerably, therefore allowing her to walk back up and onto the elephant. This happened a couple more times in less spectacular fashion, but in equally strong currents and at one point Dipi looked a little concerned about the strength of it! But she stayed fast and was soon safely back on board and on her way in none the worse for the experience and grinning from ear to ear. It was a proper fun way to spend the morning and we went down to watch the bathing again during our stay as it’s very entertaining. Chitwan has been very good to us and it’s been a great break from the hiking and the madness of India. As we sit here now, someone at this great lodge (very good service and staff) is sorting out our bus tickets from the boarder to Varanasi where the madness will no doubt resume. It is going to be tough leaving here but we have to get on the move again. We would highly recommend Chitwan. It is beautiful and the locals are top notch.