Off to the Jungle

Chitwan National Park

With a whole week of free time on my hands, I decided to travel to the Terai region in Southern Nepal. The jungle was very popular for poaching in the late 50s and 60s and a large percentage of the animals were killed. Fortunately, it became a world Heritage site in 1984. Chitwan was the first national park established in Nepal and by far the most popular. The activities available range from bumpy jungle safaris to performances from the local indigenous people.

How to get there

Chitwan is easily accessible from everywhere in Nepal. I opted for the Greenline tourist bus. It costs 40 dollars return which includes lunch. The bus leaves from Thamel at 7am in the morning and takes 6 hours. It's quite comfortable and they stop twice for it's passengers to stretch their legs and dash to the bathroom. Apart from the fact that I suffered from severe motion sickness the entire journey, the right was quite pleasant and as we delved deeper into the valley, there were some fantastic views and some great photo ops. The lunch was "ok" but it's exactly the same menu both ways.

view from the bus through tinted windows taken with my phone

Greenline Tours

http://www. Greenline.com.np/

Where to stay

We stayed in a small hotel called 'Chitwan Village Resort' located on the outskirts of Sahaura which is the closest civilization has gotten to the jungle. The location could not have been more perfect. We were only about 15 minutes walk from the entrance to the national park and we weren't next to the river which meant that although it was less picturesque, we weren't ravaged by mosquitos (well we still had some troubles see below). Our room had soft mattresses, duvets and very hot showers that left you steaming and pink. Ramesh the manager/owner of the hotel was really welcoming and organized all our tours for us so we could just relax. The food wasn't good but since we were so close to the village, it wasn't a problem. What was especially attractive about the hotel for me was the fact that the farm next door had two elephants that were bathed every day. I could see them from the chair outside my room.

Chitwan Village Resort

http://www.chitwanvillageresort.com/

What to do 

There were a few things that were high on my list of priorities of things to do during my stay. Right at the top was riding an elephant. As a child, I had seen elephants zoos but I had never actually touched one and was very anxious to do so. I also really wanted to see a tiger but I didn't have any expectations on that front. As I have previously mentioned, we didn't have to organize anything has the hotel offered all the activities we wanted. We opted to relax the first evening as the journey had left us both quite drained and neither of us were keen on getting back in a vehicle. We decided instead to roam the village in search of somewhere exiting to eat. We could hear load music from somewhere in the village and decided to find the source. It ended up being this food festival that happens every year around this time. Although it was no match for the farmer's market back home but there was a nice atmosphere. It was mostly just the restaurants that had a stand but there were also some NGO's selling some cute little felt figurines.

Sunset in the foggy sky. The view from the food festival

Roast wild boar at KC's

On the second day we had a Jungle Safari scheduled for midday which gave us plenty of time to sleep in. I lazily got up around 9 and lounged in the sun until I was ravenous enough to have an early lunch. When it was time to set out, we walked down to the water's edge and after a short wait for passes, we were swiftly crossing the lake in a wooden canoe. Once we reached the other side, we piled into jeeps and set out on our adventure...

some deer escaping into the woods

The fist thing we encountered were some deer. Funnily enough, I'd never seen any in real life before. Unfortunately, they were frightened away when a second jeep pulled up behind us full of loud, obnoxious korean tourists armed with selfie sticks. We continued along the road with the soft air discretely knotting my hair and warming my skin and delved deeper into the jungle. After an hour or so, we arrived at the crocodile breeding farm which which despite it's exiting name, wasn't nearly as exiting as I thought is was going to be. The crocodiles were all just sleeping behind fences and there was no one to show us around. 

some lazy crocs having an afternoon snooze

It was nice to stretch our legs after being in the jeep for so long though and it gave me the opportunity to make the acquaintance of some fellow nomads. After that we drove back through the forest taking a more isolated route and got some beautiful views of the sunset and I even glimpsed a tiger! When I say glimpsed, I mean I saw it's rear as it disappeared into the bushes. Once we got back, we were absolutely starved and decided to go for an early dinner at KC's (the place that was advertising the roasted wild boar at the food festival). I had a chicken tikkka masala and a garlic naan washed down with a Turbourg and it was very satisfying. The garlic naan was one of the best I had ever tasted and I would highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates strong flavours like myself. Exhausted and very full, we headed back to the hotel. 

The next morning, I was due to go on an early morning canoe ride but I had been sick the night before and decided to give it a miss. I heard from some of the other hotel residents that it was spectacularly beautiful but that there wasn't very much wildlife out and about so early in the morning. By afternoon, I was recovered and decided to go for an elephant ride in the community forest on the other side of the village which was still within walking distance of the hotel but as there were several people from the hotel doing at the same time, they very kindly organized a jeep for us. 

me feeding an elephant a banana

I have to say that this is probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. I've done a lot of horse-riding in the past and was expecting it to be somewhat similar.  There were some similarities but the differences greatly outweighed them. I had to put my trust in the man sitting on the front of the elephant while we were packed in a little basket behind him. It wasn't as comfortable as a saddle but felt quite safe in the confines of my little square of space within the basket. The animals in the forest are not remotely phased by the elephants and we got to see a lot more wildlife at a far greater proximity than in the jeep. The high-light was coming across a mother and baby rhino grazing in a field. I would not have liked to come across them on foot because they're huge and the fact that their skin looks like it's literally made out of concrete doesn't make them look any more cuddly. 

mama and baby rhino

sunset in the community forest

some random advice:

The first night at the hotel, both my friend and I were ravaged by mosquitos leaving us with itchy bites all over our faces and arms. However, by the second night we were resolved to keep the rest of our blood and set out to find some sort of solution. My friend told me that they didn't like fans. I was skeptical about this idea but in my desperation, gave it a go anyways and it worked! I don't know if its the cold air or the fact that they can't fly around as well and frankly I couldn't care less but the main point is we woke up the next morning bite free.