5-7 January 2011
Within minutes of arriving on an island in the middle of the Narayani River in Chitwan National Park we were riding on an elephant in search of wildlife. While I was slightly disturbed by burdening this beautiful animal by riding on its back, I was quickly entranced by its graceful maneuvers and its alarming ability to snap arm-sized braches with a twist of its trunk. As we rode along at the level of the secondary canopy, we were able to closely examine the dense green jungle and its stands of 20 foot high elephant grass (Saccharum sp.). Rambling along seemingly nonexistent paths, we began to notice that our elephant took a particular glee in coiling thin vines around his trunk and pulling on them until large sections of the canopy came crashing down around us. He seemed a little disgruntled, like a 5 year old boy begging for someone to watch him jump off a swing set.
Luckily for us, one of the groups had spotted a one-horned rhino. The elephant handlers communicated in the forest with a series of loud shouts and suddenly we were traveling at full speed (and hanging on for dear life) towards a distant “cooeee”. We made it to where the rhino was in just a few minutes and came within just a few meters of where a rhino was quietly munching on a tree. The rhino was huge and its skin had the strange appearance of concrete. The one thing I especially liked about this half ton of animal was its adorable little ears. They looked soft, twitched with every small noise, and had a more delicate texture than the rest of the beast. So cute! After a few minutes of pure voyeurism the rhino escaped into the dense vegetation and was out of view --- I think our presence annoyed him. Happy to have seen such an awesome animal, we all headed back to camp.
At dinner that night we were surprised to find our Lukla-mate Geoff was amongst the 20 or so guests staying on the island. We were all trapped in Lukla together back in November when our flights were cancelled for bad weather. Geoff was smart enough to get out after just five days, while we lingered for eight. He had returned to Nepal after a month and a half to do some paragliding near Pokhara. What are the chances of that?
Over the next two days we spent a lot of time walking, driving, and riding elephants looking for wildlife. And while the forest was beautiful and I was particularly infatuated with the riparian forest (who needs tigers?)- we really didn’t see much. When our guide gave us our “jungle instructions” he became very nervous when he got to the part about the sloth bear. His leg began to involuntarily shake, his eyes got a little larger, and his voice haltingly exclaimed “the most dangerous animal of them all”. This made me giggle a little as we had been joking about the sloth bear since October (the Lonely Planet for Nepal claims that sloth bears attack humans because they “hate our faces”). Maybe there is some truth to that statement after all…
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On our last morning we went for a nature walk and ran into two rhinos munching on the understory vegetation. We were only about 20 feet away and our guides hurried us away to a safer distance (we practically ran away). From a safe distance, we nervously watched as the rhinos grazed and hoped that they would not become aware of our presence. If a rhino charges you, you are supposed to run “jig jag” and try to climb a tree. If a rhino catches up to you and hits you, you would probably die. Being trampled to death by a rhino- now that’s a trip-ender!
On the seven hour bus ride back to Kathmandu we reminisced about our short stay in the jungle: three one-horned rhinos, fresh tiger prints, steaming tiger scat, gharial crocodiles, a large python, getting close and personal with a few elephants, and beautiful riparian forests. Not too bad.
We are now SE Asia bound, heading back to the humidity and some island time! Thailand here we come!
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