Anyway, the reason for coming to Chitwan is purely to see wildlife in the forest, and if you are lucky, tigers and leopards. This is the forest of The Jungle Book, peacocks, tigers, elephants and rhino and a whole host of other strange things. The peacocks fly between the trees, the Rhino seem to consider charging you, and alas, the tigers and leopards we never saw. Wild elephants are also here, never saw one of those, but just as well, they are more dangerous than the tigers. It is the dry season here, the cool nights and hot days give rise to this hazy fog each morning, and it is so dense, a bit like BC coastal rain, the trees all drip as if there is rain, but it's not, it's just really dense fog. There's and owl on the property where we stayed, a cooperative founded by a Dutch group, it oddly has the feel of an African bush camp resort. They also have the cutest cats and dogs.
Far clearer in the Annapurnas when we left, if we had hiked up this morning, the view would have been quite something!
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So this is our group, of which 2 had the trots at this picture and one had an upset stomach. We have called it Nepali Runs since we are too far from Delhi for Delhi Belly. But, 2 of the 3 were in Delhi before, so it's all Nepali handiwork feeling ill this time. On the left is Indu, our group leader, a very nice guy, always twisting stories and embellishing for maximum effect... Quite amusing if you need something in a hurry...
Tigers! So cute.
The place feels like African savannah by the hotel.
Peacocks sit high in the trees.
We did go for elephant rides, but they were not much fun...long story. I doubt I will ever ride an elephant again.
Tiger prints and my feet. We saw a few prints, one set was a mother and cub, and those prints were really fresh. Our jungle guide thought we were very very close, but sadly not close enough...
The local crocs have very long and thin snouts.
However, apart from eaing chocolate pancakes in the middle of nowhere, the animals were the big thing. Although we saw no tigers, it was nice to see the Nepalese Army spread out and patrolling for poachers. Since the Maoist revolution here a few years back, the communist government has taken a hardline on poaching, which is good, they don't seem at all interested in Tourists, which is also good - as it is a little disconcerting to see gangs of military in a country prone to rebellion walking around with automatic weapons.
Eats in the jungle are quite civilized !
Local tribe dancers, Indu gets in on the action too, Night Fever is his forte.
In the dry season, some trees are bare, but, these ones have huge red flowers on them.
Strangling vines actually kill the tree.
Tiger claw scratches.
Rhinoceros.
I guess Chitwan would have been more fun with tigers, but it was fun chasing them too I guess. We seem to have been followed by a group of noisy Korean tourists, it s as if they have never been anywhere before, all the shopkeepers are complaing and so are we... They were shrilling and yodelling in the forest, which no doubt helped keep animals away.
Despite all the toilet troubles, everyone is still having fun, tomorrow, Lumbini...the birthplace of Lord Buddha. Buddha means The Knowing One, which of course means it is my birth place :) And yes I had my birthdy looking for tigers. The hotel gave me flowers since there was no place to bake a cake.
I am 23! I feel so old!
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