People go to Chitwan for all sorts of reasons. The top of those would be for Tiger, of course, the most elusive. They come for rhino, elusive too yet some how more tangible. They come for all of the beach resort atmosphere that can be soaked up from the deck chairs laid out along the Rapti river.
The village of Sauraha if a collection of tour operators and hotels (the hotels also offering their own tours and guide) all eager to take your money. This is where we made our fatal mistake. We decided to stay at the Annapurna View hotel as they actually had rooms in our price range. But we decided NOT to take use their in-house guide. So, and I don't think I am paranoid in thinking this, they felt a little miffed. We had an interrogation over dinner: "Was the other tour cheaper?", "Were any other guests going with us on the tour?", and as we excused ourselves from our meals, "Is the food ok? We need feedback if we are going to improve it?". Then as we lay in our bed in the heat of the jungle with no breeze and no fan (load shedding), we listened to the guide we 'snubbed' creak in the hammock a metre from our door and pump water from the mechanical well outside our window through the night. It was then they turned. They became uber friendly, which strangely is more disconcerting than if they were nasty.
We had chosen Bobs (Best of the best) as our guide. We started with a canoe safari, which was pleasant enough in the coolness of the morning. We saw quite a few water birds but no Gharials or other crocodiles. Then we had the walk back. We stepped out of the canoe and Bobs immediately took us aside to give us the talk. He explained what we should do when confronted by any of the native fauna. It involved a mix of running, climbing trees and praying to god. If we see a rhino then climb a tree; a tiger - pray, keep eye contact and back away slowly, and the dangerous sloth bear just pray. Well at least Bobs carried a long stick for our protection. He then stepped into the grass that was taller than us and we were off. The drama that we left back in our guidebook came along too and it was growing in confidence with every step. First there were fresh rhino tracks in the river bank, then the strong scent of urine and then we stepped into the jungle. We saw scratches on a tree marking the territory of some tiger, we found rhino droppings then a false sighting of rhino. The drama was becoming the star of this show. We saw monkeys and birds and rustling from wild boars, but no big game so we stopped at a observation tower.
Then it was act 2. We were met by another couple of guides and a Czech staying at our lodge coming from the other direction, they were walking in and walking out. I noticed a scratch on his calf that he dismissed as an occupational hazard of having to climb a tree to avoid a rhino. This is when he described his near death experience of a Belgian who insisted on getting to close o a rhino. He saved the Belgian but was thrown through the air 7 or more times by the aggrieved rhino. He managed to escape but was carried in a jeep to a hospital never to see the Belgian client again. This guy was rhino bait, the guide to have if you want to see rhino. They had already see rhino that morning :( But we were headed back in that direction so we had hope.
That hope had been dashed when we made our way out of the last stand of trees and climbed to the top of the second observation tower. But as we sat and stared across the grasslands towards India our guide spotted a white spot back the way we had come from. And if you watched, it moved - rhino. They are white because of the dried mud they cover themselves with. So we made the obvious decision to head back there. It was still a little way off in the tall grass so I climbed a tree (for a better view). This is when I saw Roselin and Bobs trying to get a closer look too. But they were heading toward the rhino, away from the trees and into the long grass. I thought back to Bobs little sermon on the bank of the river then took a second confused look at Roselin and Bobs. Going away from climbable trees and into grass twice as high as Roselin didn't seem like the intuitive action of sane people. I stayed in my tree. Finally they came back to the growing group of people in the trees and I came down from mine.
The next day morning was our Elephant Walk. We had been told there are elephant rides in the park itself, not the surrounding buffer zones. But we later learned these are reserved for royalty and high ranking politicians only. Elephants set out in a continuous stream as they a filled with eager tourists from loading platforms. They amble at a lolling gait on separate but interconnected trails all headed to the same destinations. We heard monkeys and saw deer and birds and then in a mud hole a rhino and its calf. They and everything else seemed unfazed by the elephants and the chattering tourists snapping away on their backs. Still most of the time we were both mesmerised by the elephants as they explored their surrounds with their trunks, and snacked on tasty tidbits they came across. We even witnessed an elephant retrieve a lost thong from the ground for one girl with the simple twist of its trunk. Some, not ours, would even hold aside branches as they passed through the trees. We had time then to change into our swimmers for the elephant bathing. And disappointingly for Roselin we couldn't find a 'small' elephant but still we went in. I think Roselin had one of 'those' experiences because the only word she could say for several hours later was 'elephants' with a beaming grin on her face!
After nearly 3 months of travelling we are starting to regain our traveller mindset. This mainly involves eating the cheapest food we can find and walking everywhere. So in this mode we bought some Chitwan honey and fruit. Honey here comes in five flavours, and after an amusing "Do you want to taste me?" from the sales girl we settled on the Butter Tree. It was then off to the Elephant Breeding Centre and we were on the clock. On refusing their generous offer of bicycles, our hostel had cautioned us that the walk would be more than 4 hours. This came down to 2 or 3 when we mentioned that others had done it. I would like to think it was our superior mountain fitness, more likely our miffed lodge owners trying to drum up business, but we made it in 50 minutes and stopped for icecream. In fact we arrived so early that there was noone in the ticket booth and much to my disappointment only 3 elephants in the stables! We had the time to ourselves to watch to 10 year old calf and its proud mother before the twins and all the other mothers and calves came back from the jungle and the tourists flocked in from their jeeps and bicycles.
The area of the park has been hunting reserve over a century before the Hattisar was turned into a breeding centre to retain the skills of elephant training. The sights of the chained elephants and the treatment from the elephant handlers and the implements of their trade is off-putting. Still the elephants have 5 hours of jungle time, are crucial in patrolling the park for poachers and they genuinely seem to enjoy themselves. As an aside the riders are not mahouts in Nepal as a mahout is the lowest rank only assigned to cleaning out the stables but Phanits or Pachhuwas; the top rank is a Subba, attained after perhaps 40 years.
To me, the Elephants are the main attraction of Chitwan. They are are all pervasive in village life, regularly walking the streets or the private ones seen in peoples backyards. Even now back in Kathmandu the sounds of dogs and even truck brakes remind me of the belows heard in Chitwan. Roselin even bought a small box made of elephant poo paper.
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