When we planned our trip to Nepal, we didn’t realize Nepal had a jungle full of tigers, leopards, sloth bears and other wild animals. Once we found out, we decided to add it to the itinerary.
We went with a package from Pokhara because it was quite reasonable and made planning safaris easier. We stayed at the Riverview Hotel which was, shockingly, right on the river that divides the town of Sauraha from Chitwan National Park.
Our first day we arrived and had some time to relax after the five hour drive. In the late afternoon we had a short guided nature walk and village tour with Krishna, our guide. We immediately saw two different kinds of crocodiles- standard crocs and gharials which have long, thin snouts with criss crossing external teeth. We also saw egrets and kingfishers. A short walk along the river took us to where a few captive elephants were held. In Chitwan, elephants are used for safaris and to patrol the park. Then we saw the highlight for the day. About 200 feet from us, a rhino was bathing in the river. So cool!
The second day at Chitwan we did a full day jungle walk. I had never heard of a walking jungle safari before, but they do them in Nepal. You have to have at least two guides and each carries a stick to use if needed to scare off animals. They told us they would not use the sticks on the animals. I think that was meant to reassure us- ironic. We were informed about what to do in the case of various (rhino, tiger, bear) animal attacks.
We were in the jungle for over nine hours on the walking safari. It was boiling hot so we were exhausted byethe end. What was incredible about it was that every time we’d start to feel tired and ready to head back, we would see something new. The highlights were two rhino sightings. The first was cooling off in the mud early in the day. The second was in the late afternoon and he wandered over toward us from the woods and we had a kind of stare down before he headed off. We also saw a langur monkey, three kinds of deer (hawk, spotted, and barking), wild boars, peacocks, storks, herons, many other birds and some crocs.
That evening a rhino walked down the riverbank by our hotel. I was having a sunset beer nearby and got a good picture of him walking in front of me. Rich was sitting in the garden outside our hotel and was about 20 feet from it as it passed. Another evening we saw a rhino (possibly the same one) from the balcony outside our room. And during the day elephants share the streets with cars, bikes, and pedestrians. There really is no escape from nature at Chitwan.
Day three was all about elephants. In the morning we had an elephant bath. We climbed on the back of an elephant and hung on as it sprayed us with river water over and over. Then it unceremoniously dropped us into the river. Quite a unique experience.
That afternoon we had an elephant safari. We, along with two other people, sat on a platform on the back of an elephant and rode it through the jungle for over two hours. The highlight of this safari, other than riding an elephant, was seeing a mother and baby rhino. We also got up close to an angry croc who had a little showdown with an elephant. And we saw more monkeys, deer, wild boar, and birds. That evening we went to see some traditional dances including the very interesting stick and peacock dances.
The fourth day we started early to beat the heat as we headed out for a bike safari. The bikes were single speed and rather dated. Most of the terrain was off road so we felt it for a few days when we sat down. We rode about 14 km to 20,000 lakes and saw a rhino and various peacocks, kingfishers, and other birds. The lake area would have been stunning even without the bonus of animals.
That afternoon we did a four hour jeep safari. We were hoping to finally see tigers, leopards, or sloth bears, but that was not in the cards for us. We did see a rhino, deer (including the sambal deer we had not yet seen), boar, monkeys, birds- including the paradise flycatcher that looks like a white kite- and a rabbit.
Our last day we did a canoe and walking safari. The canoe was great for seeing crocs and birds-especially kingfishers. On the walk we saw many deer. We sat at a tiger watering hole, but none were out at the time. We did see tiger and sloth bear tracks on multiple outings, just not the animals themselves.
Basically we did every type of safari one can do in Chitwan. It was a great experience to see the jungle in so many ways.
From Chitwan we flew to Kathmandu where we spent two days before our quick trip to NY for Rich’s childhood friends Mike and Elisa’s wedding. I tried to eat as many momos as possible before leaving. After a short, but wonderful time in the states, we flew to Colombo, Sri Lanka- country number five.
