Chitwan Safari

Well on Saturday morning, at stupid oclock (well of course when else would they do anything here), I made my way through Thamel to meet the bus for my journey to Thamel. The journey went smoothly if you forget the long windey and very pot holed road and I arrived at the Maurini Sanctuary Lodge resort in time for a huge lunch. The food was good for a change and my only problem with it was the quantity. The waiter just didn't understand that I cannot eat as much as a big fat man! As I had spent most of the day on the bus there was just enough time left to visit the baby elephant in the afternoon. Soooooo cute have a look.

That evening I met a group who had already been there a day. There were two French, one French Canadian and an English speaking Canadian. I have to say I was impressed that I understood most of the French conversation though they wouldn't even let me try to speak some French which was a little annoying. The English speaking Canadian also seemed a little fed up being left out of the conversation so much and glad for someone new to talk to.

The next morning I got up to go for a canoe ride along the river followed by a safari on foot through the wooded area. It was nice to be out of the city and especially good to be under the trees as it gets incredibly hot in Chitwan I have discovered. On the safari I saw two wild Rhino and a Crocodile, plus loads of birds, butterflies and bugs. The first Rhino was at quite a distance but the second was much closer, he didn't seem particularly happy about us being there so when the guide started to run in the opposite direction, Im sure you will understand that I ran too. Didn't have to go far though for the Rhino to stop following us.

On the way back from the woods we walked via the river and I got the opportunity to go swimming with the elephants whilst they were having a bath. It was great. They are so docile and seem very happy to have humans climbing up onto their backs. The elephant sprayed water all over me several times and rolled over a few times too. However it seemed grateful for the tip afterwards. Yep I had to give the rolled up money to the elephant so it could pass it to its keeper. Very funny. Especially when it dropped it in the water and then had to fish it out.

That afternoon was time to go on the elephant safari. For this I joined a group of Austrian men who were all coming up to retirement and had come to Nepal on holiday without their wives. The elephants used for the safari were huge and we had to use a staircase to get up high enough to get onto their backs. My elephant carried four of us without any problem at all. The safari took us through the woods again so we had to avoid all the branches and spiders webs. We saw Rhino again including a mother and a baby, we were able to get really close this time because the rhino weren't bothered by the elephants. We also saw deer, crocodile, peacocks and lots of spiders... urgh!!

That evening we went to a culture show at the theatre of one of the local villages. It was good fun as they performed several of the traditional dances, many of which included hiting sticks together and one involved a spinning batton with flames lit at each end. Very exciting.

I have loads of pictures to have a nose at.

xxx