Before we arrived in Pokhara, I got to spend about 3 days in Chitwan. Chitwan is a jungle national park. It is a beautiful place of lush green vegetation and tons of animals. The park is most known for its population of rhinos and tigers. We purchased a package that included a canoe ride in crocodile infested waters, a jungle walk, elephant breeding center, elephant safari, and jeep safari.
Our first day started off with the canoe ride. It was really beautiful. I didn't think they were serious about the crocodiles inhabiting the portion of the river that we were traveling on until we started chatting with our guides. We had two guides- one on each end of the canoe armed with big...sticks. Yes, sticks. Apparently these were adequate enough to protect us from the man-eating crocodiles. Luckily, we didn't need to use them, but we did pass by three crocodiles. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. I was hoping we wouldn't see any. They were quite close to our canoe and you could barely make out their eyes hiding in the green lily pads. The guides stood up immediately and got ready to use their sticks to poke them. Ha! My heart was still pounding after we got out of the canoe. Next, it was time for our jungle walk. When we signed up for this walk, I didn't realize the possible dangers. If so, I may have reconsidered it. Before we entered the jungle, our guide discussed the possible animals we could encounter. These included snakes similar to anacondas, tigers, rhinos, sloth bears, wild elephants,etc. Then he gave us tips for escaping them like running in a counterclockwise path around wide trees, running in a zig-zag pattern, climbing trees higher than 7 feet tall, and staring at a tiger straight in the eyes while slowly backing up. Needless-to-say, I started panicking. I was trying to keep a brave face, but inside I was screaming at myself for thinking this would be "cool". There was no way out of this walk, so I just followed the group. One guide lead us into the feeding grounds while the other kept us "safe" at the rear. We started walking for about 5 minutes when we found fresh rhino tracks. I pretended to be thrilled, but I think my heart stopped. I was shaking. He told us not to make a sound. He went ahead to check things out and then motioned us to follow. We all crouched down and looked through the trees at two rhinos grazing about 100 feet away (I actually have no idea how far away, but it was too close for comfort). It was really amazing, but I was too nervous at the thought of running for my life to really enjoy it.
After lunch we headed out on our jeep safari. I was expecting a much less intense adventure in the safety of our jeep, but that was far, far from reality. Our same group headed out with our guide and driver. They once again had their sticks to protect us. There was a caravan of three jeeps that left for the safari at the same time. We were on our way through the jungle to the entrance of the park when we saw a herd of domesticated elephants with passengers coming our way
(The domesticated elephants are taken to the jungle daily to graze). They told us a wild elephant was coming our way and we should turn around immediately. The road that we were on was surrounded by tall grassland so we could only see a few feet in front of us, but they could see due to their height. Wild elephants are very aggressive and dangerous here. We did what were told. We got a safe distance away and watched the wild elephant go across the road and follow the other herd. The guides said it was safe, so we turned around started our journey again for about 2 minutes. Then elephant changed its mind and headed back in our direction. Again, we turned around and then the elephant was out of sight. We restarted our journey and then..shocking..the elephant decided to grace us with its presence again. This would be the time where we would turn around and speed off, but our jeep stalled. Our guide got on top of the jeep's roof and then yelled for us to run. We ran. I lost my sandal as I jumped out of the jeep. Don't worry, I got it back and ran for my life. We ended up getting away. We laughed when our guided left us alone for a few minutes as he went to check on the situation. I lived, obviously. Our jeep was left behind and then retrieved. There was no damage. It got a second wind and we did get to the park. We saw rhinos, wild boars, deer, and others. It was awesome. We learned later that a wild elephant killed a villager last week. Wild elephants are not our friends.
Other than almost getting eaten by crocodiles, horned by rhinos, and trampled by a wild elephant, my favorite part of it all was the elephant safari. We got just a few feet away from a rhino who was relaxing a rather large puddle. Traveling by elephant is so interesting. You can get very close to animals because they do not fear the grass-eating elephant.
I will post photos soon. I must go. Waking up at 5 am for a sunrise hike to see the Himalayas.
xoxo
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