well, as before, just when it seemed things could not get better i went to
Chitwan National park on the terrai of Nepal, to do some animal spotting. as i
was kinda pressed for time and the deal was good, i somewhat reluctantly paid
for a package of sorts. which overall, i was glad to do. it included transport
from Pokhara to the game park, accomodation, food, all hot drinks and mineral
water, an elephant ride, canoe ride, bird watching, a visit to the elephant
breeding centre and a walk in the jungle (more on this a bit later!)
so i got the bus tuesday morning bright and early for the what-is-meant-to-be 4
hour ride to the game park. unfortuntately due to the situation in Nepal right
now, we had to go through several checkpoints, which added some 1.5 hours to
the ride. about 20 minutes out from Chitwan, desperate to get there, the bus
stopped: the driver wanted Dal Baat (the stape Nepalese diet of lentil soup,
raddish, cauliflower and rice)!
turns out there was only me and this slightly batty 41 year old lady from
England who booked for the "package", both of us were doubtful as the other
about this package, so we joined forces! that afternoon we went for a walk with
a guide to the elephant breeding centre, and along the way he pointed out
several indigenous birds and some not so indigenous birds. i can't say that
i've ever been particularly interested in birds and this was no exception. i
was just glad to be in such quiet and natural surroundings which i had missed
since coming down from the mountain 10 days before.
the elephant breeding centre was great though, the only 1 in the world. we
walked around amongst six 5,000kg elephants and two younger 400kg "baby
elephants." we patted them and they seemed so cute until one of them started
charging us! quite harmless. well harmless as long as you step out of the way!
that night we had dinner in the large, but mostly empty dining room with a
couple from Denmark and from Finland who had arrived the day before. that night
had a slideshow, showing some of the animals we might see the following day.
the sloth bear was very very rarely seen, followed tigers, Rhinos, crocodile,
spotted deer and several different types of birds.
next morning we had our elephant ride! along with a french couple, we sat on a
makeshift-basket on the back of a 5-tonne animal! soon into our trip, our
elephant driver (if one can call him that??) spotted his mate in a watch tower
with a tourist and apparently there was a tiger around! so the guide and
tourist literally hopped onto the back of the elepant and off we went in search
of the tiger! we soon spotted an animal, not a tiger, but a leopard!! a very
rare site apparently. after that we didnt really spot anything else.
in the afternoon we went for our canoe ride and jungle walk. let me explain
this. well it's quite straightforward, but basically the plan was to go for a
2.5 hour walk through the thick of the jungle on foot with 2 guides armed with
bamboo sticks! i thought this was a joke! we were told that if we saw a rhino
and it charged us we were to run in zig-zags or climb a tree. ahem, right.
so i gingerly asked what do if we saw a tiger. the one guide looked at the
other, smiled at me, and just said to follow his lead. lovely.
as we got to the river to take our canoe, our guide spotted a Rhino crossing
the river about .5 km down. woo-hoo!
sure enough, after the fantastic 45 minute ride down the river in what they
called a "wobbly canoe" (and for good reason!) we started our jungle trek!
s'true's bob, 2 guides, armed with sticks!
as we got off the canoe the main guide, Harka, pointed out tiger footprints.
heh, err, nice. and so off we went. not 2 minutes into our trek, Harka said he
saw a tiger and we were to follow him, so off we ran after the Bengal Tiger!
let me write that part again "SO WE RAN OFF AFTER THE BENGAL TIGER"! at the
time it just seemed like a good idea but ofcourse looking back, we thought to
ourselves like "what the hell was going through our minds that made us think
that running after a tiger was a good idea!!". none-the-less we did. Sarah saw
some of the tiger, i saw more of a damn huge mass moving through the jungle!
once our heartbeat returned to normal, we carried on walking through the jungle
and at one point a Rhino crossed the path about 100m down the path, but other
than that, saw a spotted deer and little else. we had a cold beer and watched
the sunset over the river, which was absolutely spectacular! that night we went
to watch a "cultural show" where the locals did some dancing for us, then made
us join them!
next day we took a harrowing 7 hour bus ride to Kathmandu. i cant really
describe in much detail the ride, but basically the main highway between
Pokhara and Kathmandu is all along the mountain. and these bus drivers drive at
break-neck speeds around corners, only hooting ahead to notify others of their
presence. we had 1 very near miss and several other close ones!
Kathmandu is....polluted! what a crazy place. Thamel, the main tourist area, is
well and truly a tourist area! hundreds of trekking shops, narrow streets,
zillions of vendors. i've been here now almost 3 days and i actually quite love
it!
yesterday was fantastic. i went with Sarah to the house of the shop owners
where she hired her gear. what an amazing experience. we spent basically the
whole morning at their house near Kathmandu, eating and drinking the local
low-alcohol drink, Chang and chatting to the couple, seeing a slice of life.
this was actually their holiday (saturday), so it was even more amazing that
they gave it up to have us as guests in their house.
afterwards, the husband, Ang Phury Sherpa took us to the a place, which i just
cant remember what is called where they burn bodies. quite eery. in fact, just
outside we saw a 5-legged cow! this cow is considered to be very holy. very
strange indeed.
Crazy Kathmandu!
Monday, December 17, 2001
Kathmandu, Nepal
Other Entries
-
1Last one from London
Nov 0245 days priorLondon, United Kingdomphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
2Out with a bang, in with the gang!
Nov 0641 days priorDelhi, Indiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
3Tantalising Taj Mahal!
Nov 0839 days priorAgra, Indiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
4Off Trekking
Nov 1334 days priorPokhura, Nepalphoto_camera5videocam 0comment 0 -
5Back from the trek!!!
Dec 0314 days priorPokhara, Nepalphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 0 -
6In the Shadows of Giants
Dec 0413 days priorPokhara, Nepalphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 0 -
7Goddess of the River
Dec 116 days priorKathmandu, Nepalphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
8Crazy Kathmandu!
Dec 17Kathmandu, Nepalphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
9Bustin in bombay
Dec 203 days laterBombay, Indiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
10That's all folks!
Dec 247 days laterBombay, Indiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
11Back in sunny New Zealand
Dec 2710 days laterAuckland, New Zealandphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
2025-02-12