CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK Arrived in Chitwan National Park on Sunday,  March 11th. We flew from Kathmandu to Bharatpur a 25 minute flight on a small two propeller engine plane. We saw incredible views of the Himalayas from the air. Upon landing, we were met by a driver to take us to our hotel in the small village of Sauraha, which borders the National Park.  The Parkland Hotel is in a garden like setting and every unit has a small outdoor terrace, where we have spent time relaxing, reading and oh yes, using the Internet.....who knew WiFi in the jungle! A little aside. While in India, I (Claire) pulled my back while turning the wrong way when lifting my suitcase onto a bed.  This type of thing has happened several times over the years, and I am sure sitting in a car for long distances over a three week period didn't help matters. I thought it would get better, but simply got worse; also the hard beds here haven't helped. Was so bad when we went up to Nagarkot ( a small village outside Katmandu where we spent a night) and the next night in Kathmandu, that I could not sleep as I was in so much pain. On Saturday, I looked for medical treatment on the internet and in our Lonely Planet book and found a clinic in our area of Kathmandu, which caters to tourists and expats that work here. Luckily for me, they were open and our driver took us there. Got excellent treatment and got "magic" pills from the Doctor. He also recommended some physio, but we were leaving the next day for Chitwan. The pills have really helped and I have been doing a lot of stretching, which has been good.  They also gave me a back brace, which I have used on a couple of occasions.  Back to Chitwan.... In the late afternoon, our guide Babu took our group to see the elephants that the Government owns. They are used in the jungle to look for poachers and for breeding purposes. They were spraying themselves with dirt to get rid of the insects.  Our group here is made up of the following...a young Chinese girl ( 30) with her Mother from Shanghai, a 20 year old girl from Swizerland traveling on her own and a family (Father, Mother and teenage daughter) from Bombay.    Then onto to visit the local houses of the Tharu, the local indigenous people. They use materials at hand to make their houses. Woven twigs and grass coated in thick layers of river mud. The mud acts as a natural heat shield, keeping the homes cool in  the summer and warm in the winter. The roofs are made of grass cut from the jungle which they replace after the monsoon season. They leave some gaps in the walls, so you see the twigs, windows that let in the light and provide air circulation. They also decorate the mud walls with hand prints, markings and pictures of animals . They gather the materials they need from the jungle. The Tharu people have a natural immunity to malaria and today still live in the same manner they have for years. Then off to the river side to watch the sunset. We saw monkeys, a crocodile, egrets and a gharial ( long nosed type of crocodile). Lots of people at the river side including locals and tourists  to watch the sunset. In the evening our hotel arranged to have the local Tharu men entertain us with their special dances. They performed several stick dances, which is where a great circle of men whack sticks together in time. They are very co-ordinated and one one young man did a dance with fire sticks. Maybe a little touristy, but provides employment for the locals.  Off at 8 a.m the next morning for an elephant ride in the jungle that lasted 1 1/2 hours. I felt that my back was better, wore my brace and took the plunge. Wow, was it ever worth it. Four of us on each Asian elephant. We saw monkeys, hog deers, spotted deers, a peacock and a mother One Horned Indian Rhino with her baby!  They say that a lot of the animals were poached during the decade long Maoist uprisings but with the Government conservation efforts things are reviving. The jungle here is sub-tropical, 70% of the jungle is covered in sal forest (a tree native to this area) and large areas of grassland which grow up to 8 meters in height so good for animals to hide.  Then off to see the elephants get their morning baths. They are warm blooded animals and need to cool down. Some people also decide to bathe with the elephants and they get on them and the elephants spray them..we decided to opt out on this activity. Back to the hotel for a rest period, then off in the afternoon for a dugout canoe ride on the river, followed by a nature walk. On the river trip we got into a dugout canoe and the guide told us to be careful and watch our balance so that we wouldn't flip over into the river.  O.k no problem right...well I guess....so many crocodiles, like we want to flip over? We saw numerous crocodiles, gharials, kingfishers, egrets and cranes. A nice way to float down the river and see the wildlife in the late afternoon. After about 1/2 hour on the river, we were offloaded along the shore and went for a 1 1/2 hour walk n the jungle. Once again lots of wildlife, including a male rhino, bathing itself and eating grass in a small lagoon. Then our guide spotted a wounded rhino as well, sad to see. He called the warden so they could take the rhino to a rescue centre. It had probably been in a fight with another rhino.  Final stop on this walk was the elephant breeding centre. Saw lots of Mom elephants with their babies. The young elephants stay with the Mom's till about 6 years of age. On Tuesday an early morning, to go for a bird walk. We saw many species of local birds and great to go for an early morning walk along the river.  Believe it or not, the elephant drivers were on strike today. We are told they are striking to get more pay from the owners and better benefits. Think it was timely that we went for our elephant ride in the jungle yesterday. In the afternoon, a jeep ride to the 20,000 Lakes Conservation area. We saw some wild boar, spotted deer, kingfisher and lots of other types of birds. Once again about eight or so crocodiles sunning themselves along the banks of one of the lakes. And yes, once again a rhino! We feel we have been very fortunate, as a lot of other people we have spoken to have not seen any rhinos.  While we were on our way back to town in our open air truck, we picked up an older Indigenous couple. The man had been cycling with the women on the back of his bike on this very rough road and was obviously very tired. He asked if we could give her a ride, but since just the two of us and our guide were in the back of the truck, we insisted that he also join  us in along with his bike. They rode with us for about 15 minutes, then we ran into a broken down jeep that blocked the road. The couple  thanked us and were back on their way on their bike. Ends up the broken down jeep was carrying seven tourists into the lakes. It was that groups second jeep, as the previous one had also broken down. Offered to take them back into Sauraha, which was abut a 1/2 hour drive away. Just then started to rain, so here we were all in the back with a tarp on the top; but still managed to get wet. Had fun getting to know this group of Germans, Dutch and  New Zealanders.  Chitwan has always been a place that we have wanted to visit and it has exceeded our expectations. It is a tranquil rural setting with a small village ambience set in a vibrant nature refuge. We are being picked up by a driver on Wednesday morning on our way to Pokhara but stopping overnight in Bandipur, a mountain town.