The Wandering Chocoholic

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Welcome to Sari on Safari, Nepalese edition. In our previous episode, we saw African wildlife at Namibia’s Etosha National Park. Well, here I am more than three years later, picking up the series in Nepal, at Chitwan National Park.

Canoeing down the river

Early morning wake-up today. The homestay resort was quite pretty in the morning mist. After a filling breakfast, we headed out for the first half of our safari-packed day. We jumped on the back of a flatbed truck and drove the fifteen minutes or so to the park entrance.

There, we boarded these rickety old wooden canoes that looked like they would either sink or tip over at the first slight breeze. Sitting one or two abreast on these hard wooden stools that made my butt go numb in short order, we were pushed through the water by two guides with long poles. The river there is so shallow that they use poles, not oars, to move about.

A canoe safari is a relaxing way to go see wildlife. We didn’t spot all that much — some kingfishers, peacocks, crows and a few other species of birds, mostly. We also saw quite a few crocodiles, which didn’t exactly thrill me seeing as how crocodile versus tippy wooden canoe seemed like an equation with a highly unfavourable outcome. We mostly stayed out of their way, and they didn’t seem too fussed about us in any case.

Rhinos and tigers and bears, oh my!

After about forty-five minutes, we came ashore and headed into the forest for a walking safari. In other countries, venturing on foot into a national park full of wildlife that would eat you for lunch if it got near you is considered a very foolish idea. But not Nepal; here, it’s step right up, please. Though we did get a safety briefing of sorts from the guide: It basically amounted to, if you see a rhino, climb a tree. (Yeah, right.) If you see a bear, stand in a group and make a lot of noise. If you see an elephant, run. It reminded me of the old joke about how I don’t have to run faster than the animal; I only have to run faster than you.

With that in mind, we set out, single file, to go find some wildlife. Trying to be as quiet as possible, we hiked for a couple of hours through beautiful forest land, keeping our eyes peeled for animals. We didn’t see much; the most exciting moment was spotting a tiger track, but it turned out it was quite old. The guides pointed out the odd bird or lizard, and we did see some deer. But nothing particularly exotic, and nothing that would be keen on eating us. Relived or disappointed? I’m not sure. But it was a rather nice walk, and it felt good to do a little bit of exercise after all these long days sitting on buses and trains.

An elephant called Ronaldo

Back to the hotel for a quick lunch, and then it was onto the afternoon safari. This one was in an open-top jeep, so we could cover a lot more ground. And I do mean a lot of ground. We were out in the woods for over four hours! What’s more, we started off in the heat of the middsay sun. Even a hat and sunscreen couldn’t quite make that comfortable for me. Plus, the wisdom of a midday safari escapes me a little, as most wildlife is more active first thing in the morning or in the evening. But, it’s probably best not to question these things.

We were told that we had a good chance of seeing rhinos, since there were so many in the park. Well, it must have been Rhino’s Day Off, because we saw not a one. However, we did see a wild elephant. That was pretty exciting, since there’s only one wild bull elephant in that section of the park, and spotting him is exceptionally rare. We were told that his name is Ronaldo.

A word about elephants at Chitwan: This region used to be known for elephant safaris and other elephant tourism. Unfortunately, these practices are highly unethical; breeding or keeping elephants in captivity and forcing them to carry people or goods on their backs is terribly painful and abusive to the animals. There are still companies that do this in the area; I’d never recommend riding an elephant or supporting the businesses that profit from this in any way. There’s some ethical debate about whether the use of elephants to patrol or raise much-needed funds in Chitwan to help conserve other endangered species in the area, like Bengal tigers or Indian rhinos, is a moral grey area. But I could never bring myself to ride an elephant; it’s just too cruel. That’s why seeing elephants in the wild is so exciting; there are too many of them around that are painted and beaten and cowed and carrying tourists on their backs, but a wild elephant is a magnificent beast. Now I’ve seen both African and Indian elephants in the wild, which is pretty awesome.

Midway through the drive, we stopped off at a crocodile breeding farm for a bathroom break and a quick peek at the reptiles. Like I said, really ugly creatures. There wasn’t much to see there other than crocodiles in cages.

The elephant was the highlight of the safari drive. We saw him rather early on, and after that, the drive dragged on, and on, and on… with not much else seen. A few wild boars, and a few more deer, but that’s about it. I couldn’t help but compare it to Etosha, which was positively teeming with wildlife. I can’t say this safari was a total disappointment, because we did see an elephant. But for having spent an entire day in the park, basically from sunup to sundown, it was a little anticlimactic. We did get a very pretty sunset as we were coming out of the park, mind you.

Tharu dinner and dancing

Back at the hotel, after showering and changing, we were served up a traditional Tharu dinner, followed by a show. We women got to don traditional Tharu garb — which reminded me a bit of a makeshift toga party — and we sat on the beach by the fire while performers danced around with drums, stick and fire. It was one of those cheesy made-for-tourists experiences that you sometimes get on trips like this, but it wasn’t half bad. And when we all were invited to join the dancing, that was good fun. Rather like a Nepalese hora, if you ask me; I guess every culture has a big dance in a circle that everyone can participate in.

After the show, we spent a little longer by the fire, chatting with some of the guides and having a drink, before turning in for the night.

Tomorrow, we head up to Pokhara. Stay tuned for more Nepalese adventures.