A good wildlife safari always begins with the guide listing the different ways to escape animal attacks. If you are walking through the jungle and a rhino chases you, run in zigzags until no longer being chased (whenever that may be). For sloth bear encounters, huddle together as a group and yell. If wild elephants attack, well, you're pretty much screwed because apparently they are aggressive and will kill you. Oh, and my personal favorite, if you encounter a tiger, you need not worry, as they are shy and gentle creatures.

This is how we began our walking safari through the jungle of the Royal Chitwan National Park. Now, you think, why would anyone in their right mind choose to go on a walking safari tour of the jungle. Well, first of all, I think we've well established that we are not in our "right" mind and second of all, we were told that it was a great way to get up close and personal encounters with wildlife. Upon being given the escape strategies my mind wanders. Our Lonely Planet Guide warned that if doing a walking safari through the park, it's best to go in a large group so as to seem more intimidating to potentially aggressive wildlife (a fact that I didn't remember until this point). Upon remembering this fact, I whip my head around to find only Adam & I and our two guides. I'd say that hardly qualifies as a large group. Perhaps that won't be a big deal. I continue to analyze the composition of the group. Adam is by far the tallest. In fact, he's got a good 7 inches over our guide. Good, I think, he'll probably be the last eaten. I look over our guides and they definitely look faster than me. Shucks, I think, I'm definitely the goner in the group. That is until I notice that one of our guides in wearing flip flops. Score! I doubt his flip flops could outrun my super dooper fast tennies. Well, perhaps or perhaps not....but at least those flip flots may level the playing field a bit more. I hold onto that slim possibility.

Before I know it, we begin to walk briskly into the jungle. My mind continues to wander and I contemplate whether or not our travel insurance covers animal attacks. Hmm...There's something to look into. Ten minutes into the walk, our guides abruptly stop, turn around and ask, "Do you smell that?" No, smell what? Perhaps it's us. Afterall, we have been wearing the same clothes for the past 6 days, as the airlines lost our luggage and it has not been returned (we eventually ended up getting our luggage back a few days later). Our fearless guide leader, Gopal, peers through the brush only to point out a mother rhino and her baby. "This is very dangerous" he says, mother rhinos are very aggressive. Oh good, I think, dangerous AND aggresive, always a good combination. He calls us back 10 feet before ducking into the brush to get a closer look. He emerges a few minutes later and tells us to follow him. As we get closer, the mother rhino turns her head in our direction. At this point, Adam and I unknowingly freeze. As Gopal gets nearer and nearer, the mother rhino decides she is uncomfortable with his proximity and begins to stand up. At this point I'm more than a little freaked out, but with hand gestures Gopal quickly reassures me and we hold our ground. She then turns, stares in our direction, then leads her baby in the opposite direction. Whewee, was that a rush! Adrenaline surges through me until Gopal mentions that he does not think our view of the rhinos was good enough. He immediately begins walking in the direction they went and beckons us to do the same. I think to myself, Yes, it's always a good idea to follow a fleeing rhino, especially when she has a baby.

A few minutes later we get another, closer, but somewhat obstructed view of the pair. This time the baby is nursing. "Wow" Gopal says, "This is special." Our other guide suddenly has a tickle in his throat and begins coughing. The momma rhino hears this and quickly turns in our direction. Nothing gets your heart pumping like an uncaged rhino staring you down. Gopal sees this and tells us to move away quickly. Now...I'm all about the adventure, but being chased through the jungle by an angry rhino seems a bit much. We follow orders and quickly retreat. Luckily, the mommy rhino is satifisfied by our retreat and does not charge. The rest of the walk goes rather uneventfully. Another few rhino encounters, this time with rhinos soaking in the river (we are told that soaking rhino are less mobile and thus less dangerous).

All in all, aside from a couple of leaches that managed to break through the seemingly inpenetrable barrier I had created by tucking my shirt into my underwear, it was thankfully an uneventful adventure. Another day, I can proudly say, we are rhino-attack free.