Jungle Safari Chitwan National Park and Riding on Elephants!

After drying ourselves off in a small toilet hut on the side of the road, we had our last picture taken with Johnny Depp!!! then boarded the bus heading for Chitwan NP. We were all pretty exhausted by this point and watched as we drove through smaller villages, less populated than other areas; it was as though the further we moved away from Kathmandu the more barren the land became…. One old guy tall but bent over walked slowly through one dusty ghost town with his stick, I'll never forget that picture in my head.

A few hours later we arrived at our jungle destination in Chitwan National Park!! It was hot and we were all exhausted and hungry so were pleased to see the really cool lodges we were staying in and have some lunch! Late afternoon you had the choice to visit an Elephant Sanctuary and/or village. Tired Ads and I opted for one option whilst mum and Ian did both. We then joined (although we didn’t know it) another group who were the group to join us for India as sadly half of our group were going back to Kathmandu to fly home….boo! It was the one thing about Gecko that made it tough, that they joined two separate groups together mid trip but we soon all got used to being a new group again and not being as separate as it started for the first few days…

Crossing the river on the topsy turvy boats they travel in was fun, then we went to the Elephant sanctuary which was a little disappointing on all accounts as the elephants were chained so not really what we were expecting. The little ones were sweet though, one was fast asleep by the feet of his mum whilst his clumsy brother kept falling over him, and it was very funny to watch. We got to feed them through the fence which was quite cool. On the way back we waded through the river bumping into mum and Ian et al on route to the sanctuary. They said the village experience had been ok.

That eve after much needed sleep, we met some of the others who had been drinking by the river for the afternoon, joined them for beer and food as the small local village had quite a few bars/restaurants for the tourists then we crashed to bed ready for our 6am jungle safari!!



A few of us made the early rise to do jungle safari in jeeps. It was quite an experience compared to our last safari in Africa in that we drove for ages not seeing anything so all then got excited when we came across a peacock!!!! I didn't like to say that mum and I had one that lived at the end of our road on the IOW but joined in taking lots of photos anyway!!

We didn’t really see much for most of the time, nearing the end though I spotted a baby crocodile in camouflage by the lake, then we saw a rhino in the reeds and really that was it…. We did get to see the most bizarre crocodiles with long pointed beaks in a crocodile sanctuary then saw a tiger they had in captivity. He basically was housed in an open roofed square wooden enclosure with 'tiger’ written in small writing in chalk on the side! It was sad to see him cooped up but he was pretty aggressive I think, we climbed up the top to watch him circling, he was beautiful. He seemed to like the smell of Krish though and kept following him around the side of the enclosure, not good!!! Apparently his mother had killed and eaten some locals in the village which she had fed to her young, this one was lucky to be alive as because he had tasted human blood he could never be free as he would kill but they had saved him from death keeping him in captivity….. Was quite glad to move away from that enclosure!!

On arriving back and after a hilarious journey in the topsy turvey wooden canoe that mum nearly fell out of and could only balance in if she stuck her bum in the air!!, we made it across to the other side and joined the others for breakfast in the wooden shack style restaurants on the riverside. It was a cool place, over looking the river and the NP, sun beating down etc.. After that mum and I hit the few tourist shops in the village to find our guide a thank you pressie plus of course buy ourselves a few Nepalese gifts and an amazing singing bowl for all of 8 pounds compared to 50 in England!!

That evening we were all then set for our Elephant Safari in the NP, having both seen elephants in Africa but never having ridden on one we were really looking forward to it!! Our Thai elephant had a cool paint design between his eyes as we hiked up the tower to get on his back I can’t say it was the most comfortable ride of our lives as the four of us tried to ram ourselves onto the little wooden square thing sat on his back! Lucas and Helen had a good idea of swapping cameras so the pressure was on to get some good pics of them which would be quite a task…..

Then when all of us were loaded so to speak, the elephants followed one another into the jungle. I can’t say they are the smoothest of animals as they lollop along and you hold on for dear life, especially for the men with the seat pole between their legs!! It was cool though to be riding such an incredible animal seeing the jungle from a height and this safari definitely didn’t disappoint!

First we came across a herd of rhino’s, many young were amongst them as they played in the muddy pools of water they found, ate lots and wandered around the grass. Next we came across an oompaloonpa type thing (forgotten its name, the one with the W on its bum!) eating from the top of a tree standing right up on his back legs….. Then the most amazing part, our guides spotted a leopard high up in a tree!!! We were SO lucky to see this, there are hardly any leopards left in the wild here and after not seeing one in Africa, this just made our day! The elephants almost broke a few knees as they were guided by their owners to literally walk through the trees not round them in the jungle so we could all get to see the leopard! Its was amazing though, our elephant managed to get right under it and we watched as the leopard took no notice of us and continued to rest along the tree branch giving us a big yawn at one point which amazingly we managed to catch on camera. What a day and trip in Nepal we were having, you just don’t beat all the fantastic experiences this country has given us…

After a quite a while with the leopard we continued on, along mainly paths in the jungle now luckily. We saw more rhinos and then finally as the sun was setting left the jungle with our elephants, walking through the local village back to home. It was amazing to see how the locals live in mud huts, with cables attached to the electricity wires so they can steal the energy for free! Quite clever really…. The poverty was still harsh though. Then we climbed off our amazing elephant and found our knees again on solid ground!

That eve we had our farewell dinner in an open Mexican bar over a few beers. Thankfully Helen, Lucas and Emma were coming with us to India but we were saying goodbye to crazy Bevan, Grace and Luna and bristolan Steve which was a real shame as we had had such an incredible time with these guys and wished they were doing the whole trip with us!! We would definitely keep in touch…..After a thank you speech to Krish too by Ads and an emotional but drunken farewell we fell into bed ready for our next adventure….the madness of….. INDIA!!!!