We left early to catch our bus from Pokhara to the Seti River where our rafting trip to Chitwan was to begin. After meeting our guide - Bruce - and learning vital instructions - "All forward, All back, Stoooooop" etc, we paddled off down the river in life jackets and helmets. We floated through valleys and past spectacular views of mountains, every now and again paddling head first into rapids which were fun despite the cold water. We stopped for a brief and unusual lunch (of fresh coleslaw, stale bread, peanut butter, cold baked beans, tinned sardines in tomato sauce and yak cheese) and then paddled on to a riverside beach to set up camp for the night. With the raft as our shelter, we enjoyed a delicious Napelese dinner of vegetable soup and Dal Bhat (Rice, Veg curry, dal and popadoms) by the fire (a vast improvement on lunch) and a night under the stars.

Sandy and sleepy, we ate breakfast, packed up the raft and paddled the final two rapid-filled hours to our bus stop for Chitwan National Park. After meeting Mike and Sam on route, we all checked in to the Jungle Adventure in Sauraha - just outside the park.

The next day, we all set off on what we thought would be a short bike ride to find the '20 Thousand Lakes'. After 5 hours and a packet of crisps for lunch, we returned, mystified, having not found a single lake. The bike ride was great fun though with views of mountains and village life and we ended the day in the Elephant Breeding Centre to see two very cute 10 month old twin elephants.

It was an early start the following day to meet our vehicle of choice for the morning - an elephant. As we swayed from side to side in our basket through the jungle, we couldn't believe our luck when we came across a mother 1 horned Indian Rhino and her baby lazing in the sun, followed by another adult rhino. We also saw spotted deer and numerous scary looking spiders hanging from the canape.

A jeep ride in the afternoon took us further into the jungle where we saw rhinos bathing in the river, Marsh mugger crocs and a Bengal Tiger, unfortunately (or fortunately?) not in the wild due to its mother having fed it human meat as a baby.