The drive to the border was very long & slow as we continued to dodge more pot holes, goats etc & the roads were just rammed with people & vehicles. This meant we crossed the border into Nepal at nightfall, with 5 minutes to spare! That's Alex & Gill style without us even being in charge!
Our first glimpses of Nepal was the next morning and even in that tiny distance, there was a marked difference. There was less rubbish, more people were waving at the truck, no hassling or beggars so far.
We arrived into Chitwan National Park & it was literally a breath of fresh air. It was peaceful, still and the people were so friendly & helpful. We found a lovely family run restaurant for dinner were we had our first momo's (Nepali dumplings) and amazing banana fritters for desert! This place already had the thumbs up from us.
The adventure began next morning, when we were taken by Jeep, which happened to be a horse drawn cart, to go trekking in the jungle on elephant back.
With the first light of the day flooding through the leaves the jungle was mainly still apart from the amazing bird song. As it turned out our elephant was slightly wayward & just wanted to stop, eat & fart, and was not the least bit perturbed when the Mahut tried to move her on. We did not see huge amounts of wildlife, some deer & a wild boar, but it was a really beautiful and peaceful ride.
After a relaxed day we headed back into the jungle to stay in a lookout tower for the night. We'd been told that the chances of us seeing tigers were slim to none, but we were hopeful. We headed up into a three storey tower in the middle of a clearing with a couple of others from the group. From there we had a great view of the last of the elephant rides of the day & had the first sighting of a rhino. Pretty cool first 5 minutes! Once the elephants had plodded on we headed into the jungle on foot. Thank goodness we didn't see a tiger at this point otherwise it would have been well scary! We did see some deer & a wild boar. Once we'd arrived back in the tower & continued peering round a warden came through & told us there was a mother & baby rhino close by. We went in search. They were not far beyond the clearing munching away surrounded by deer. The next few minutes were very exciting. Anne started motioning that she could see a tiger in the grass! As the guide & I checked in the binoculars, it definitely looked like an orange back stalking through the grass close to the deer. After trying to gesture & explain to the other two, who were ahead, it transpired that a monkey can look very much like a tiger! Who'd thought!
That night we did however have more excitement. We saw a baby rhino feeding just 10 metres away from the tower by torch light. Amazing!
The next day was leisurely after our early start, watching more deer & listening to the jungle come to life. We pottered around on bikes for the day & the majority of traffic we met, were elephants.
Elephant bath time is about 10.30am every day. The Mahuts bring them down to the river to soak their sensitive skin & a few tourists while they're at it. We thought we'd join in the fun & it was fantastic! We paid the equivalent of 60p to climb onto the elephants bare back & have it blow water at us from its trunk & throw us into the river! Climbing back onto an elephant via its trunk is not dignified in away way but great craic!
It was such a peaceful beautiful place & everything was very laid back in 'Nepali time'. We'd only been in the country a few days but what a fantastic few days!
Our first glimpses of Nepal was the next morning and even in that tiny distance, there was a marked difference. There was less rubbish, more people were waving at the truck, no hassling or beggars so far.
We arrived into Chitwan National Park & it was literally a breath of fresh air. It was peaceful, still and the people were so friendly & helpful. We found a lovely family run restaurant for dinner were we had our first momo's (Nepali dumplings) and amazing banana fritters for desert! This place already had the thumbs up from us.
The adventure began next morning, when we were taken by Jeep, which happened to be a horse drawn cart, to go trekking in the jungle on elephant back.
With the first light of the day flooding through the leaves the jungle was mainly still apart from the amazing bird song. As it turned out our elephant was slightly wayward & just wanted to stop, eat & fart, and was not the least bit perturbed when the Mahut tried to move her on. We did not see huge amounts of wildlife, some deer & a wild boar, but it was a really beautiful and peaceful ride.
After a relaxed day we headed back into the jungle to stay in a lookout tower for the night. We'd been told that the chances of us seeing tigers were slim to none, but we were hopeful. We headed up into a three storey tower in the middle of a clearing with a couple of others from the group. From there we had a great view of the last of the elephant rides of the day & had the first sighting of a rhino. Pretty cool first 5 minutes! Once the elephants had plodded on we headed into the jungle on foot. Thank goodness we didn't see a tiger at this point otherwise it would have been well scary! We did see some deer & a wild boar. Once we'd arrived back in the tower & continued peering round a warden came through & told us there was a mother & baby rhino close by. We went in search. They were not far beyond the clearing munching away surrounded by deer. The next few minutes were very exciting. Anne started motioning that she could see a tiger in the grass! As the guide & I checked in the binoculars, it definitely looked like an orange back stalking through the grass close to the deer. After trying to gesture & explain to the other two, who were ahead, it transpired that a monkey can look very much like a tiger! Who'd thought!
That night we did however have more excitement. We saw a baby rhino feeding just 10 metres away from the tower by torch light. Amazing!
The next day was leisurely after our early start, watching more deer & listening to the jungle come to life. We pottered around on bikes for the day & the majority of traffic we met, were elephants.
Elephant bath time is about 10.30am every day. The Mahuts bring them down to the river to soak their sensitive skin & a few tourists while they're at it. We thought we'd join in the fun & it was fantastic! We paid the equivalent of 60p to climb onto the elephants bare back & have it blow water at us from its trunk & throw us into the river! Climbing back onto an elephant via its trunk is not dignified in away way but great craic!
It was such a peaceful beautiful place & everything was very laid back in 'Nepali time'. We'd only been in the country a few days but what a fantastic few days!
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