Chitwan National Park, Nepal.
Going down uneven roads, we saw the mountains on the right hand side, saw people and heard buses honking. It was too early for noise. I’d just woken from my slumber which I’d forgotten even happened because during my time in Nepal my bedtime was really not the best, but I’d set my alarm to go off at 8:30 or 8:45am most days. That’s an average of about 7 to 6 hours of sleep. On this day it was 5.00am.
I know I know, all the sleep experts are going to come at me for this. My next journey, passing beautiful mountains that are just about bathed in the morning sunshine, was to Chitwan National Park. Lunch at 11, quite early I say, but with 2 hours to go I knew if I didn’t eat I would be hungry.
Taking in the cool breeze, camera gear and a coat and warm clothes, a 6 hour bus ride proved that booking a tour to a national park was the best decision.
Getting into the nitty gritty and pure facts… Chitwan National Park was established in 1973 and has been home to animals such as the Asian Elephant, The oriental darter, the one horned Rhino, the Peacock, the Ghardiyal, Crocodiles, Kingfishers, and Sloth bear…
When visiting the park, the anticipation that a tropical girl wasn’t going to see the sun for 4 days until she went into the city, purely shocked her system.
The first morning saw me going to the Rapti River with the guide assigned for a boat ride. That was lovely, except that there was a child making too much noise or a family I should say.
Really not a fan of that. We saw a tree house that you could go spend a night in, which I felt would not work for me, therefore I didn’t do it. We saw and heard many birds and identified crocodiles in the water. Mugger and Ghardiyal.
This section of the park was a protected area and I was told that you get 125 fish here. The boat that we were on was made by the locals and by a tree trunk. The water was warm and it was said that it is good for the crocodiles to reside in.
Sometimes when the boat doesn’t move while being guided by an oar, due to the current, the boatman needs to get down and push… but thankfully that didn’t happen on this day.
The park was beautiful with clear waterways and sounds of the birds and the trees swaying in the wind, people chattering and gliding and guiding…
During the three night, four day trip to Chitwan, I learnt that they have an elephant breeding centre. They want to increase reproduction of Asian elephants and decrease mortality rates. Reproduction numbers haven’t increased so this initiative, even though controversial to some in this day and age, was the best solution. When asked for more facts about Chitwan, he said that there were 100 elephants in the wild.
They haven’t released them yet, but mahouts take them to the jungle twice a day and they are allowed to roam.
There’s a wild elephant (Bull) who comes and then reproduction takes place naturally and not vehemently. He has been the cause for successful births of Asian elephants, within a captive, enclosed large space according to the latest stats.
The elephants are given food mixed with natural fibers for good health and they are used for certain tasks in the wild, and to my knowledge there is no harm caused.
The elephants are used for transport, when wild animals are injured to help care and bring them back to the animal hospital and to fetch a number of things from the jungle.
The jungle has zones but you are generally taken into zones that potentially have the famous animals roaming around in, like the Tiger and Rhino.
The food and drinks I had were simple and edible and I didn’t complain.
We didn’t see Tiger but it had been spotted on the morning of the second day's safari, but not by the vehicle I sat in.
The guests at the hotel were taken for a special concert, the local people called “Tharu show,” which showcases traditional dances and rituals of Nepal and Chitwan which was lovely to be part of and experience as an island girl from a tropical country.
