Chitwan National Park Jeep Safari
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2010
1
95
104
Trip End
Jun 10, 2011
Sauraha, Nepal
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
It turned out to be the bumpiest, hottest, longest 6 hour bus ride I have had to endure despite 95% of it being on sealed roads. We were met in Sauraha by a driver in a jeep to take us to our riverside resort. We were greeted by our host called Martina who explained to us what our different Chitwan National Park options were. We just wanted something to eat as we were starving. The setting of our small resort was lovely so we had lunch and just relaxed in the peaceful surroundings (not easy for me to do). In the evening we walked into the village to watch a local Tharu culture show which basically involved young men with fighting sticks. They have such an impressive turn of speed.
We had decided to take an afternoon jeep safari although there were many options. World Heritage Listed Chitwan has a rare opportunity to take a walking safari tour although the jeep goes much further in increasing our chances of spotting wildlife. We woke up to rain first thing and there was a chance that the jeep tour wouldn’t run so whilst we waited for the decision we went for a walk around the village centre which took around ½ hour as it was so small. There were elephants just walking through with a single mahout on their back. After lunch our trip was given the green light and we were taken alongside the river to board a dugout canoe to take us to the other side. Our guide, Marco, took us and 5 others to an awaiting jeep in the tree line. The National Park is now protected from poachers but it may be too late as the Royal Bengal Tiger numbers are now down to around 150 although the One-Horned Indian Rhino are now on the increase again. We saw lots of Macaw monkeys swinging around as we drove through the tall grasslands which can grow up to 8 metres in height. We also saw a Kingfisher fly past and a Cuckoo in the tree, well I say we did, Marco spotted them, we just had to look where he told us. Once we got near one of the lakes, Marco spotted a Rhino on the other side but you could barely make out the grey lump. The women on the jeep wouldn’t keep their mouths shut despite Marco repeatedly telling them so the Rhino eventually turned away.
We stopped off at a Gharial crocodile breeding centre where they breed and contain the beasts until they are around 2 metres in length. I was quite surprised at how well they were kept considering where we were. Gharials are odd-looking crocodiles with really long thin mouths crammed full of teeth with a bulbous snout at the end. Tracy and I had been having so much fun that we just wanted to get back in the jeep and continue.
Back on the trail and Marco spotted lots of spotted deer in various places and even a wild boar in the distance which we all initially thought might have been a bear. A short drive further on and Marco did eventually find us a Sloth Bear in the distance. They are very dangerous so I guess that was a good thing. It was certainly very large. My crappy compact camera just didn’t have the zoom capability to view it up close. Once again one of the women on the jeep wouldn’t shut up for some bizarre reason and after a couple of minutes the bear started to head away. Surely they must understand that noise will scare the creatures away and therefore you have less chance of spotting them? On our drive back we had all but given up hope of a good Rhino spotting when Marco pulled one out of the bag in the grassland up ahead. We all remained silent, bar the usual one, until we realised that the Rhino in the distance was going to head towards where we had parked up and everyone told her to be quiet. Marco climbed onto the roof of the jeep and made Rhino calls out to it to which it responded by heading towards us. It was so exciting. It just slowly headed our way through the trees until we could see its fluffy ears prick up and look right at us in response to Marco’s calls. The driver pulled forward a bit as the Rhino eventually crossed the track right behind us. That was the icing on the cake for us. We were so lucky to have had such fine weather and see these animals in their natural habitat. It was great value for money after nearly 5 hours spent in the jeep. Once we were dropped off, we had a drink by the riverside and watched the sunset.
We woke up to another thunderous downpour which didn’t seem to want to stop and it made us realise that we were lucky yesterday with the weather. We readied ourselves for the 5 ½ hour bus ride to Pokhara. I somehow think we might get wet trekking around the Annapurna’s.
