Up Safari Creek Without A Paddle
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2011
1
47
106
Trip End
Jun 22, 2012
Sauraha, Central Region, Nepal
Monday, October 24, 2011
On our arrival, we were met by a realtively restrained group of hotel touts and managed to succesfully track down the hotel which Martin and Rhea were staying in. As Rhea had been ill they hadn't been in the park so we went out and arranged a trip for the following day. On our way into the village, we saw a group of people gathered round some woodlands and were told that their was a Rhino wandering around on the edge of the park; so we got to see one of the major attractions only 15 minutes after arriv ing! We went for lunch at a typical Nepali restaurant called... Typical Nepali Restaurant. Whilst its safe to say it won't be winning awards for the originality of its name, the food was great and we stuffed our faces on Dahl Bhatt with free refills. It was so good we showed a similar lack of imagination by going back for dinner the next 2 nights.
As the trips in the hotels were a lot more expensive, we found a random shop and negotiated a cheap price (about 13 pounds each) for an hour long canoe trip followed by a day's walking safari.
We were told to make sure that we arrived at 6.45 am so we would avoid the rush of canoes which could scare off the animals. However, when we got there, we were told by our guides (Ram and Manoj) that we needed more people to fill up the boat before we could leave. Clearly we hadn't learnt our lesson about budget trips after Tibet! We watched about 6 other boats leave before Ram told us that they couldn't get a boatman so Manoj was going to get a boat. A few other boats then pulled in to the shore in front of us whilst Manoj tried to control our canoe with a stick as he didn't have a paddle! Although this was initially worrying/funny/annoying, it didn't seem to make any difference to the wildlife as during our ride we got a close up view of a Mugger crocodile and also a range of tropical birds.
Despite our initial concerns, our guides actually turned out to be really good and it was a really unusual and interesting day. We started off the walk following the footprints of tigers, rhinos and deers but in the first few hours the only animals we really found were leeches (which Martin seemed more excited by than the other animals). One got onto my leg which I only noticed when it dropped off having sucked its fill of my blood (insert you own lawyer joke here). We then spotted some monkeys in the trees and a few different types of deer. We knew that it would be unlikely that we would see tigers as they are mostly nocturnal and shy but we had hoped to see a rhino.
It was seeming as though the sighting on the previous day would be our only one but our guides managed to follow the tracks through the jungle and we suddenly heard stamping and the rumbling of the ground! The guides went ahead and told us that we had to be careful as it was mating time and the rhinos seemed aggresive. They walked us in close enough so we could see one through the bushes and take a few photos. We were all trying to be quiet and still which was difficult when it was staring and looking angrily at us and after we felt and heard the vibrations of the other rhino running throuhg away, it wast't like we had a jeep to run to for a quick get away, just us our guides and their bamboo sticks! The guides wanted to be sure we were safe so moved us round them but the brief opportunity to see the rhino added to the real-life feeling and excitement of the day.
We also went back to the riverside and saw more crocs before heading out the park and seeeing the rhino who had been by the entrance the previous day (obviously an attention seeker) and its kid - who lost patience with the groups of tourists and moved towards them before a guide warned us all away. There was time for a jungle sunset over the water and more dahl bhaat before we said our farewell to Martin and Rhea and headed back to the urban jungle of Kathmandu.
