Chitiwan Rhino – note the bird on it’s back
After a couple of days driving including a very lackadaisical border crossing we arrived at Royal Chitwan National Park.
We stayed at the Rhino Lodge, but it seemed as we drove through town that all the accommodation was named using any two or three words from Chitwan, Adventure, Village, Jungle, Lodge, River, Rhino, Safari, Camp, Holiday, Paradise.
Went straight to an elephant breeding centre (or Elephant Beating Centre as one sign was misspelt) where we got to feed the elephants being trained as working animals. The evening was mostly spent looking for candles as there were 5 second power cuts every 20 seconds. In the end we found an empty bar and set an enormous fire in a pit in the centre. This beacon drew visitors from all over town (like moths) who decided they were going to sit at our table nearest the fire. This seemed a bit odd at first but after a while we’d learnt that it was 70p for a shot of vodka or £2 for a whole bottle the night progressed rather well which made the 5am start for a canoe ride quite painful.
The canoe took us a decent way downstream then we gracefully dismounted and walked back with a local guide. Still didn’t see any tigers but got very close to a rhino and best of all we saw a Jungle Chicken.
Next we booked an elephant ride which required us to pick out 5 elephants and ride them into the river to wash them down. As we neared the river I got to use the only word of elephant that I know – Chhop, which means wash yourself. I though this was quite a sneaky bit of labour saving but it backfired when the elephant sucked up a truckload of water and sprayed it all over it’s back where three of us were sitting.
Once the elephants were suitably scrubbed we strapped on a howdah (big box saddle), climbed back on board and headed into the jungle. Our elephant was controlled by the main rhino finder so whilst the other 4 kept to the marked trails ours crashed though the bushes and trees on a direct route to the rhinos. Lots of ducking and narrowly avoiding tree trucks but we got to the rhinos way before anyone else and got to see them very close up.
In the evening a cultural dance evening was planned but I’m wise to these by now and all my excuses to avoid it were not necessary as one of the girls lost her purse so I gratefully volunteered to help look for it. Unfortunately the hotel manager wandered round town randomly accusing shopkeepers of stealing it so I had to follow behind buying souvenirs in all the shops to show there were no hard feelings.
