I was awakened by my alarm clock at 5:30 AM, which gave me time to shower before meeting Lal at 6:30. The morning was very foggy, with visibility less than 100 yards. I checked my suitcase and duffle bag and paid my bill, and Lal picked me up in his cousin's auto-rickshaw at 6:30. I did not have time for breakfast. Lal drove me to a tourist bus waiting on Kantipath. I gave my backpack, which was only half full now, to a man on top of the bus, and said good-bye to Lal. Lal said he would meet me here when the bus returned, around 2:30 PM on December 4. I thought we would probably be later, but he said he would wait. I reminded him not to forget to confirm the tickets, and mentioned that I had seen a Delta Airlines office on Durbar Marg, in case he needed one.
The bus had assigned seats, and mine is the second seat back on the left, beside the window. This placed me just behind the `copilot' seats, so I had a good view through the front window. Unfortunately, there was a wheel hump under my feet. A young Japanese man who apparently spoke no English sat behind me. The copilot tried unsuccessfully to talk to him. A man from the trekking agency came onto the bus and handed me an envelope containing my receipt for Hotel Wildlife Camp, which I would give to them upon arrival. A tarp was placed over the luggage on the roof. While we waited, a monkey ran down the street. Several groups of army men also ran down the street. They exercise in the morning. As we left town, we passed a lot of them running on the streets. We could see very little through the fog.
After leaving Kathmandu, we passed a memorial for a former king, and shortly after that were delayed in traffic for a long time in the first town we came to. While we waited there, the fog began to lift. Most of the traffic outside Kathmandu was trucks and buses. The road was rough and jarring for the first hour or so. We stopped on top of a hill to allow people to get out and pee, and some young boys came on the bus selling snacks and drinks. I bought a pack of cardamom cream cookies, because I had not eaten breakfast and was hungry. We descended the hill on switchbacks, and passed through a toll gate. After that, the road became smooth, and actually had a dashed line in the middle, though most drivers paid little attention to it.
Nepali trucks all seem to be the same model, and none look very new. However, they are all brightly painted and elaborately decorated with Hindu images, garlands, and tassels. The front is usually painted bright orange, and there is usually a lighted box above the cab with an image of a goddess. The cabs are often packed with people, and some people ride on the roofs. The back, which is usually painted blue, always says `Horn Please' in large colorful letters, so that people will honk before passing, and the driver can give a hand signal for whether it is safe. This is important, because Nepali drivers will pass anywhere, on blind hills and curves, and into oncoming traffic. They honk their horns constantly. We passed one tourist bus that had driven half-way over a cliff, and a truck that drove off a bridge, so it is apparent that accidents sometimes happen.
The ride was mostly downhill, following a river through a gorge. We stopped again to allow people to get out and pee beside the road, and I took advantage of this, but only a few women did, since there was not really any privacy. At 10:30, about half-way, we stopped at a `fast-food' restaurant in Bandipur for a half hour for a quick meal. They had an extensive menu. I had a bowl of vegetable noodle soup. Women sold fruit outside. By the time I figured out the large, ripe oranges cost 20 Rs per kilogram, a good price, the bus was ready to leave.
The fog was now gone, but it was cloudy. We left the gorge and entered the flat land of the Terai region. There were many blooming fields, like I saw at Landrung in the Annapurnas, and many banana and papaya trees. Two monkeys crossed the road in front of the bus. The houses were made of a brown adobe, and had thatched roofs and small windows. We passed through two large cities, Narayanghat and Bharatpur, where almost all the signs were in Nepali. The regional airport is in Bharatpur. The bus stopped at Tadi Bazaar. Outside, hotel representatives awaited our arrival and solicited customers.
Four of us had reservations for Hotel Wildlife Camp, and showed our receipts to a man from the hotel. One of the others was the Japanese man next to me, and the others were a retired French couple. We went to a Jeep, and were told not to enter too soon, since we had to push it to start it and then jump in. The hotel manager rode on the hood of the Jeep, and several other people hitched a ride on the back. We followed a dirt road through bright yellow fields and crossed a wide, shallow river before arriving in Sauraha.
The lodge was an attractive collection of buildings in a garden-like setting. Half were brick with thatched roofs, and the others were older adobe buildings. Each held two rooms, and the brick ones had private baths. I would stay in one of those. We began with lunch, egg-drop soup with chop suey, in a round brick dining room surrounded by windows, having a high thatched roof. Then we were shown to our rooms. Inside, they were basic concrete structures with a window on two opposite walls, whitewashed walls, a light bulb on one wall, and bare floors. There were two beds, a table and stool, and a few shelves. The beds looked reasonably clean, so I would not need the sleeping bag I brought. The bathroom had a real western-style toilet, but as usual, the shower had no curtain. The wall separating it from the opposite room's bathroom only went part way to the high ceiling, which was thatched. There was a gap between the outside walls and the roof.
We were free until 4:00, so I took a look around Sauraha. The town has a main corner with several roof-top restaurants. Their names were borrowed from well-known tourist restaurants in Kathmandu. There were numerous hotel-camps throughout town. Many stores had kerosene refrigerators, and advertized `freezing cold drinks'. Tourist offices advertized a wide variety of jungle activities and tried to solicit passing customers. Numerous ox-carts passed down the street. Walking to the far end of town, I discovered the Rapti River. Most of the Chitwan National Park was across this river. I followed the river across a sandy area and went around the nice Tiger Camp Lodge. Just beyond it, I came upon the national park entrance sign. Ahead, there was a visitor's center with exhibits on the park and its wildlife, as well as the local people, the Tharu.
![[Tharu village]](../images/icons/well_small.gif){kind=icon}
At 4:00, we had a guided tour of Sauraha, including a visit to the original Tharu village in town. The Tharu were the only people who would live here until malaria was eradicated in the 1950's. They are naturally resistant to malaria, which still occurs occasionally in the Terai. Because of the malaria, the Terai was one of the last areas of Nepal to have contact with the outside world, and the people are still very traditional. Most are farmers. At one time they were nomadic, but have settled in villages in recent years, with the encouragement of the government. They resented the creation of the Chitwan National Park, since it interfered with their freedom to use the land as they had in the past, and there was a series of violent confrontations with the army units guarding the park as late as the 1980's, until a compromise was reached, allowing them to harvest grass in the park each year in January. Now many make a living from tourism, although most are still farmers. After I took a picture of the Tharu village, the guide, who was Tharu himself, told me they did not like photographs being taken here.
Next, we visited the Chitwan visitor's center, which I had discovered earlier. Inside, it tells how the park was originally the king's private hunting preserve. Visiting dignitaries would be invited on hunting safaris, and would kill many tigers and other game. Because the king used it for hunting, the original habitat was maintained in the park, and it was never farmed like the surrounding regions. Therefore, when the park was created, the wildlife quickly recovered.
Since I had already seen the exhibits here, I went out and sat on a bench with the guide, who was a very quiet man with a soft voice. He told me that on my free day, I may be able to get a jeep ride into the park. Most jeeps cannot get there yet because the river is still too high, but one has been able to get in. He said the grass may still be too high to see wildlife from a jeep, however, and he didn't know if there would be a jeep ride because they need at least seven people to make it profitable, because of the high entry fee for jeeps.
We walked to the river, where the sun was now red as it set into the thick haze. Then we went to see where they keep the government elephants, which are used for elephant rides inside the park. A large number of elephants were chained to posts there on short chains, with their front legs and back legs separately chained together. One appeared rather angry, and stomped a lot.
We walked back to the lodge at dusk, and at 6:00, a buffet of traditional Nepali foods was served, including dal bhatt, chicken curry, vegetable curry, fried breaded vegetables, hotly spiced pickles, and papadam. I was suspicious of the dal bhatt, but the lodge looked clean, so I tried some of the lentils. I was also suspicious of the hot pickles, since I did not know how they were prepared, and hot pickles had always accompanied the meals that made me sick. I ate a few anyway. The food was tasty, and I took a second plate. Then we went outside and sat around a campfire before going to bed. I had put on some insect repellant, because I did not want to risk being bitten by a mosquito which could have malaria, even though I hadn't seen any. In the distance I heard drumming, which I thought might have been the Tharu stick dances some lodges advertize. Our lodge sometimes has them during peak season, but now there are too few visitors. The lodge had a generator which provided electricity until 10 PM. In my room tonight, I thought I heard a mosquito, but I never saw it, and was not bitten.
Scott A. Yost, 1994. All rights reserved.