December 2

There was a knock on the door at 6:20 AM announcing breakfast at 6:30. It was very foggy, and not yet bright enough to see inside without a flashlight. The generator was not running now. For breakfast, we had a banana, fried eggs, toast, and fried potatoes with onion. The eggs had a soft yolk, which I cut out.

At 7:00, we left for a canoe ride and jungle walk. We boarded a long, narrow dugout canoe with removable seats. Our guide helped paddle in the front, while the four of us who arrived on the bus yesterday sat in the middle. It was very foggy at the beginning, but it was best to start early to increase our chances of seeing wildlife. The Rapti River was wide, shallow, and fast-moving. We got stuck on the sandy bottom a few times. The only wildlife we saw in the hour-long canoe ride were some large water birds. We also saw domestic elephants carrying loads of hay across the river. The canoe stopped a few miles downstream, on the opposite side of the river. There, we began our jungle walk.

As we started, the guide explained that we must be very quiet and follow him closely. If a rhino attacked, we would have to run and climb a tree. We saw fresh rhino tracks as we left the boat. The jungle walk is probably the most dangerous activity in Chitwan, because of the possibility of being attacked by a rhino. Tigers also live here, but there are less than fifty in the park, and the chances of seeing one is small. Our guide saw two last week on a canoe ride with a French group, but that was only the second time he had seen any. Sloth bears are considered the most dangerous animal here, because they are ferocious, and their attacks to the head are often fatal. They are not very common either. Crocodiles are often seen on the river, but we didn't see any. There are also four species of poisonous snakes, including two kinds of cobras. They are rarely seen.

The jungle walk often did not follow any obvious trail, and we had to duck under branches and push through elephant grass, which grows twenty feet high. The forests here looked similar to forests at home, but the high grass surrounding them was unlike any I had seen before. We saw one monkey in a tree. The guide climbed trees to search for rhinos, and looked for tracks. We never found one, and neither did any of the other groups we ran into in the jungle. We followed a jeep road back to the river, across from the park entrance in Sauraha. We saw a green parakeet on the way.

At the river, we had to remove our shoes and wade out to where a dugout canoe ferry would come to take us back across. My convertible pants were useful here. The guide was impressed by them. Many people were waiting to cross, and there were several crossings before it was our turn. This dugout canoe was longer than the one we took downstream, and had no seats on the wet bottom. We squatted on the ride over, which was fortunately short. Kneeling would have been more comfortable, but I thought of that too late, and did not want to shift my position in the narrow boat.

We returned to the hotel at 11:00 and had lunch at noon. It was a fried breaded vegetable cutlet, served with french fries, mixed vegetables, cabbage soup, and an orange. After lunch, there was some free time, which I used to shower, and to go back to the Tharu village to take some more pictures now that the guide was not with me to complain.

I went to the ticket office at the national park to ask about how to get an elephant ride inside the park, in case I wanted to do that tomorrow. They said there was a `queue system', and I would have to go to the Hotel Association building next to the Rhino Lodge in town at 6 AM to put my name on a list, and then wait in a line at the park for a ticket, which would cost 650 Rs. We had an elephant ride scheduled today at 3:30, but it would be outside the park, in the buffer zone, and my guide book said there is a better chance of seeing wildlife inside the park. My lodge had its own elephants, and private elephants are excluded from the park, which has its own.

I returned to the hotel. Around 3:00, two elephants arrived and stood beside a loading platform. While waiting to board, I asked our guide about how to get the government elephant rides, but he told me that all the government wants is your money, that their rides only last an hour, and people often don't see any wildlife, so they get a lot of complaints. He told me that I would definitely see rhinos on the hotel's elephant ride, and if I didn't, I could have a free ride tomorrow. He said our ride would last at least two hours, and they would make sure we found a rhino. The government elephants are competition for the hotel, so it was clear to me that if I wanted to get one of their rides, I would have to arrange it myself.

Seven people boarded the two elephants. I got on the second elephant, together with the Japanese man and a young man from London who had just arrived today. To board, the elephant backs up to the platform, and you step onto its back. There is a wooden platform on a pillow on the elephant's back. One person sits at each corner, with their legs around a railing post. The driver sits on the elephant's shoulders, in front of the platform, with his bare feet in stirrups. He steers by nudging the elephant behind the ears with his toes, or by whacking it on the head with a hatchet.

We started out following a road along the river, downstream. We passed through several Tharu villages, which could now be photographed safely, although it is difficult to compose a picture or hold the camera still on a moving elephant. The motion is jarring, and I expected to end up with a lot of bruises from this ride. The villages were full of brown thatched-roof huts, and surrounded by blooming golden fields, which were quite beautiful. There were some large plants with purple flowers, and large poinsettia trees.

Children, often wearing little or no clothes even when fairly old, waved and shouted ``bye-bye'' to us. A few said ``hello-bye-bye'' or ``bye-bye-hello.'' Bicycle tires are popular toys here, rolled with sticks. The Tharu have many cattle, their most prized possession, plus some goats, chickens, and lots of dogs, which are everywhere. Some of the dogs were not very friendly, and even chased after the elephants.

After passing through the last village, we crossed a river into the buffer zone outside the park. A man was in a tree looking for rhinos. One has been seen nearby, and we tried to find it. The elephants split up to try to catch it between them. Rhinos are much smaller than elephants, and will not attack one. In the forest, the elephant walked right through the trees. The driver used his hatchet to push limbs aside, or cut them if necessary. The elephant was always pulling up plants to eat as it walked.

Soon we saw the rhino, which was very close when we came upon it in the forest. We got a good look until the elephant made a loud noise, causing the rhino to flee. Later, we saw a peacock, a mongoose, and some pheasants. The driver pulled some small orange fruits from a tree and shared them with us. I don't know what they were, but they are popular among the locals. As the sun set, we headed back. At the river, we stopped to allow some cattle to cross. While waiting, we exchanged cameras with the people on the other elephant to take pictures of each other. It was dark enough by now to require a flash. We reached the lodge at 5:45, after dark. I was quite sore from bouncing on the elephant, and the ride ended none too soon. I learned that the people on the other elephant had never seen the rhino.

We had dinner at 6:00: a spring roll with vegetable curry sauce and onion soup. I talked to the guide about my plans for my free day. He told me that they had not been able to find enough people for the jeep ride, and that the grass was really too high for this anyway, until it was harvested in January. He recommended either a full day jungle walk, or bird-watching in the morning followed by an afternoon canoe ride and jungle walk, which could go deeper into the jungle than we went today. He recommended the latter choice, since on a full day walk, you really have little chance of seeing wildlife except at the beginning and end. Wildlife is rarely seen in mid-day. I decided on the canoe ride and jungle walk, since I wanted to leave the morning free, in case I decided to get a government elephant ride. I still wasn't sure I would do this, since I had already seen a rhino.

After dinner, I went out and walked around Sauraha to see if anything was going on at night. Some hotels advertise Tharu stick dances, although ours did not have them this late in the season. I had heard some drumming last night while sitting at the campfire, but heard no such activity tonight, so I walked downtown to the main corner to see if anything was going on there. One store there had a large selection of pies, and I got a piece of crumb-top apple pie for dessert.

The roof-top restaurants around this corner were all having happy hour. I went to the Hungry Eye Restaurant for a Tuborg Beer, which came with french fries. These were welcome, since tonight's dinner had not been very filling. I talked to the waiter for a while, who was not busy since the only other customer had just left. He joined me at my table. He was a young Tharu man who learned English in school, and likes to practice when he gets a chance. We talked for a while about America and Nepal, until his boss came upstairs. His boss recommended a plate of papadam, which I thought sounded good, so I ordered some, and then finished my beer and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1994. All rights reserved.