Nepal: Chitwan, getting in touch with the real wildlife & yes, I saw two Rhinos!

Well, the trip was great. On a tea stop I met an older couple from Switzerland, they are here for 6 weeks. They used to work for an NGO on development projects in the 70’s and 80’s and now just do small projects on their own. One of them is to develop local villages via home stays. They gave me the idea to then stay in one, like I did in Sukadana. While back on the bus I looked it up online, found the ‘’Happy Family Homestay’’ which belongs to an orphanage of poor children of the area, called and got a place! :)

Arriving to Chitwan it’s like arriving once more in a completely different country. No more mountains, not even hills, just flat land, short grass and very hot!

I met with Sushila and the kids! There are nine happy kids in the orphanage and two volunteers. Now the kids are on holidays so they just play all day long, otherwise they go to school. They greeted me with smiles and flowers and a delicious masala tea!

Hari, Sushila’s husband arrived a bit later and he showed me the homestay just a few minutes walk…. In this short walk I could see the poor elephants that are in chains for tourist that want to take a ‘’nice’’ jungle trip on them… some of them have chains, others that plus are in between electric fences… it really makes me very angry as the only reason these elephants are treated like this, its because some tourists want the ride! Sad, terrible, horrible…. As human beings, we wouldn’t like to be in chains and used in this way….

Well, the homestay its super cute, with walls painted by the kids. There is even a kitchen and a good toilet! 

We talked about the guide for tomorrow and I followed his recommendation to just do half day hiking and canoe ride and half day jeep… due to the dangers of animals…. The facts:

-  Yesterday a woman was attacked by a bear, she is now ok and recovering

-      Two weeks ago two Nepali men were killed by a Lion while cutting the grass around the playground area.

-     I learn that my guide had a bear fight for 15//20 minutes on a longer trek some time ago

This is no joke, animals rule here, its their land and we must respect it.

This said, with good guides, it is possible to go deep, just don’t bee stupid and follow their knowledge! 

Hira took me for a short sightseeing walk just before sunset, beautiful! Low lands, two rivers, some high grass and the sun. Really peaceful place!

After the walk I joined the kids at the orphanage for dinner with Dal Bhat, what else! :) Very interesting to experience these one. Much simpler, just rice, beans and some haricots. Everyone sharing until the last piece of rice and of course, making sure I had enough! 

Once we finished each of us went to the back of the house to clean the plates in the dark and only then Sushila had some time to eat. She is incredible, doesn’t stop for a minute! I went with her to the girls bed room where the little one really didn’t want to sleep. She was jumping in the cradle and playing with the sheets for a while! I told them sweet dreams and went off to bed! Happy, but I miss the guys….

Good morning! I slept very good and Hira woke me up at 6AM when he came to cook my breakfast, how nice is that?! After washing my face, I had an omelet with toast and black tea. Ready to start the jungle adventure! 

One of my jungle guides joined us! I was wearing my pink t-shirt and he asked me to change as with that color I’d attract the animals… best is to wear no flashy colors… as I don’t have, I went to my dirty black one! The jacket was a bit of an issue as light pink its bad and the flashy blue I ended up wearing as well… I had no clue about this…

We left & started the day with an incredible canoe ride! While getting the park entrance ticket the sun was coming up and I had a magnificent, quiet and peaceful view over two rivers and two crocodiles were matting, how sweet!

The canoe ride was so so peaceful, it felt like a parallel world, calm warm steaming water, crocodiles and all kind of birds and ducks decorating the river shores and the sky… two women were bathing on the side… the sun raising on the back and silence, so we could all hear the wings of the birds! Beautiful!

We left the canoe behind and started the walk with only two guides and their bamboo stick. The briefing was interesting:

-  If the rhino approaches, you need to climb a tree, to the top. If you cannot, try to hide behind a big tree to be no visible to the animal…

-   If we see a tiger, do eye contact, walk backwards very slowly for a few meters, then turn, then run as fast as you can…

-    In the case of crocodile attack, run zig zag

-   Finally, if we see a bear, we need to come altogether as a pack and fight with the stick…

Mmmm…. The jungle is no joke and I was already a bit scared, now, let’s go!

The first part was in the forest next to the river, so very green vegetation, bushes and trees. We saw some leaches, insects and medicinal plants. All very quiet so far… then we got into to the road and found some fruits and yes, noises…. 

Ufffff we could hear rhinos fighting… no joke! I was scared, we moved on and heard other rhino’s noises. The guide asked me to please take off my flashy light blue jacket as it could call too much attention from far away… mmm we walked back while the other guide was ahead of us and he confirmed the rhinos were there, then we ran forward and wow! I saw one crossing the street… It really felt like in Jurassic Park! In the video you cannot see it but I saw it. I think I was pale, if they would see us, it was a she and her baby, they could just turn around and running at 40 km/hour reach us in no time, but no! :) Just happy for having seen them and by walk! Yuppy! We rested in a tower and then walked back.

Happy after seeing the rhino, I took a big pot of masala tea and took time to write before the jeep safari at 1 PM.

I have to say I was not very excited about the jeep… I really wanted to do the walk but I know just alone with the guides it’s more dangerous. I wish the guys were here… The good thing about the jeep is that quickly it goes deep in the jungle and after some minutes we met a rhino. So much closer than when I was walking. 

He was huge, massive, almost as tall as the jeep. It’s beautiful to see these animals are still alive and they have a place in the world. I hope they remain protected for a long while! We drive and drove and saw some wild pigs, chickens, a big spider… at some point we stopped for a break at a crocodile breathing center. As always I asked what they do with them and as always, I am never able to get a straight and strong answer, so I just waited outside…

On the way back I was so bored, it was 4 PM and just sitting on a jeep its not my type of thing… once more we saw other jeep that was stopped ahead of us and quickly we approached them. There was a lion just in front but as I had one jeep and I was on the second row of the jeep I was in and people go crazy and I’m too short I was not able to see it… buuuuuu… 

We drove back and I went to the orphanage for dinner….

This time most of the kids were out celebrating Diwali. The houses and the orphanage were all very nicely decorated with candles and the super colorful drawings on the floor. 

Sushila cooked some delicious spicy potatoes and some sweet, deep fried pastry in the occasion of the festival! We ate and had a good chat until the kids came back. They were super happy and smily, all nicely dressed with beautiful t-shirts and one of the girls was wearing a princess dress! Sweet! They gave me a sweet. Sushila counted the money they collected and she told that at the end of the festival she will split the total among all the kids in equal parts. Hira put some music and we all dance together, following two of the little girls, of course! 

At around 7 PM I drove with Hira on the back of his motorcycle to the cultural center. It reminded me of all the motorcycle rides in Indonesia, so cool!!! Freedom feeling! :) The cultural center reminded me of my primary school. 

It was nice music and dance show of the Thaura people. I got a flower from the peacock during that dance and I was the first in joining them, for the last dance! So much fun, really nice, happy energy all around. We drove back in the motorcycle and I fall asleep… until at 3AM some animals banging against the window and door woke me up, jajajaj well yes, I was a bit scared, I have to admit it! I put on the flashlight and fall asleep again…

Well, it is time to move on! Hira cooked again a nice breakfast with omelet, toast and black tea, yummy! I packed my stuff, went to the rooftop to check the view and said good bye to this beautiful jungle while the sun was going up!