A wild kingdom of tigers, rhinos and elephants - Chitwan National Park, Nepal

After meeting our Canadian crew the 5 of us took off to the south of Nepal where we planned to do one of the country’s most exciting excursions, the wildlife safari of Chitwan. But first we had to get there, which is a mission and a half!!! Busses in Nepal can be very challenging because Earthquakes are quite common and they wreak havoc on the already poor infrastructure. Nepal has some of the worst road conditions in the world, it reminded us a lot of driving through Bolivia. It’s incredibly beautiful and terrifying at the same time, riding a narrow road along sheer drops into deep ravines. The bus shook and trembled its way along for long hours and the traffic often choked to a standstill. There are many rocks falling from above down onto the road and lots of narrow wood bridges high above rushing rivers.. one wrong turn and we’d be rolling down the cliffside into a crocodile river. LOL sounds like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie!!

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

Finally, after 7 long hours and about 150 kilometers, we made it to Sauraha, the beautiful and rustic little village that borders the jungle of Chitwan National Park. Its typically hotter and more humid compared to other parts of Nepal, a welcome break from the cold of the north. We were there in winter, so we had sunny and mild days with chillier evenings and few mosquitos.

Photo Credit: Jason Galbraith

We check into our guesthouse, the wonderful Wildlife Safari Lodge and Camp for only $3 CAD per night. It’s clean, spacious and beautifully laid out. Our host, Biwas was amazing, he doted on us from the minute we arrived until we departed almost a week later. He’s a lovely young guy, a man of many talents, he cooked our meals, kept the beers flowing, and he organized our safari adventures with the amazing Arjun Shrestha, safari guide extraordinaire. After much discussion, we settled on a 4-hour walking tour of the jungle complete with a canoe ride across the little river and then an afternoon jeep safari to cover more ground and see more of the park.

We decided to take it easy and enjoy the chill vibes of the safari lodge for a couple days before our big day out. We walked around town exploring, played lots of games and drank copious amounts of beer and local rum… so much fun!!!

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell…Yes, he slept like this all night! LOL

Then finally, safari day was upon us!! We woke up early like the birds at 5am in order to have a good breakfast before our adventure began. It was a misty, foggy morning, setting an eerie tone, as we walked to the riverside to catch our canoe. Permits in hands, and all aboard the canoe, we set out for our day in the wilderness.

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

The weather was perfect, super mystic with the thick fog surrounding us, it really set the mood for what we were about to do. We drifted down the river slowly listening to the jungle and the river coming alive for the day. At first we could barely see a thing as our eyes strained to make out the shapes of the river banks through the fog but our eyes adjusted quickly and we began to notice many varieties of birds hunting for food on the shoreline. We were also careful to remain quiet, as the water was only inches from where we sat and just happens to be infested with two types of crocodiles. The long nosed ones were less worrying because they’re smaller and eat only fish, but the second type is a bigger, more aggressive meat eater, known to enjoy human from time to time.

After half an hour canoeing, we touched the shore, a little uneasy that the fog was still thick, but enjoying the mystic view, there was no turning back now!! We walked for 10 minutes or so along the shoreline until we reached the border of the jungle where our fantastic guide, Arjun, stopped to give us a serious speech about rules of the jungle which we listened to carefully. Basically, he was telling us what to do if a freaking rhino is charging at us or if we encounter a wild tiger or elephant.

After his speech we all walked in a line as the reality sunk in that we were literally walking, ON FOOT, through the jungle!!!! We all admitted later that we felt about 50% sheer, adrenaline-fueled excitement and 50% human, primal fear.

For the first little while, we walked through thick jungle full of noises and spider webs, from time to time our Arjun would stop us by holding his fist in the air, military style, as he scanned the area for signs of wildlife. We saw a few poops from rhinos and elephants, but still no sign of the actual beasts.

Now came the most scary and potentially the most reckless moments of the day; for 5 long, long, LONG minutes we had to walk through the thick, 12-foot-tall grass!! At this point we all thought of that scene in Jurassic Park where the velociraptors attack the group of humans in the high grass.. “DON’T GO THOUGH THE HIGH GRASS!!!”

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

As if the cobras weren’t enough to worry about, we all knew, tigers like to hunt in the tall grass. Luckily though, we made it safe and sound out onto the dirt track. Now we had a little distance from it, but we still had tall grass on either side of the road so we were constantly scanning for signs of movement or flashes of color. So far, so good though, no creatures jumped out of the bushes to eat us. LOL.

We stayed on the dirt road for the next couple hours, twisting and winding our way through a small area of the park. As we walked along, our guide showed us all of the different, fresh from that morning, animal tracks in the dirt road. Turned out, we were LITERALLY walking in the foot steps of tigers, rhinos, elephants, sloth bears and leopards. It was a bit of a bone-chilling feeling to know that they were out there, probably watching us, but we could see no sign of them.

After walking some ways, we finally saw our first rhino. He was a MASSIVE, beautiful guy hiding in the bushes across a big ditch, just munching away on his breakfast. We were all so in awe of him, we just stood and stared for ages, taking in the raw beauty of the scene before us. Arjun didn’t tell us at the time, he waited until we were back in the safety of our lodge, that that rhino had actually maimed and killed 5 people in his life. Arjun himself had a nasty scar from his own encounter with another rhino in the park.

Eventually the sun came out and finally burned off the eerie fog, it was absolutely stunning to see the blue of the clear sky against the many shades of green and brown in the jungle. For the next couple of hours we trapsed around through the jungle on the lookout for more wildlife.

We saw 6 more rhino as we walked. We also saw some park rangers riding their domestic elephants through the jungle looking for a tiger that had killed a buffalo in the night. The rangers were so agile, sometimes standing and walking on the backs of the giant beasts. You could tell they really loved their animals, letting them stop to graze and rest from time to time. As we walked the last little bit back to the boats, we spotted some crocodiles sunning themselves by the river, luckily they were on the other side of the water, so we could enjoy the view from a safe distance!! When the walk was over, we made our way back to the canoe and took a restful lunch break back at the lodge.

That afternoon it was time to hop back on the canoes and hit the other side of the river for our jeep ride.

Photo Credit: Jason Galbraith

Photo Credit: Brett Gauthier

As we drove through the park, we really got a different view of the area we had just walked through. The way the sun slanted through the tall grass and thick forest was so beautiful revealing the many colors of the jungle. We saw a bunch of wart hogs, spotted deer and crocodiles.

A little ways in, we saw another rhino, this time up close and personal, he was maybe 20 feet from our jeep. What a strange, amazing, interesting creature to look at!! The thick skin, big fluffy ears, the horn and shape of the mouth, they really look like a small dinosaur. We took loads of pictures, took it all in, enjoying being in Nepal observing wild animals. We stopped for a wander through a crocodile nursery and sanctuary, some of them were only babies just recently hatched and others were ancient, massive creatures at least 10 feet long.

During the final hours of the tour, we saw a few more rhinos, monkeys, wild boar, more spotted deer and a couple of sloth bears. We were still holding out hope that we’d see a rare Bengal tiger, but as the sun started to dip closer to the horizon, we had to accept that today would not be the day. As we drove away from the jungle, we looked behinds us to see one of the most incredible sunsets we have seen in our lives; In one direction, a giant orange globe on the horizon, we also had a view of the snow-capped mountains far off in the distance, and birds flying high over the tall grass as it swayed in the soft breeze. What a beautiful day full of emotions!!!!!

We took 1 more day to relax in Chitwan and let the experience settle over us. Then it was time to hop on the bus for the journey back to Kathmandu. There we all met with our good friend Ranjit for an interesting tour of the city including the holy site of Pushupati where people bring their loves ones to be cremated next to the river. We also made a visit to Darbur Square which suffered terrible damage in the 2015 earthquakes. Ranjit also took us to a cashmere vendor where we were able to buy cashmere sweaters, scarves and ponchos in all the colors of the rainbow at incredible prices.

Photo Credit: Brett Gauthier

In Kathmandu, we decided to have a movie day as the newest Star Wars was released while we were there.

Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

We went in the early afternoon to a theater in the city to find that they’d canceled the movie because no one showed up. They offered us a private showing of just for the 4 of us!!! This was the nicest movie theater we’ve ever seen! The seats were electric massaging chairs that reclined all the way back, with foot rests and a call-button for the concessions. We were given menu cards to choose our snacks which were delivered right to us, and they even went on a beer run for us! We felt like kings, getting a little true relaxation after the longgg and uncomfortable journey from the south!

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Photo Credit: Jeff Dockrell

That evening was our final night with the Canadian crew before they headed home, so we found an Irish pub in Thamel and drank and partied the night away making our final memories together until the next time. In the morning we said our goodbyes to the Canadians and to Ranjit and we all went our separate ways.

After 3 beautiful weeks in Nepal, it was time for the TravelFreaks to move on, India was calling us! Follow along for the story of an amazing 2 months in India, a country of incredible contrast, vibrant color and beauty!!!