Nepali Narratives: Animal Crackers in My Soup

This weekend, the other volunteers and I ventured to Chitwan National Park. We did a three day, 2 night package that included a personal guide, food, lodging, and transportation all for less than $150! Whaaaaat?! It was definitely worth every rupee:)

So what did we actually do?? Well, first we sat in a bus for over 6 hours, winding through the Himalayas, jostling at every little bump in the road, and suffocating from the heat. Once we actually got to the hotel, we had a few hours to rest up before we went on a tour of the local village and to see some elephants. The elephants were precious. I have to admit though, I wasn't exactly a fan that some were chained. I understand that they're huge animals, and you wouldn't want them running away, but still, it made me a bit sad. At least they still were able to move around and had space, food, and fresh air to enjoy.

As we were looking at the elephants, our guide spotted a rhino across the field! Apparently, some people never see one on their trips, but that was definitely not the case for us, as you'll soon find out. Since the rhino was so far away, we tried walking a bit closer, but it went back into the forest before we could get a good view.

Then we kept going on our walk, and happened upon another rhino chilling in a river. Only seeing the top bits makes a rhino look pretty strange, but what can you do. We ended the walk watching the sun set over the park with about a hundred of our closet friends. That night we went to a showcase of some local dance traditions. That was pretty cool to see. There was lots of dancing in circles, and chanting, but my favorite was probably the short fire-spinning dance. Who knew that you could extinguish a flaming baton by spinning it so fast? The show ended our day. We were set for an early morning, and took advantage of the air conditioning for once.

The second day was by far the longest-- probably because it was technically our only full day there. Our first activity was a canoe ride. Guided and steered by professionals, so we were left to enjoy the fresh air that we all missed in Kathmandu. We saw a few birds here and there, but the best was yet to come. The next item on the agenda was a two-hour hike through the forest. Sounds cool, right? No. Very, very hot. The temperature reached over a hundred degrees while we were trekking about. That being said, we did get to see loads of deer, a monkey, a peacock, a wild boar, and what else but a rhino. Except this rhino decided to cause us a bit more trouble than the other ones. Our guide spotted it as we were hiking, so we stopped walking to take a look and let it be. But this particular rhino was a little too interested in us. I'm pretty sure we were in a staring contest for a few minutes before the guide decided to reroute the hike. So we turned around and were about the pass the rhino with plenty of space in between when it decided to have none of that and started a brisk thunderous walk in our direction. Needless to say, we turned right back around and luckily didn't see that rhino again.

After that bit of adventure, we went to an elephant breeding center, and got to see all the adorableness that is baby elephants. There were twins, and one that was doing a cute little dance. One also decided to befriend us, and walked to the fence where we got to pet it for a while. Smiles were on everyone's face. Then we headed down to a river and got to see some elephants getting baths. It was quite adorable to see these massive animals splashing around.

And that was just our morning. We got a few hours to relax and eat lunch before the elephant safari ride!! Which is basically exactly what it sounds like. All four of us were piled into a little basket and off we went! We were walked through the jungle and were attacked several times with branches that didn't phase the elephant one bit. We also got to see some more of the animals that we saw that morning, but this time they weren't as scared of us, since we were on top of other animals. And guess what we saw again?? Rhinos! This time a mother and her baby. They were grazing for a while, and we saw them again chilling in a little puddle a few minutes later. I also found my favorite elephant. It wasn't the one I was riding, but if elephants could be sassy, this one would be the sassiest. It didn't always follow the exact path, and just decided to grab random branches and snack along the way. It was amusing to watch to say the least.

The last day, today, we just had a quick "bird watching" tour in the morning, where we saw another rhino. Apparently it was one we had seen the day before, but I really couldn't tell you if that was true or not. After the walk was done we packed up and headed back to Kathmandu on another, yet somehow bumpier, 6+ hour journey. And now I'm back ready for the next week of volunteering with my lil' chitlins and monks.