A Full Day Of Safari & A Tharu Culture Show
By 8.30am, 10 tourists from the lodge, including ourselves and our guide were loaded into a wooden, hand carved canoe boat. We started down the river, at times feeling nervous about how deep the boat was sitting in the water & the common knowledge of crocodiles. Our guide had mentioned that there is 2 types of crocodiles in the river & they don't normally go near humans except when its mating season when they become overtly aggressive. He also said it currently was mating season.... this could be interesting! Along the river bank we saw beautiful flowers in bloom & thick green grass, blue king fishers flitting through the air & diving down to catch unlucky fish. The air was already thick with humidity & before long we were slick with sweat.
After about 10 minutes of smooth sailing, we went round the first major bend in the river and came face to face with 2 crocodiles. They were more than a metre in length & the female could be heard hissing before she started rapidly swimming towards us. The guide & the other Nepalese man steering the boat stood up and started to intimidate her by banging sticks on the boat & yelling. After a few tense moments & more convincing than I was comfortable with, she turned away from the boat.
Thankfully this would be the most aggressive behaviour we would see from a crocodile in the river. We saw another 6 that were unfazed by us. The rest of the ride went smoothly with some bird watching & the close company of dragonflies. We hopped off the canoe on the opposite side of the river bank and a few kilometres down from where we started. It was now time for a safari walk through the buffer zone of the park & for the sauna effect of the humidity to really kick in!
We walked through the wild jungle following a worn dirt path, avoiding puddles & sticks.
Despite all the noise made from 11 people clumsily walking, we still managed to see some wild spotted deer and lots of birds, mostly king fishers, parrots and vultures. Our guide said in one of the rivers, way down the river, he could see a rhino. For obvious reasons we didn't go closer. I remain unconvinced it was a rhino, as do a lot of the other people who were squinting down the river, desperately trying to determine which grey object looked like a rhino. We emerged from the jungle just before lunch, saturated in sweat and feeling ready to skull 10 litres of water, despite each drinking a litre while walking. We had a couple of hours of free time to eat lunch, shower and relax before going out on jeep safari.
After showering, eating lunch and sneaking in a nap it was time for the jeep safari. First we had to hop in the jeep owned by the lodge & make our way through the town to the National park border and log our safari with the military. Our earlier safari's by canoe and foot had been around the buffer zone of the National Park, the jeep safari requires paperwork & authorisation from the military as only a certain amount of jeeps are allowed to be in the park at once and only jeep owned by the military.
After all the official requirements had been met we walk down to the edge of the river, sighting another crocodile on its bank and hop into another canoe, like the one we had been in earlier that morning. It's a very quick ride, literally to the other side of the river bank. Here we get out of the canoe and walk a kilometre to where the jeep's are parked. We all clamber into the tray and assign ourselves seats before driving through the jungle following the dirt road. Initially we drive through kilometres of elephant grass, so thick and tall it dwarf's the jeep and all of us. Anything could be hiding in there! Before too long we see a large male rhino walk out onto the road ahead of us, stop, look at the jeep and then continue on his way disappearing into the grass on the other side of the road. We later, briefly see a female rhino with her calf sloshing around in a muddy section of the river, they quickly disappear into the jungle after seeing us. Further down in that same river we would see a male rhino who was up to his head in water and totally unfazed by a jeep full of tourists gawking at him. Our fortune continued to shine, we would also see a female rhino and calf making their way through some shorter grass, very close to the jeep and on 1 other ocasion a solo male who just emerged out of some really tall grass, literally right next to the jeep before turning to run back where he had come from.
The rhino sightings were definitely the highlight of our jeep safari!
The rhinos are called the Greater One Horned Rhino and are only found in Nepal and India. Chitwan was made a national park back in 1973 to initiate conservation and protection acts to save the rhino, among other species, who's population had dwindled down to a scary 95 individuals by the end of the 1960's. These efforts to establish safe land for the rhinos and employ the military as part of one of the worlds most successful anti poaching programs has been rewarded greatly. Chitwan has celebrated a few years of ZERO poaching within Chitwan Park. What a huge achievement when the price for rhino horn is worth more in gold than the weight of the rhino itself! It is such a relief to see them in the wild, obviously thriving and reproducing successfully. This is the way these pre historic, nearly lost forever animals should be admired.
We are very happy to have contributed and supported this program, hopefully the rest of the world can follow the example's that are set here in Chitwan and more of the world's, individual and precious species can be saved.
While in the jeep we also saw 2 types of monkey, the common brown ones we saw in Kathmandu, as well as some cuter, fluffy black and white ones that shrieked form the tops of trees and threw nuts at us. There was a pack of wild boar that went squealing past with some young, destined for a large mud puddled that they wallowed in while we watched. There was many bird sightings, a large lizard, similar to a goanna, numerous spotted deer herds camouflaged almost to perfection. We didn't see the king of the jungle; the bengal tiger, or the elusive sloth bear or leopard, not surprising though.
After 5 hours in the jeep, it was time to return to the river bank & our hotel, our bums sore from the jolting roads of the jungle terrain & our shoulders sunburnt from the days adventures. We were once again promised some free time to shower, eat dinner and get ready for the Tharu culture show. 
The group of people called the Tharu are an ethnic group, officially recognised as a nationality, from the southern parts of the himalayas, found living in Nepal and India. Chitwan National park is considered to be the homeland for the original tribe of the region.
They put on a fantastic cultural show that went for just over an hour and demonstrated a number of their most signifiant cultural dances involving both men and women who danced in full costume to the rhythm of a drummer with props such as bamboo sticks and feathers.
I've had one of their songs stuck in my head for quite a few days now.
After such a big day it was no surprise that we arrived back at the lodge and made a bee line straight for our room, the comfort of our bed and the quick embrace of sleep.
- Alli
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