Chitwan

NEPAL
4 days in November, 2010

Chitwan is Nepal's most famous national park for safaris. We chose to hike instead, even though we got a lot of warnings about the dangers. The guides are unarmed and we would be walking among tigers, rhinos, buffalos, wild elephants, snakes, bears, crocodiles... It turned out to be an unforgettable experience with one event in particular that became the highlight of out whole trip!


Day 0: Hanging out in Citwan a day before the hike

 

The day before the trek we just took a small walk near the village,
and found this rhino laying in the water :)
 
 

 
 
 

We also took a short elephant ride to see these rhinos.
 
 

Mother
 
 

Baby
 
 

We slept in this tower in the middle of
the jungle, where we saw a lot of deer.

 
 

Day 1-4: The hike :)
 
 

The four brave hikers.
(Benjamin & Eva were elsewhere,
but would join us on the third day of the hike)
 
 

We started with a canoe ride in the misty morning
 
 

Walking into the jungle, very excited
 
 

Nice bugs...
 
 

Termites
 
 

A crocodile near the path
 
 

A tiger had marked his territory here!
 
 

Fresh tiger prints!
 
 

Our guide, Sanjay, in front of old tiger droppings.
 
 

Insects had drilled the logs, and all the sawdust had piled up on the ground below :)
 
 

And then it happened!
A tiger jumped out of the bushes with a roar and swung it's paw towards us! It was about 2 meters away only, but soon turned around and jumped back into the high grass.
 
 

That's where it came from!
 
 

This is where we saw the tiger
 
 

A suitable beer for celebrating a day to remember :)
 
 

But there are more dangerous animals... Prints from rhino.
 
 

We saw rhino twice. Once in the forest, but this time in an open area where we had no trees to climb if the Rhino would attack. They run 50 km/h... So we had to hurry past it. Scary!
 
 

By now Benjamin & Eva had joined us
 
 

Hanging out in the evening in a village
 
 

The beautiful Sal forest
 
 
 
 
 

Skin from a cobra
 
 

Nice bug...
 
 

Having a drink at a lodge, looking for animals
 
 

Prints from Sloth Bear
 
 

River crossing
 
 

Our room in a village
 
 

It turned out that the village we finished out hike in was hosting the World Championships in Elephant Polo...
It felt like being back in the colonial era, with posh brittish men drinking tea from porcelain cups inbetween the games :)
 
 

Sara & me with our guide Sanjay