Change In Plans

Namaste from Kathmandu, where we finally have internet (and cell phone) coverage again.  We have spent the last few days exploring Nepal’s Chitwan National Park.  Until the Maoists overthrew the king and came into power in May 2008, the park was known as Royal Chitwan National Park.  It isn’t clear whether the running-dog, oppressor monarchical name will stay, or whether the new government will come up with something more egalitarian sounding.  Regardless, this short post is about our trip down to Chitwan, and our first morning there.

On Saturday, the morning that we left Pokhara, the clouds finally lifted, and we had spectacular views of the Annapurna and Fishtail ranges of the Himalayas.  We borrowed two flat-bottom canoes, and paddled out into Lake Pokhara to get a better view of the mountains, and to admire their reflections on the still water.

More precisely, when India got back from an early run, she and Zola took out a canoe, and left Tallulah and me sleeping.  I woke up about 15 minutes later, to find the hotel room door wide open, and Tallulah gone.  I rushed into the hallway and down the stairs, and out into the garden.  After a few anxious minutes, I found her wandering happily in her Princess Jasmine nightgown and bare feet.  Relieved, I carried her down to the dock, where we took the lodge’s second canoe, and paddled out to catch up with Zola and India.

Most of the drive from 160-kilometer drive from Pokhara to Chitwan was slow, scenic, and uneventful.  The road was pretty poor (which is why it took nearly five hours to go 100 miles), but as we came down from the highlands, the views of the lime-lightened green rivers, and the steep valley walls were amazing.  We got a flat tire; ironically it was on one of the very few well paved sections of highway.  This meant that as we blocked part of the road to change the wheel, cars and trucks were hurtling past us at 70 kph, instead of the normal 40.  This is about as fast as anything moves in Nepal.

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

We stopped for lunch at a riverside resort (called Riverside Resort), which gave us an opportunity to walk down and explore the river that we had been driving next to for hours, and to put our feet in the rushing water.  Amidst a scene of great natural beauty and tranquillity, we found a corporate-sponsored (men’s) beach volleyball tournament in full, noisy, pop-music-accompanied swing on the alluvial sand next to the water.  This is a land of surprises.

We arrived at Chitwan just after the last match of the world elephant-polo championship finished.  They were taking down the goals as we drove up.  One of the English teams won, beating out the defending champion Scots.  Apparently, New Zealand and New York both also played well.  Again, this is a land of surprises.

Getting from the edge of the park to the Tiger Tops Lodge involved riding in a small bus, crossing a broad river in two flat-bottom canoes, transferring to a roofless old Land Rover, and driving through dense jungle for 40 minutes.  On the drive in (and the short twilight jeep safari which followed) we saw a few one-horned rhinos, many spotted and barking deer, wild boar, “marsh mugger” crocodiles, and a troop of shreiking langur monkeys.  Somehow I wasn’t shocked to find out they had no wi-fi at the lodge.

Back at the lodge, two rhinos wandered across the lawn in front of us during cocktail hour.  The staff said this was a first.  One-horned rhinos are wildly endangered, with only about 2,000 left in the world, but at Chitwan they seem well protected and almost as common as big ground squirrels.

We were woken up at about 2 am by the loud, tuneless trumpeting of the lodge’s elephants, giving repeated alarm calls.  As we lay awake, we then heard the deep, guttural growl/purr of a tiger, who must have been wandering amongst the chained elephants and creating anxiety.  Even lying in a comfortable bed, in a treehouse 20 feet off the ground, the tiger growl generated some primal fear among the Baird family in the middle of the night.  

A few hours later, we woke up for good and went off for our first elephant-back safari.  We had ridden elephants in India (for polo and on the ride up to Jaipur’s Amber Fort), but the elephant safari is unique to Nepal and to Chitwan.  The dew was so heavy that the sound of it dripping fooled us all into wearing our raincoats.  As we  lumbered out of camp, the fog over the dense elephant grass created a completely other-worldly picture.

ELEPHANTS IN THE MIST

We saw many more rhinos and baby rhinos on our morning safari.  They are skittish animals, and would go bounding through the deep grass once we got close to them.  The elephants followed the retreating rhinos, and we created a huge swath of stomped vegetation as the big animals all hurried along.  We did not see any tigers, but overall it was a great way to see the park and a lot of its wildlife.  Glamour-loving Zola was excited to find out that his elephant was the same one ridden by Princess Diana when she visited Tiger Tops in 1995. 

At Tiger Tops they keep everyone busy.  After breakfast we went on an hour-long nature walk.  Zola spotted (that is, nearly stepped on) a long green and black snake with a bright red neck.  The elderly Nepali ranger leading the walk gave us great confidence by saying, “Oh, he is not poisonous.  Well, not very poisonous.”  Tallulah rode on my shoulders for the rest of the walk.

NOT POISONOUS, OR AT LEAST NOT VERY POISONOUS

The next post will describe our second night and day at Tiger Tops, and then our time at a Tharu village lodge about 30 kilometers away.  Nepal is definitely a wild place

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