Chitwan National Park

We spent the next three days (22nd-24th November) in the Chitwan National Park, one of the few wildlife sanctuaries in the world where visitors can traverse the jungle on foot and see wild animals such as rhino, tigers and sloth bears.

A couple of days before we arrived, a nearby resort had been captured by Maoists, but no-one was hurt and the locals thought nothing of it. Maoists and bandhs are part of life here.

On our first day we visited the elephant breeding centre, where Asian elephants are bred for work in the jungle and in transporting tourists. A set of twins was born here, which is apparently a world first. The photo at the top shows the mother elephant and her twins (chained up because it was feeding time).


On the 2nd day we each packed a small bag and headed off into the jungle with our local guides. We started off by paddling down the river, where we saw loads of crocodiles and birds. My friend Elke was quite bored at this point, as she is not interested in birds, so I told her that my stepfather really liked birds and would find this fascinating. As she had a camera with a massive lens, she then happily spent the next hour photographing every bird she could see, for the benefit of Pete.


Our canoe sprung a leak and we took it in turns to bail out the water, but we made it to the jungle safely. We then spent the next several hours trekking through the jungle, quietly and carefully.


We saw loads of spotted deer, more crocodiles, rhesus macaques, common langurs, a wild boar and best of all, a wild rhino! He had been in a fight (apparently) and his horn had been knocked off. According to the guides, he was one of the most dangerous rhinos in the park and we the rhino got to this feet and stared at us, we were told that it was time to beat a hasty retreat. We had all received a safety briefing on what to do if charged by a rhino (climb a tree, and if you can't do that, run in a zigzag pattern).

On one evening we went out on an 'elephant safari' and saw more wildlife. The photo shows a group of travellers setting out into the mist.