Hi all. After a really fun evening with Prem and his family, I got up early and headed to Chitwan National Park. The day was looking promising when I saw some of the mountains peaking out above the clouds and they were gorgeous. Things started going downhill when my bus window wouldn't open and I nearly drowned in my own sweat. Then I arrive at Chitwan Tiger Camp to find that I'm the only guest there. Oh, and it's damned hot. Hot like the Thar desert only a little more humid.
Anyway, I set off with my "guide" on bicycle. Yes, that's a bicycle folks. First ride since early July. On a singlespeed with no suspension. And fenders. And bad breaks. But it was Bella blue, so it must be OK. The roads here are really just a bunch of bigger rocks piled together, so I really could have used some suspension. And though the road is wide, the elephant and buffalo droppings mean that you're basically riding single track. My guide rode right through the stuff, but I was afraid of spray. If the fenders didn't catch it all ...
So we rode to the river, crossed via canoe and set out through the jungle to see animals. I really don't think the guide knew what he was doing. He talked so much and so loudly, I'm sure he scared off every animal within 5 miles. He also kept holding branches out of my way but would let go to early and I'd get smacked right in the face. He did point out a lot of diggings in the ground and would tell me that they were made from bears or boars or something else. At one point he got all excited and pointed to some fresh hoof prints in the mud. He declared them to be rhino tracks. I asked him if he was sure, because they kind of looked like buffalo tracks to me. He was certain and said that he's the expert. "OK", I said. "But look -- the tracks go straight to the herd of buffalo around the corner." I don't think he was happy to have me point that out. Anyway, we saw nothing except domestic buffalo and cows.
We then headed over to an elephant breeding camp. Lots and lots of babies. But unlike Thailand, this place didn't treat their elephants very well. They were all chained up very tight with no slack at all. Some even had both front feet chained together so that they couldn't move. And many had food just out of reach. I got pretty upset and almost said something, but again -- I'm learning to keep my big mouth shut. I insisted we leave.
I'm now going to take a shower and put on my bug spray for the night. After dinner, I'll work on the photos, but I don't think I'll be able to post any until I get to Pokara. Internet access is so slow here it took me 20 minutes to get signed in to write this.
By the way, no Lukla. If there's no view from there, then it's not worth it. I won't have the time to do the necessary treks. I'm still working on plan z.
No comments:
Post a Comment