Friday, August 1, 2008

I had a shower...with an elephant

A group of six volunteers decided that a great way to end placement would be to go to Chitwan National Park and take in some natural beauty.

A 5am wakeup call saw us on our way to the tourist bus park to begin our 6 hour bus ride to Chitwan. The ride was an adventure in itself with the bus coming very close to the edge of some cliffs on MANY occasions. Those of you who think the Sea to Sky highway is dangerous, you're all a bunch of babies compared to what I went through! The occasional turned over bus on the side of the road only added to our anxiety, but we got there in one piece.

The first day we met our guide and went on a small walk through the jungle to the river to watch the sunset, it was gorgeous and we got our first view of a Marsh Mugger crocodile. The resort was lovely and we had the whole thing to ourselves since it was the off season.

The next morning was a treat. At 10 am to large elephants came strolling into our resort and we hopped aboard. No saddle, just bareback on a 2 ton pacaderm. The hairs on an elephant are like mini needles poking you, so after the initial excitement of being on an elephant wore off, it was a little uncomfortable. The elephants slowly walked towards the river, yes the same on the crocs are in...and then proceeded into the water. We had no idea. Next thing I knew, the elephant was shaking and I went flying into the river. It was incredible! After being thrown off more than once, I went to the elephants trunk and stood on it, at which point Punam Kali, a 31 year old elephant, lifted me up onto his head, only to shake and throw me back into the water.

1 hour later we dried off in the resort and prepared for our next elephant adventure, a walk through the jungle. We saw a rhino and some deer but unfortunately no tigers. Not surprising since our guide who has 25 years of experience has only seen a tiger 20 times in his life. We also did a dugout canoe ride down the river and saw some crocs and another rhino...however he wasn't happy to see us since he swam directly towards our canoe...quickly. Paddling like crazy our guide managed to fight the current and take us to a point that was acceptable to the rhino because he turned around and went on land.

Overall Chitwan has been the best experience so far here in Nepal and I would highly suggest if you ever get the chance to come here, bathe with elephants!

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