Busy morning in Chitwan…

I was up early, as I had a very busy day planned…

After a quick breakfast, I hurried down to the banks of the Rapti River, where a large flotilla of dugout canoes were being readied to take groups of intrepid hikers, birders and other interested parties downstream… It was a little after 7.00am and mist obscured the open plains and grassland of Chitwan National Park, which lay on the southern bank… It rose in wispy tendrils off the warm water, making me think “Deep Purple”…

Yeah…you know the one…!! For you younger folk, ask your parents…!!

Misty morning on the Rapti River, as the guides prepare their dugouts to take us down the river...

A lone dugout sets off to collect a group of hikers from across the river in Chitwan...

While I watched and waited as the guides jockeyed their canoes into position, and argued amongst themselves regarding the best spot to run the dugouts onto the sloping bank.

Groups of six and eight people walked gingerly into the hollowed out vessels and took their places, either kneeling on the bottom, or sitting on small wooden frames that some of the boats had…

Once our group had been called forward to wait for the next canoe to beach, I introduced myself to two young Spaniards, who would be joining me on my walk later that morning…

Manuel and Tita came from a town that I had ridden past on my way through northern Spain, and were delighted by my descriptions of the farmlands and villages I passed through… They recognized most of them and also made sure I remembered the connection we had as a result of Spain winning the World Cup on South African soil…!!

We were joined by two young American girls and their guide, who would be hiking into Chitwan, but not on the same trail as we would be… They clambered into the dugout ahead of us, got themselves settled, and then gripped the gunwales in a manner that probably had the boatman wondering if he should bring along a crowbar as well…

The Spaniards and I piled in behind them, and with a gentle shove from someone onshore, we drifted out into the centre of the river…

Paddling down the Rapti in the early morning mist...

My Spanish friends, Manuel and Tita sat behind me, figuring the crocs would probably get me first...

The village of Sauraha slid silently by as the sun came out, burning away the mist… I dipped my hands in the warm water on either side of the dugout, trailing them and collecting bits of floating vegetation that we passed by…

“Be careful of crocodiles,” he said, nodding towards my hands…

And there are plenty of the buggers about...!!

After much urging, our boatman put his back into his work, and we caught up to the other canoes...

Small herds of Spotted Deer grazed peacefully on the banks...

Our guide, Isswar knew a thing or two about birds, and he and i got into an animated conversation about the various species we were seeing…

He identified the species that were unknown to me such as White Bellied Kingfisher, Rudy’s Shelduck, and the Lesser Adjudant, a stork-like bird that paced the banks and shallows, looking for frogs and the like…

I surprised myself (and Isswar, I think…!!) by identifying Darters, Moorhen, Common Ruffs, various forms of Lapwing and Egret, and the Ring-Necked Parrakeets that flew noisily overhead…

“You like birds…!!” he exclaimed…!!

“Yeah, I used to make time to go on walks and study them…” I replied, remembering the wonderful birding I had done in the Kruger Park, and especially at Lion Sands Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand…

Spotted deer grazed on the banks, and Languor Monkeys sat chewing the blossoms on the tops of the Silk-Cotton Trees that lined the banks…

More than an hour later, the dugout was run ashore and we clambered out expectantly… We were in the Royal Chitwan National Park, home of Tigers, Indian Rhinos and a host of other species which we all wanted to see…

The American girls and their guide left on their hike, and with Isswar leading us, Manuel, Tita and I turned downstream and began our own walk…

This March Mugger (Crocotortoise Maximus) is commonly known as a Flat Dog back home...

Once we had left the river banks, we hiked through the wide flood plain and into what is referred to as the Buffer Zone, a protected part of the forest that villagers are allowed to graze cattle in at certain times, and collect fodder for them at others…

Our guide Isswar, exhibits the Nepali Tiger Stick Mk IV (Patent pending). Personally I prefer the double- barreled Jeffrey's 458, or at the very least, a H & H 357 Magnum...

On this early morning though, we had the banks of the river and the surrounding forest to ourselves, and with our guide armed only with a bamboo stick, we followed paths made by animals on their way to and from the water…

While Isswar pointed out the small herds of Spotted Deer that we encountered as often as you would Impala in the Kruger Park, I searched the ground for tracks…

He had hardly ever looked down except to point out the large and more obvious tracks made by elephant and rhino. and was walking a few metres ahead of us, when I called him back and pointed at the tracks at my feet…

“Tiger…!!” I said… “Maybe two days old…??”

“Yes, yes…!!” He replied excitedly, drawing a ring around the prints to show Manuel and Tita, who had been lagging behind…

“When last did you see Tiger…?” I asked…

“Many weeks ago…. Deep in the Park…!! It is difficult to believe that they are this close to the villages…” he said, his voice trailing off…

From that moment on, he seemed to walk straighter, eyes darting everywhere…!! Which was a good thing, as we spotted Jackal, Wild Boar and Samber Deer, and once surprised the small and russet coloured Barking Deer, where it had been lying up in a thicket…!!

“Tell me Isswar, what are you going to do with that stick if I Tiger steps out onto this path…??”

He looked a bit sheepish, and then recovered quickly by saying, “This is a Tiger Stick…!! I will beat him with it…!!”

A burst of laughter from Manuel told him what we thought about that…!! I turned to Tita and  asked her if she had heard the saying, “Woman and children first”…? She nodded in the affirmative and then the smile left her face when I followed up with,

“Well, seeing that there are no children her, and you are the only woman, it means the Tiger gets you first…!! And from now on, I will walk at the back… That way, when we turn to run, I will be in the front…!!”

We walked deeper into the forest, surprising wild boar, spotted deer, Langur monkeys and roosting Peacocks...

For the next hour we walked through the forest, thickly carpeted with leaves and small dead branches that has fallen from the trees around us… We hardly spoke a word, enjoying the silence and tranquility… On occasion we would stop and listen to unseen animals crashing away through the undergrowth…

We walked out from under the canopy of trees and into a wide open glade where in the misty distance we could see open-sided sheds, under which small groups of elephants stood…

We came to a clearing where the Elephant Breeding Centre was located...

This was the Government run Elephant Breeding Program… I was surprised to discover that Chitwan has only 25 wild elephant roaming it’s forests, and most of the elephant we were looking at had come from India and Burma… Elephants bred here were used primarily for the tourist trade, and during the monsoon season, to ferry supplies to villages cut off by swollen rivers…

Not sure I like this being chained up bit... Seeing such majestic animals hobbled by thick chains did not agree with me...

This calf could just about reach it's mother to drink...

Elephants were trained here after being weaned from their mothers. It took up to three years for an elephant to learn the many commands that they would receive for the next 40 or 50 years of their lives… By the time they were five years old, they would stand understand more than forty separate spoken commands from their Mahouts… Indian elephants live a little longer than their African cousins, and one old dear was over 50 years old and still working…

The younger elephants were also used to entertain tourists by playing polo and football on an open field on the edge of the village… They also spent time training for these activities, as well as many annual festivals where they either led the procession, decked out in elephant finery, or transported important personages…

After a hard day playing polo, this fellow decided a short nap was in order...

I stood silently watching as a young tusker strained at his chains… After a while he stopped doing this and just stood their, resignation written plainly in his intelligent eyes… Although it disturbed me to see this, I realised that Nepal was an extremely poor country, and depended heavily on it’s tourism industry to garner foreign income… These elephants were providing work for many people, and were a means to an end… Nepal’s biggest foreign currency earner was the funds remitted back to the country by it’s citizens working abroad…

In silent protest against the authorities, the rebellious Ralf decided to wear his food rather than eat it...

And his mate Jeffrey joined in by refusing to shave and comb his hair...

I spoke briefly to one of the mahouts, who was on his way to collect his elephant and take it out into the forest for grazing and training… He showed me the tightly rolled bundles of bamboo leaves, wrapped around rice and a sticky molasses-like substance, that they use to reward their charges with…

Rice and other goodies are wrapped up in bamboo leaves and given to the the Ellies to nibble on...

I had seen many elephants walking through the village, chewing on these bundles, while holding another in their trunks, or even balancing one or two on their heads…!!

We left the elephant centre and walked down to a wide river, where a large dog was leading a heed of cattle through the water… I watched in amazement as he got to deeper water and began swimming, the cattle following him… When he got to the other side, he shook the water off his coat, and then stood as the cattle walked past him in single file… I almost fancied he was counting them…!! Satisfied that they had all got across safety, he trotted back to the front on the line and led them away into the forest… There was not a herder in sight, the dog seemingly in charge of the herd…!! Absolutely amazing….!!

You had to see this to believe it...!! I stood staring out at the scene, my video camera hanging uselessly at my side... I wanted to come back the next day and film the scene, but never got the chance...

Our little group crossed the river on a rickety bridge, and then waited for our jeep to take us back to the village… It had been an interesting morning, filled with many emotions, made enjoyable by the company of Manuel and Tita, and our friendly and knowledgeable guide Isswar…

After you Manuel, my insurance doesn't cover this, I think...!!

Back at our hotel, we heard a ruckus coming from down at the river, walked over to see what was up, and were immediately captivated by what we saw…

©GBWT 2011