Day 52 - 7th Apr 2009

Yet another early start as we left our hotel at 6:20 to get the bus to Chitwan. Taxi driver who took us to our bus didn't have any change so we had to mess around while he tried to find someone to give him some. Found the bus no problem, a little bit older than the one we took in Cambodia and the luggage went on the roof of this one. But the seats were comfortable enough and it went ok. The journey out of Kathmandu was slow. At times we just stood stationary for 5 minutes, I think because of the road being so windy that at places 2 buses couldn't pass. After 6 hours we arrived at Tandi the pickup point for the Chitwan jungle lodge which was to be our accomodation for the next three nights. We were met by a friendly guide and took a Landrover to the lodge. It was about another half hour along the road and then half hour off roading to get there. Lunch was waiting for us when we arrived which we were very ready for.

The lodge is quite unique in that is one of only 6 lodges which are actually inside Chitwan National Park which is a protected natue area. The accommodation was simple but nice with limited electricity (one small light in our bathroom until 10pm).

After lunch we got a briefing from the lodge manager and then it was onto our first activity: a jungle drive. This involved going out looking for wildlife in the jungle in the back of an open topped Landrover. It was only me and Liz on it along with 4 guides! We drove for about 45 to 60 minutes along bumpy tracks through the jungle and got to the point where we needed to turn back. By this time we hadn't really seen any wildlife apart from a few birds flying about.

Luckily on the way back we saw quite a bit more. First some monkeys with a baby, then 2 different types of deer, then the most exciting a baby rhino! Then a bit further up the road we saw 2 full size rhinos. At this point the guides said we could get out of the jeep and walk closer to them. This was a bit scary as they had previously just been telling us how dangerous they were. It was great to get closer though as you could really appreciate how big they were. They gave us a health and safety talk briefing about what to do if the rhino charged: run back to the landrover quickly!

After that it was back to the lodge for popcorn and a movie! Though when I say movie it was actually a tourism video for Nepal and in Nepali! Then it was dinner time where we met another English couple who were sat on the same table as us and who we got on with very well. The food was all pretty good and quite a lot of it, lunch was 3 courses and dinner was just 2 but you could help yourself to the main so no danger of being hungry!