Day 1 Getting there!
Heading out at 6.30am we were met by the company rep that we booked the trip through (I think this was his penance for getting the the price wrong in the first place) and he took us to the coach station, which was lucky as it was quite a trot from our hotel and there were about 30 coaches to choose from. Then after a coffee off a street vendor (more grit than coffee and it was lucky Shelley didn't clock the pan it was heated in!) we were then off on our 6 hour journey to Chitwan Nature Reserve for our safari adventure.
The journey itself took around an hour to just get outside Kathmandu, with various stops for people to collect their relatives or bags en-route, or a comfort break or some last minute shopping. Also whilst driving through the city you could see more clearly the high levels of pollution/smog, so we were quite please to be heading to the countryside.
The coach trip followed the river through the Kathmandu valley and had fantastic scenery and views, watching canoes and raft's tackling the rapids on the way downstream. You could also see the local people working in the traditional ways, sometimes there appeared to be moving haystacks along the road, which when you got up close ended up to people carrying insane amounts of hay on their backs.We also has a couple of comfort breaks and lunch in interesting little towns/roadside cafe's (I'm guessing the Nepal equivalent of Welcome Break Service Stations!).
We eventually arrived in Chitwan (Shaken & Stirred) around 2.00 and we were met by people who ran the Eden Resort Lodges that we were staying in. After another quick bumpy ride we were shown to our accommodation before going down for lunch which smelt of pee (the room not lunch!). The smelly rooms were quite basic but were in a nice garden area (which included hammocks).
After Lunch we were then taken on a walking sightseeing tour, which was along the river banks and gave us our first glimpse of birds such as kingfishers and crocodiles. We were also told that there was a chance that Rhino's may be around at this time and would generally graze in the space that we were now standing in (which was reassuring!).
We then returned to our lodgings for our dinner (fare is quite salty but filling), after which we were taken to the Cultural hall to watch traditional dancing (Something that Shelley and I couldn't wait for!!). What we witnessed was various dances that basically involved running round in circles around a central drummer, hitting sticks, carrying drums, more sticks, peacocks feathers (which was something akin to Nepalese morris dancing - but worse!) and the absolute curtain raiser someone dressed in a peacock outfit pretending to be a peacock ('The Peacock Dance'), which went down a storm with the locals - guessing there isn't much to do at night in Chitwan.
After this much excitement we returned to our room for the night, hoping to catch up on our blog, book our next flight to India and catch up on E-mails and the like. Unfortunately with a mix of regular power cuts and wifi failure this proved impossible to do - what do you mean you don't have fibre optic cable in deepest Nepal!?
Day 2 Tiger Time?
A very early wake up call was required for a 6.30 breakfast (which actually arrived at 6.55) an interesting mix and match of, porridge, omelette, Bombay potatoes, bread and jam!
The first activity of the day was a canoe trip down the river at 7.00 am. At this point I will say that instructional H&S talks do not appear to be the Nepali thing, as all we were told was, wear a life jacket and keep your arms in the canoe. On this morning though, there was thick fog and I could tell by the way the guide pointed out to me floating water lillys that we were unlikely to see much big game this morning!. What we did see was a handful of birds including kingfishers, a few monkeys in the tree's and a log-a-dile (Nepalese humor!).
We then drew up at the side of the forest and started our Jungle trek. Again no safety briefing on how to act or respond should we actually bump into a tiger, or more likely a Rhino, we had to trust our safety to two small Nepaleese guys armed with a stick each! At this point I have to mention that we had made friends three people from Chile (Francisco, Stephanie & Haviera) who were pretty cool, although I hoped that they were slower than Shelley and me should we bump into something orange and striped! The trek itself was very nice passing through a misty jungle, but the only thing we managed to spot were Deer (Like you see in Richmond Park!)
After a brief stop, the guys from Chile had booked to go and wash elephants or should it be the elephants washed them. I must say although it was funny to watch I'm glad that Shelley and I hadn't booked this as the elephants we poked and pulled with a metal hook/spike too much for our liking (In fact the two girls from Chile decided not to do it after watching it).
Once we had lunch we were then taken for our last activity of the day which was an elephant back safari. We were driven to the elephant site and were loaded in fours into what I can only describe as an upside down table on the back of the elephant and headed off into the jungle once again. Fortunately we were joined by two very young Nepal girls, which meant we had a bit more space. To say I was a bit nervous was an understatement as I wasn't convince about the bindings of the table to the elephant and with the lurching movement of the elephant I was convinced that we would come crashing down entangled in the table and break both my legs (apparently Shelley was thinking the same thing, but thought I would come crashing down on top of her!). Shelley was also getting a severe lashing from the various branches and leaves along the pathways as the elephant seemed to favour her side for brushing next to trees!
Just when we though it was going to be another trip without seeing anything, the lead elephant driver decided to go off roading (which meant both of us were now eating foliage) because he has spotted something. That something turned out to be a Rhino and its calf and we were lucky enough to get about twenty yards from it and watch for sometime as it seemed to be unfazed by the elephants with tourists atop. We then carried on a went though a river crossing before coming up close and personal with another Rhino, Kingfisher and crocodile combo. The girls on the back after befriending Shelley were now at this point playing a game of, see if we can sneak leaves onto the tourists heads without them noticing. We also saw a whole bunch of deer and birdlife, before returning two hours later.
I must say I was please to get off the beast and am now waiting for the bruising to come up on my ribs, legs and arms, but must say in spite of this it was the best part of the trip. We purchased some banana's and fed our elephant before returning home.
We had our final evening meal before battling with the electricity/internet to book that dammed flight to India (still no luck), before getting some detailed travel information from the guys from Chile for when we visit their country, hopefully around September as they have their independence day celebrations from 18th. We also had the offer to stay at their home with them acting as guide, some really helpful information - thanks guys!
Tomorrow another long coach journey to Pokhara to start our mountain trekking adventure!
Heading out at 6.30am we were met by the company rep that we booked the trip through (I think this was his penance for getting the the price wrong in the first place) and he took us to the coach station, which was lucky as it was quite a trot from our hotel and there were about 30 coaches to choose from. Then after a coffee off a street vendor (more grit than coffee and it was lucky Shelley didn't clock the pan it was heated in!) we were then off on our 6 hour journey to Chitwan Nature Reserve for our safari adventure.
The journey itself took around an hour to just get outside Kathmandu, with various stops for people to collect their relatives or bags en-route, or a comfort break or some last minute shopping. Also whilst driving through the city you could see more clearly the high levels of pollution/smog, so we were quite please to be heading to the countryside.
The coach trip followed the river through the Kathmandu valley and had fantastic scenery and views, watching canoes and raft's tackling the rapids on the way downstream. You could also see the local people working in the traditional ways, sometimes there appeared to be moving haystacks along the road, which when you got up close ended up to people carrying insane amounts of hay on their backs.We also has a couple of comfort breaks and lunch in interesting little towns/roadside cafe's (I'm guessing the Nepal equivalent of Welcome Break Service Stations!).
We eventually arrived in Chitwan (Shaken & Stirred) around 2.00 and we were met by people who ran the Eden Resort Lodges that we were staying in. After another quick bumpy ride we were shown to our accommodation before going down for lunch which smelt of pee (the room not lunch!). The smelly rooms were quite basic but were in a nice garden area (which included hammocks).
After Lunch we were then taken on a walking sightseeing tour, which was along the river banks and gave us our first glimpse of birds such as kingfishers and crocodiles. We were also told that there was a chance that Rhino's may be around at this time and would generally graze in the space that we were now standing in (which was reassuring!).
We then returned to our lodgings for our dinner (fare is quite salty but filling), after which we were taken to the Cultural hall to watch traditional dancing (Something that Shelley and I couldn't wait for!!). What we witnessed was various dances that basically involved running round in circles around a central drummer, hitting sticks, carrying drums, more sticks, peacocks feathers (which was something akin to Nepalese morris dancing - but worse!) and the absolute curtain raiser someone dressed in a peacock outfit pretending to be a peacock ('The Peacock Dance'), which went down a storm with the locals - guessing there isn't much to do at night in Chitwan.
After this much excitement we returned to our room for the night, hoping to catch up on our blog, book our next flight to India and catch up on E-mails and the like. Unfortunately with a mix of regular power cuts and wifi failure this proved impossible to do - what do you mean you don't have fibre optic cable in deepest Nepal!?
Day 2 Tiger Time?
A very early wake up call was required for a 6.30 breakfast (which actually arrived at 6.55) an interesting mix and match of, porridge, omelette, Bombay potatoes, bread and jam!
The first activity of the day was a canoe trip down the river at 7.00 am. At this point I will say that instructional H&S talks do not appear to be the Nepali thing, as all we were told was, wear a life jacket and keep your arms in the canoe. On this morning though, there was thick fog and I could tell by the way the guide pointed out to me floating water lillys that we were unlikely to see much big game this morning!. What we did see was a handful of birds including kingfishers, a few monkeys in the tree's and a log-a-dile (Nepalese humor!).
We then drew up at the side of the forest and started our Jungle trek. Again no safety briefing on how to act or respond should we actually bump into a tiger, or more likely a Rhino, we had to trust our safety to two small Nepaleese guys armed with a stick each! At this point I have to mention that we had made friends three people from Chile (Francisco, Stephanie & Haviera) who were pretty cool, although I hoped that they were slower than Shelley and me should we bump into something orange and striped! The trek itself was very nice passing through a misty jungle, but the only thing we managed to spot were Deer (Like you see in Richmond Park!)
After a brief stop, the guys from Chile had booked to go and wash elephants or should it be the elephants washed them. I must say although it was funny to watch I'm glad that Shelley and I hadn't booked this as the elephants we poked and pulled with a metal hook/spike too much for our liking (In fact the two girls from Chile decided not to do it after watching it).
Once we had lunch we were then taken for our last activity of the day which was an elephant back safari. We were driven to the elephant site and were loaded in fours into what I can only describe as an upside down table on the back of the elephant and headed off into the jungle once again. Fortunately we were joined by two very young Nepal girls, which meant we had a bit more space. To say I was a bit nervous was an understatement as I wasn't convince about the bindings of the table to the elephant and with the lurching movement of the elephant I was convinced that we would come crashing down entangled in the table and break both my legs (apparently Shelley was thinking the same thing, but thought I would come crashing down on top of her!). Shelley was also getting a severe lashing from the various branches and leaves along the pathways as the elephant seemed to favour her side for brushing next to trees!
Just when we though it was going to be another trip without seeing anything, the lead elephant driver decided to go off roading (which meant both of us were now eating foliage) because he has spotted something. That something turned out to be a Rhino and its calf and we were lucky enough to get about twenty yards from it and watch for sometime as it seemed to be unfazed by the elephants with tourists atop. We then carried on a went though a river crossing before coming up close and personal with another Rhino, Kingfisher and crocodile combo. The girls on the back after befriending Shelley were now at this point playing a game of, see if we can sneak leaves onto the tourists heads without them noticing. We also saw a whole bunch of deer and birdlife, before returning two hours later.
I must say I was please to get off the beast and am now waiting for the bruising to come up on my ribs, legs and arms, but must say in spite of this it was the best part of the trip. We purchased some banana's and fed our elephant before returning home.
We had our final evening meal before battling with the electricity/internet to book that dammed flight to India (still no luck), before getting some detailed travel information from the guys from Chile for when we visit their country, hopefully around September as they have their independence day celebrations from 18th. We also had the offer to stay at their home with them acting as guide, some really helpful information - thanks guys!
Tomorrow another long coach journey to Pokhara to start our mountain trekking adventure!
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