Lost in Asia: Feb 20th - 22nd Jungle safari at Chitwan national park

Inspired by the wonders of Ranthambore safari park, I decided to visit Chitwan national park. This involved taking a 6.30am bus from a stop pretty near to the hotel where I'd been resting up, and which arrived in a town called Sauraha that is on the border of the national park. I used the tourist bus, which was not too crowded and pretty comfortable. Reaching Sauraha I'd decided to find a hotel on the hoof rather than book one online, as its often better to see the room rather than rely on a recommendation, and there's also scope for negotiating on price, particularly when travelling slightly out of season as I was. The drawback is that you can find yourself slightly short of time, particularly if trying to book a jungle safari for the following day, which was my situation.

Having found a reasonably priced resort hotel, the main street in Sauraha had a number of jungle tour operators. I spoke to a couple of them, and decided to opt for Jungle Explore Tours, mainly because Ravi was such an accommodating person who spoke quite a lot about his Tharu culture and community (which is said to have originally come from an area near to India's Thar desert, hence the name), its relationship with the jungle and I thought it might make for a more interesting journey. Also he was quite willing to help me carry my stuff, given that I'd potentially planned to visit another national park, Bardiya, and so was carrying my entire backpack with me. The safari turned to be a brilliant experience, and I'm so pleased I chose to go with Jungle Explore Tours.

The following morning I walked to Ravi's office and soon after, he, Krishna, his fellow guide and I walked to the river bank, on the other side of which was the national park. This was to be a two-day walking safari trek into the jungle of the national park.

Ravi and I had discussed different routes to take, and the first stage involved a canoe trip down the Rapti river that separates the national park from Sauraha district. I wasn't really that enthused about the canoe trip - not sure why - but it was really enjoyable, with Ravi pointing out flying peacocks, and different species of crows, ducks and storks, in addition to a stunning piebald kingfisher and mugger crocodiles. There was a heavy mist initially, but even so we had a great vantage point being so close to the river bank. After an hour or so, we crossed to the other side of the river bank and into the national park, at which point Ravi gave me a pep talk on what to do if confronted by a tiger. He advised that you have to stand your ground, scream at the tiger while pulling an angry face so the tiger knows you will not be easy prey. Hmmmm .... theory is a wonderful thing, but in reality ...... !

Quite soon into the walk, we passed another guide who had spotted a rhino, and soon we were within a few metres of it. The rhino had been in some kind of confrontation, probably with another rhino, and had wounds on its back. It also looked as if it hadn't eaten well as its ribs were really prominent; I felt sorry for that poor rhino. An endangered species, the anti-poaching system developed at Chitwan, including night patrols and army checkpoints, has been hugely successful in recent years.

Along the way, Ravi spoke about how his family had lived in the jungle before it became a national park in the early 1970s. He told me about the alleged medicinal properties of flora, and how the Tharu had used their natural environment to improve their health. On a couple of occasions he stopped our trek to tear off different pieces of vine: the first tasted quite peppery, and its flavour remained in my mouth for some time, and the second tasted very sweet. Apparently both of these vines are boiled, and their juices when drunk are thought to act as a cough remedy.

Walking through the jungle surrounded by tall grasses, the sounds of birds and other creatures all around was a fantastic experience. So much more interesting than sitting in a jeep, where you feel comparatively much more detached from the jungle. Over the two day trek, there were so many times when we saw butterflies of incredible colour and beauty, and I would love to have taken more photos of them.

We walked through an area called Dumaria, and then crossed a stream barefoot, before having lunch in a watchtower at Gaura Machan. It was a really warm day, around 30 degrees C, and the morning mist had completely cleared. After lunch we continued the trek, and when we reached Jarneli watched a sloth bear for quite a while. At one point I thought the bear was going to charge at us from the other side of the stream, but the sound of the guides' heavy sticks being beaten against the ground helped dissuade it. Eventually we reached Ghatgai village, on the other side of the river and hence out of the national park, where we had a beer, some dhal bat and an early night.

The next morning was much less misty than the previous morning. We left after breakfast at around 7.30am, taking the canoe back over the river into the national park, where we walked to the military post to access the permit for the day's trekking. Soon we were at Lami Tal, a huge lake with different varieties of birdlife. There were lots of mugger crocodiles too, as well as purple swamphens, but the birds that really stood out for me were the bronze-winged jacanas. These are wading birds that have enormous feet and claws that enable them to walk on fragments of floating material on the water. We also saw more spotted deer, peacocks taking to flight and landing and a crested serpent eagle. Stunning in flight.

Soon we reached Kasara, site of an animal orphanage, as well as a turtle / gharial crocodile hatching farm, where we rested for a short time. We then came across a small shrine in the jungle called Bikram Baba, a place sacred to Hindus and the Tharu people who worship a saint by the same name. The centre of the site is a tree that is fenced of from its surroundings. It is the site of an annual festival every year from March to April when much livestock, mainly goats, are ritually slaughtered. Apparently many childless couples attend if wishing to have children. Hard to imagine such slaughter in such a beautiful location.

We then walked to Tammar Tal, a gorgeous lake, and rested for a short time, and then had lunch at Thapalia Tal, another lake. Afterwards we carried on trekking to another lake, Kamal Tal, where we saw a couple more rhinos. Later we crossed another waterway barefoot, and spent some time on a cliff overlooking a river in the hope of seeing a tiger but without succeeding.

One of the most interesting aspects of the trek was the extent to which the landscape changed. On the first day it was mainly high grasses, and in some areas there was lots of bamboo that were selectively burnt, and some of the bamboo was used to form roofing and walls in village buildings, including the place where we stayed. More latterly it was largely dense forests of huge sal trees, with a high canopy, and the sal wood is also used in house-building. At the cliff point, the soft earth of the jungle had turned to sand dunes.

We then reached Pandar Nagar, where we spent the night after having our evening meal and sampling the local homebrew drink made from fermented wine. In both of the places we stayed, Ravi knew the guesthouse owners really well, and they were extremely helpful.