Nepal Trip December 2000 - page 3
Bob Schmidt & Rupa Hamal
23 Dec 00 - Road Trip
Rita had kindly made travel arrangements for a stay at a lodge in the Terai as well as a hotel in Pokhara. She arrived this morning to begin our road trip in the Fiat. Ashok did the driving. Rakesh sat in the front passenger seat. Rupa, Rita, Astha, and myself sat in back. Our luggage was crammed in the back. We drove out of town heading West on the main road. A steady stream of trucks use this road, loaded full of imported goods when they make the trip up from India, and returning empty for the most part. The vehicles are usually Indian-made "Tata" trucks, brightly painted, and with multi-note horns. Signs on the rear advise overtaking drivers to "honk please" to let him know you wish to pass. This makes for plenty of honking on the roads.
The road climbs out of the Kathmandu valley, where the air gradually clears. We stopped at a roadblock where all vehicles must pay tolls. Continuing West, the road follows the Trisuli river, and is quite scenic. We passed small towns and stopped in one to eat our picnic lunch (cheese sandwiches) that Rita had brought. We hiked down near the river and ate on some large rocks. Villagers gathered along the river for bathing, doing laundry, or just sunning themselves.
We eventually reached Mugling, and bought clementine oranges from a street vendor. Here we took the road that heads south toward the Terai. Some sections of the road were good, but many stretches had broken pavement and huge potholes. Sometimes a tire repair shop would be strategically located at the worst sections of the road. The road descended from the hills and reached the Terai, where the temperature was noticeably warmer than it had been in the hills.
Rock and Roll
As luck would have it, we eventually did get a flat tire. Took a few minutes to unload luggage and replace it with a spare. Continuing into the town of Narayangadh, we found a shop to repair the tire. Tire repair is done differently than in USA. The tire was partly removed from the rim using hand tools and lots of muscle. Then the inner tube was removed, and the leak was found. Because of the size of the puncture, the repairman used scissors to cut a piece of rubber from an old inner tube to use as a patch. He then turned on an electric heater and press-fit the patch to the tube, using heat and pressure to vulcanize the rubber. Putting the tube back in, he reinstalled the inner tube, forced the tire back onto the rim, and refilled the tire with air. A small amount of air bubbling from the tire was said to be just excess air escaping from between the inner tube and the outer tire, not an actual leak from the inner tube. Or so we hoped.
River Crossing
On the road again, we stopped in at the lodge office where we had planned to catch a bus, but it had already left. We continued by car, and turned southwest on the Mahendra highway, passing rice fields with blue-green hills in the distance. We passed the area where granny's farmhouse is located. Eventually we turned off the highway onto a rough dirt road toward the Narayani river. The road became a dirt path along the river bank, where we passed small houses, villagers moving their cattle herds, and people carrying firewood. We stopped by a group of boats at a river crossing and unloaded luggage. Ashok and Rakesh drove the car back along the river bank to a farm house where they made arrangements to store it for a few days. Then they walked back along the river to our landing spot, arriving later in the evening.
We crossed the river in boats propelled by pushing a pole against the river bottom. On the other side was Jungle Island resort, located on an island in the middle of the Narayani river. This resort is one of several in the park. Years ago, Rajesh had worked as a nature guide at Tiger Tops, another resort within the park.
Chitawan Park
The river is the boundary for the large Royal Chitawan National Park, which is now a national park and wildlife refuge. The park area for years was not settled due to the high incidence of malaria. In fact, local villagers from the Tharu tribe are said to have developed some natural resistance to malaria. Kings and British rulers would visit periodically to hunt for big game. Old pictures show them riding atop elephants, standing over their kills of tigers, rhinos, deer, snakes, and other animals. Crocodiles are also found in the river, and sloth bears and wild boars can be in the woods.
While tourists come to the park to see wildlife up close, the villagers across the river have different needs. Park officials allow the villagers to cross the river for 10 days each year to gather firewood, sawgrass for thatched roofs and basket making, and other plants. The villagers are understandably less enthusiastic about the wildlife. We were told that a week before, one of the villagers had been killed by an animal. Villagers usually crossed in groups each morning, making lots of noise and staying close together in an effort to scare away the animals. Since the area has no fences to speak of, it is not uncommon for rhinos and other animals to cross the river and create havoc, raiding farms and livestock in search of food.
Jungle Island Resort
The resort itself is nice, kind of like a summer camp. It is situated on the river bank, with thatch-roofed cabins, a central dining hall, a courtyard, and outdoor fireplace pits, and a small nature museum. The park staff was friendly and accommodating. The cabins had running water and bathrooms, but no hot water and some old bedding materials. The place wasn't fancy, but the food was quite good, guides were wonderful, and everyone had a great time. They had no electricity, and an oil lantern was provided outside each cabin every evening. We stored some luggage in the cabins, then walked along a dirt path to the elephant camp behind the resort.
A group of elephant handlers live here in their own cabins, making their living as tour guides driving the elephants into the jungle in search of wildlife. The driver mounts the elephant from the front, with the elephant curling his trunk to form a step to lift the driver up. Passengers mount the elephant from an elevated wood platform. The elephant wears a rectangular wood platform strapped to his belly with a thick rope. Four people can ride on the platform, but I found it more comfortable with two, since there is more room to stretch out. Rupa, Rita, Astha, and I rode on one elephant. I tried to shoot some video. The driver must continually use his feet to nudge the elephant behind his ears to get him to move forward. He also gave commands in Hindi to the elephant to stop, turn, move, etc.
While there are some trails in the jungle, the guide frequently moves the elephant off the trail into the brush in hopes of finding some creatures. Passengers must remain alert for tree branches snapping at your face, although the guide carries a short elephant prod stick that he sometimes uses to push branches out of the way. I came away with a bruise on the inside forearm once when a large tree branch pinned my arm against the railing of the platform.
The elephants go through surprisingly thick brush making a crashing sound, and they can scale over obstacles such as fallen trees. On this journey the driver found a few deer hiding in some tall grass. The deer are small and dark brown with broad heads, somewhat different from North American deer. Rupa wanted to see some bigger animals, but it was getting dark and the guide advised us to ride again in the morning, before the villagers arrived on the island to cut wood. Since we seemed to be far from any marked trails, Rita questioned the guide if he could find the way back to camp; he replied something to the effect that this was what he did for a living, and he'd better know his way around.
Returning to the elephant camp, some of the workers were playing volleyball before it got dark.
24 Dec 00 - Elephant adventures
Today we started with an early morning elephant ride, Rupa and I on one, and Rita & family on another elephant. The morning was chilly and misty. After some tramping around in the jungle, the guide heard some fake bird calls in the distance. Believing it was a fellow guide signaling us that he had found some wildlife, our guide got the elephant moving quickly, crashing through the dense brush toward the sound. It turned out to be a false alarm - another guide was leading group nature hike and was imitating some bird calls for them.
We turned back to the woods and searched some more. Our guide found a sleeping rhino in some tall grass. The rhino woke up and we got some pretty good pictures and video. The rhino crashed into a thick bush to hide from us. Our guide quickly wheeled the elephant around and we got another view of the rhino. On television nature specials, I had always thought of rhinos as living on grassland areas of Africa. But here it was interesting that they were equally comfortable plowing through thick brush.
Continuing back on a trail to camp, Rupa and the guide were surprised to see a tiger in front of us. I saw only the tail end of the tiger as he turned and ran into some thick bushes. We also saw several deer across the trail. Apparently the tiger had been stalking these deer and we startled him. Returning back to elephant camp, the guide let Rupa have a turn at "driving" the elephant. She took position at on the elephant's head while the guide stood on the platform. I feared the elephant might gallop off into the jungle again but Rupa kept him under control. Everyone commented on our good fortune at seeing a tiger, as this is a rare occurrence since the animals are so shy.
Later in the afternoon we relaxed, took a short boat ride, which included a small bit of white water. We also took a nature walk (always staying together in a group). On this walk we saw some of the villagers gathering wood and grass. Rakesh kept insisting he didn't like to walk, but we made him come along anyway.
Jungle Christmas
This being Christmas Eve, the staff had cut a "Christmas tree" from the jungle, and dug a hole in the sand to hold it upright. It was then decorated with ribbons and puffy white cotton to help us to think "snow". What I found more convincing were the large natural Poinsettia plants growing near the camp.
A campfire was held every evening, and we met several of the other tourists in the lodge, including a guy from Indiana and a lady from Canada. Astha kept them all busy with word games. After dinner, there was a Christmas carol sing-along in the Dining hall, for the benefit of European visitors.
25 Dec OO - Elephant Bath
In mid afternoon it was time to give the elephants a bath. The guides took several elephants down to the river bank. We were given a brief lecture on the elephants used here in Chitawan park (Asian elephants). Sample information: What animal do elephants fear most? Ants - because they can crawl into the elephant's trunk and damage the brain. Elephants are careful to sleep with their trunk curled up to avoid letting ants crawl in.
Following the lecture, Several "volunteers" were assigned to ride each elephant and "help" give it a bath. The selection criteria seemed to be "Can you swim? OK, you go!". Volunteers simply removed shoes and valuables, but still wore street clothes. Rupa, Astha, and Rakesh were among the volunteers. I stayed on shore and took video.
I had assumed they would bring elephants into the river, then the elephant would take some water in his trunk and squirt a little on the passengers. I was wrong. The guides took the elephants out to a deep section of the river where the current was stronger. They rolled the elephant on its side, spilling passengers into the chilly river. Some were swept downstream a ways before swimming sideways to shallow water and walking back upstream. Rakesh rescued Astha a couple of times to prevent her from being swept downstream. After putting people back on the elephant, the guide would roll the elephant and spill them again. It became more "bathing the tourists" than "bathing the elephants".
Only one tourist managed to stay partly dry even when the elephant rolled. He was a Japanese guy who was an avid snowboarder. I spoke with him; turned out he had attended Ohio State University some years ago. Small world.
Returning back to the cabins, Rupa and the other volunteers had to shower in cold water and get into dry clothes to get warm again.
Soul Train, Jungle Style
At night, an evening of entertainment had been planned in the courtyard. A waiter from the lodge handed out drinks that in the darkness appeared to be some kind of juice. Surprised several visitors that it was buttered rum. The entertainment was a group of village boys dressed in white uniforms. They performed a series of stick dances, many of which were very energetic. Each boy held a long stick in each hand. While moving in a circle, he would alternately hit his sticks (hard!) against those of the boy in front, then to the boy behind, all to the beat of a drummer. It looked pretty exciting, and a bit dangerous since they could easily get hit in the head by a stick if anyone missed a step. Each dance had more intricate steps than the last one. Later during audience participation they got many of the tourists to join in, but fortunately they had dropped the sticks by this point.
26 Dec 00 - Walk with the Animals
This morning we decided to take another nature walk, starting just at dawn. Our guide was a very calm and funny guy. Walking away from camp we saw some rhino tracks and wallowing holes. We were advised to stay together and walk quietly. Farther along the trail in a section with dense vegetation, the guide saw a rhino munching on leaves. We all stayed back, thinking he might decide to charge. Our guide calmly advised "if he come here, you get behind tree!". On further questioning about whether we should make noise or not, he gestured to his walking stick "if he come, I beat my stick on the ground to scare him off. Sometime that work." I tried to visualize how much fear 4 tons of enraged rhino might feel seeing a guy who weighed about 90 lbs banging a stick on the ground, but it wasn't encouraging. I recall seeing a TV nature special where a rhino in Africa chased after a Land Rover doing 35 mph. Fortunately it never came to that. The beast chewed on trees for a while, looked around and snorted a bit, then wandered off away from the trail. Breathing a sigh of relief, we continued on. At camp we had a nice breakfast - porridge, toast, eggs, tea.
Overall it is pretty exciting to encounter animals in the wild. Of course it adds a certain element of risk that you don't get when you visit a traditional zoo. I could just visualize the legal release form you'd need to sign if such a park were to be located in the USA.
After breakfast, we said goodbye to the resort staff and walked back to the river boats to cross to the other side. There we caught a bus, which drove back along the river bank, dropping us off where Ashok and Rakesh had parked the car.
