Nepal 53, Back to Chitwan

I wanted Clare to experience at least one of the national parks so we came to Chitwan. Not the same place Dad and I came to as the park is huge and there are many places bordering it.

I was really happy with the accommodation, it was peaceful with lovely gardens and about 6 colonies of the giant honey bee (Apis Dorsata) overwintering under some of the high balconies. I’m guessing they can’t let out those rooms with all the honey bee activity. I thought it was great, I could just sit and watch them all day. The bees obviously like to be in the open, unlike the regular honeybee (Apis mellifera) that likes an enclosed place. Some of the colonies were inert, all the bees facing upwards and still. Occasionally there would be a ripple through the colony like a Mexican wave, I have no idea why. I really need to find a study paper that doesn’t just look at their defensive behaviour (or perhaps it is defensive behaviour)

Clare being a people magnet was soon having beer with the owners of the hotel and merrily chatting away finding out every thing about them.

We booked 2 x half day Safaris. Dad and I had been a bit scathing about the half day excursions we had seen when we were here last, wondering what anyone could possibly see, most often without binoculars in half a day!

How wrong we were! Our trip started with a short ride across the river in two dugout canoes strapped together with a man poling us across, we met our guide Sanjok and the first thing we saw was a Gharial Crocodile on the bank with several Marsh Mugger Crocodiles. With others we climbed into a jeep. Clare and I sat at the back with Sanjok who turned out to be a brilliant bird watcher. He seemed very keen to explain everything to us, showing us plants, birds and animals. I’ve discovered rattan, the stuff very popular with Victorians for furniture is actually a climbing palm, who knew? And I now know what a kapok tree looks like.

The drive took us almost the same route into the park as I had been on before, I think there is one main road, through jungle and grassland for tourists. Sanjok has very sharp eyes and every few feet we saw something; Chital, Hog Deer, Boar, a huge Python asleep in the grass by a pool, a Monitor lizard up a tree, Rhino and Rhesus Macaque. We also saw a number of little birds including the Coppersmith barbet, peacocks with one displaying, storks (various), kingfishers (various) and a Honey Buzzed. Sanjok loaned us his binoculars so we got a good look at everything.

The air was fresh and we enjoyed every minute of the afternoon and as the sun went down we headed back to the canoes. Clare got in one side and I on the other, my side seemed very low in the water and at one point I thought the water was going to come over the side! Extra dinner for the Crocks maybe!

The next day we went in a canoe down The Budi Rapti River and got really close both types of Crocodile. The marsh mugger has been known to bite a boat before and even get in, that’s a comforting thing to impart when your sat low in a dugout canoe! Most of the lizards were basking in the sun thankfully although we did see a few in the water near holes in the bank where they store food!

It was so peaceful on the river, plane martins, sand martins, pond herons and kingfisher all over the place.

When we landed we went for short Jungle walk with another guide this time. It was quite different vegetation to Bardia, less dense jungle and marshy in places. We saw huge rhino footprints and herds of Chital deer. We did hear the deer alarm call sound for a big cat. Clare thought we were going to walk away from the call (she said afterwards and was a bit nervous as the guide walked towards it). We stopped on the path were we had a good view of the path in various directions and the guide explained that tiger and leopard are so well camouflaged that we would only see them as they crossed the path.

All was quiet so we continued our walk back to civilization as the sun started to wane and across a huge suspension bridge to the village.

The village itself is more developed than Bardia but there are some mud houses. The main difference is the mass of tourist shops, bars and cafes. I must admit even I succumbed to a purchase, two pairs of trousers! Clare is rubbing off on me….eek!