Royal Chitwan National Park

This was our second safari expedition, the first one in Brazil didn’t go well (it was too cold and the animals were hiding), so we were hoping for better fortunes in this National Park near the Indian border.

As there is no Health & Safety in Nepal, we were able to go on a walking tour. The safety briefing was: if you see a tiger, keep eye contact and hide behind a tree; if you see a rhino, climb up a tree or run in zig zags; and if a sloth bear gets too close, shout at it or hit it with bamboo. We saw some birds, boars, deer before coming across a sleeping mother and baby rhino. Our guides thought it would be a great idea to wake them and get them to charge at us!

We also went on a 4×4 safari, an elephant ride and a boat ride. We saw so many birds and nearly all the main animals which live in Chitwan, apart from the tigers, who are obviously incredible at hiding.

We also had a couple of educational visits – to a crocodile breeding centre, and a government-owned elephant stable. These elephants were used to patrol for poachers. We couldn’t believe poaching was still a problem but some people are still lured into hunting for rhino horns which are then used in Chinese medicine.

Our evenings were marked with bad ‘western’ food, chats with other travellers, and a surprisingly good cultural show with some complicated stick dancing!

A kingfisher

Gharial crocodile native to India and Nepal only

Deer

Up a tree for safety