In the morning we headed off about 6am with the Chinese and Ukraine for a canoe ride on the Rapti river to do some animal spotting. Unfortunately that was not to be as the Chinese did not understand the concept of being quiet; singing, laughing and playing music through their phone speakers, and no matter how many times the guides told them to be quiet they simply would not. I was so mad by the end that I refused to carry on to the subsequent jungle walk with them because I knew I wouldn’t see anything. In addition to that, the girls were dressed in party frocks and stilettos (I don’t know where they thought they were going) so I could see that walking through the jungle with them was going to be a mission.
Royal Chitawan National Park is a huge and beautiful nature reserve protecting 932 square kilometres of sal forest, water marshes and grassland. It is one of the last refuges of the one horned Indian rhino and also boasts more than 50 species of mammals including monkeys, tigers, crocodiles, sloth bears, hyenas, deer, elephants and leopards. There are about 450 different birds and 67 species of butterfly too.
The trek through the jungle (minus the Chinese, who went with another guide) lasted for a couple of hours and it was truly magnificent. I saw monkeys, deer, wild buffalo, hundreds of birds and countless bugs! It was also about then that I realised that the Ukraine man was taking pictures of ME whilst pretending to photograph in the jungle which I thought was extraordinarily rude. We walked to the Elephant Breeding Centre which I found just heartbreaking. The poor things are chained up constantly and are obviously not well cared for at all. Most of them looked to be suffering some sort of illness or disease, as well as rocking back and forth, displaying signs of distress. The elephants are bred into domesticity for use in patrolling the park or are sold to lodges but clearly whilst at the breeding centre the elephants are treated very poorly.
Then, once we went back to the lodge, I caught the Ukraine photographing me sneakily through the bushes as I sat in the garden reading on a couple of occasions. I was infuriated! Unfortunately then I had to ride on the same elephant with him for the jungle safari that afternoon but sat with my back squarely towards him to prevent any more photographic opportunities! The safari was great and I got to see quite a few rhino as well as deer and a sloth bear. I had been considering staying another day but seeing as the Ukraine is staying longer I've decided I have had enough of his freaky behaviour and would rather move on tomorrow to Pokhara, about 5 hours away.
