Chitwan

Josie and Ben arrived on Saturday afternoon after a long stop-over in Delhi. No major problems at Kathmandu Airport although they are not the most wheelchair accessible place.

On Sunday we set off in a hired minivan to Royal Chitwan National Park which is about 200km SW of Ktm. There are 2 routes down, over the hills (Mahabharat Range) or the highway which runs along a river valley. For maximum sightseeing we decided to go down over the hills and return via the highway. So the trip there was on windy, occassionally broken up, roads climbing up to almost 3,000 metres (Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK is about 1,400m) and took 8 hours. On clear days the view of the Himalayas is meant to be spectacular but we were in cloud at the top which meant there was little to see and it got quite chilly.

Royal Chitwan National Park used to be the hunting playground of the Nepali rulers and their special guests such as Indian Maharajahs and British sahibs. How times have changed, in the 1920's George V and the then Prince of Wales visited and slaughtered 39 tigers and 18 rhinos in 11days, it is now a sanctuary with protection for most animals.

Ben and I took a canoe trip - good thing Sheila didn't come, the canoe was a very wobbly dugout - where the guide pointed out lots of birds and crocodiles. Some of the crocodile sightings could have been anything as only snout or tail was showing but there was no doubt what this was.

The canoe dropped us off and after a short walk through a field of cows - tikka'd (decorated with coloured paste) from the previous days festival, Gai (means cow and pronounced "Guy") Tihar, which celebrated cows - ..........

..... we arrived at the Elephant Breeding Centre

Meanwhile, Sheila & Josie had been enjoying the glorious sunshine at the river front, just like a Caribbean beach but with the added scenery of the Himalayas in the background. Behind the dark hills in this picture are the snow covered peaks of the Annapurna range which is about 150 km away - a bit like seeing the coast of France from Bognor.


Having got a taste for the sunny beach, Josie declined the elephant safari....

.... which took us through a wide variety of terrain before getting to the jungle. Sheila's imagination of what might emerge ran riot as we went through long grass and rushes so I didn't take much notice when she said the mahout (driver) had spotted a rhino. She was right! Elephant and rhino seemed to ignore each other so we were able to get within 5 metres of it.

The next (and last day), we opted for a lazy morning by the river before Ben and I joined in with elephant bathing.
The trip back along the valley turned out to be more spectacular than the trip down. For much of the route the highway is carved into the side of the river gorge with amazing views of hills all around and glimpses of Annapurna towards the end.

The highway route is probably longer in distance but as it involves considerably less hill climbs and almost no broken sections, our trip back was only 6 hours.