Day 118 - Heart of Darkness

Today started far too early for civilized people. After breakfast at 6:15, we were in traditional dugout canoes floating down the river by seven. The canoes feel far less stable than their aluminum counterparts, and I was grateful for the skill of our boatman. Even more so when we passed by a marsh mugger - the larger of the local crocodile species, and one that is not adverse to the occasional human snack. He was drifting with the current and sniffing at the remains of a calf. The bloated carcass did not pass muster, and when he disappeared underwater, I was convinced we would soon feel the thump, thump, thump of his snout on our boatfull of tasty fresh people meat.

We managed to get by without being eaten, and were soon ooh-ing at a large rhino eating vines near the shore. Unfortunately he ducked his head just as we snapped his photo, but he made rhino number two in not even 24 hours in Chitwan!

The river also supported dozens of birds, fish, and far less threatening Gharial Crocodile. Smaller and skinnier than the mugger, the gharial feeds only on fish. He's still pretty toothy though.

Out of the canoe, we proceeded into the jungle. This is proper jungle. The Royal Chitwan Park is close to 1000 square kilometres of forest, scrub, and grassland, most of it unmarked by trails. Any visitor is required to obtain permits from the government office, and go with two guides, one to walk in front, and one to walk behind, both carrying large sticks. Before beginning our walk, our two guides explained what to do in the event of an elephant or rhino attack (climb a tree or run in a big zig-zag), sloth bear attack (stay still and try to look big and threatening - they are fast and can climb trees, but think like dogs, so if you don't run, they may not chase you), or tiger attack (we probably won't see a tiger, if we do, that's why we carry big sticks). Thus prepared, we set off.

Sometimes we followed clear paths. Sometimes we pushed our way through damp brush and elephant grass. We paused often to listen for animals and pick leeches off our clothes and skin. The leeches don't particularly hurt, nor do they even leave an itchy bite, It's just gross having essentially a blood-sucking slug attaching itself to you.

Leeches aside, one of the first animals we encountered, we only heard, never saw. The barking deer make a strange, loud mating cry. We listened for while, looking in the direction of the sound, because the barking deer is a favourite prey of tigers, and where there are deer they may be tigers. But we did manage to see two sloth bears (a rarity at this time of day) grazing about. We got close enough to see how big they were and for them to see us and scatter to the tall grass. Not fast enough though to take a picture, we were too struck at the luck of it all.

We rested at one of the watchtowers for a late lunch where we were told some rhino encounters by the guides (mostly involved running away, climbing, and finding lost tourists hidden in the tall grass) and also that in a week or so, the tall elephant grass would be cut down exposing the plains and the animals hiding in them. As we headed down to the river to meet a canoe that would ferry us back to civilization, it started to drizzle. We were lucky enough to have caught our ride back to the lodge, where we were able to enjoy the afternoon rain under the canopy of the restaurant, sipping on our fresh glasses of mango juice. At the distance, we could see the plains, and a very pretty rainbow. A much better ending than one Kurtz had to endure.