6hrs later, we reach Chitwan, the most
humid place on the planet as far as I’m concerned.
The road to the hotel is a never ending
dirt path with rice fields on either side. The trees start to get denser and
the straight road becomes winding as we get closer.
First up, hop on some elephants and scope
out the national park for tigers
Now this is my first time riding an
elephant. The last time I had the chance, I was 4 and it was about 10x my size,
I was terrified. So now getting on the elephant (who wouldn’t stop moving
around) I was just a little bit anxious. Once we got going, I felt a little
relieved …until I saw that up ahead we had to cross a river. I felt like I was
playing real life Oregon-Trail except I had no wagon to caulk.
Once we crossed the river, it turned out
to be a blast.
We spotted the normal sights: deer, wild
pig, Kingfisher and other birds. Our guide pointed to something across the
stream, I couldn’t quite see what it was until we got closer—a mother rhino
with her baby! When we got close, they moved away into the brush and the mother
flashed a warning. We went across the stream to get a better look and all of a
sudden we hear the rhino charge, thankfully not at us.
After navigating through the brush on
the lookout for more wildlife, we cross the stream and make our way back
through the jungle… which is when the guide casually tells us that a elephant
recently got stuck in that stream and also that our seats were not well tied
which is why the guide kept shifting to maintain balance …exactly what you want
to hear when you’re about to cross a river on an elephant. Crossing that river
a second time seemed ages longer than the first but we made it back for sunset
so the magnificent view made it worth it.
Exhausted, we retired to our rooms to
shower and freshen up for dinner.
Exhaustion swept away my prior worries
that a tiger or rhino might somehow eat me in my sleep. It did not,
unfortunately, wipe away the awful sticky feeling of humidity.
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