The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Chitwan National Park, Nepal

After our last night in Pokhara we said goodbye to eight members of our traveling party. Irwin & Carmencita (Napa, Calif), Terry & Judy (Bend, Or), Chuck & Janet (Spokane, Wa) and Bob & Diana (Spokane, Wa). They headed back to Kathmandu to start their long journey home. Five of us Marsha (Kansas City), Dan and Steven (Boston) and Beth and I added on a visit to Chitwan National Park. Having never done a "tour package" before we didn't know what to expect. One thing is very clear now is that the group can make or break it. We all bonded with each other instantly and had a great time together. I'm pretty sure we'll be staying in touch some in the future as we go our separate ways.
We had a different guide for our Chitwan adventure. A nice gentleman named Dep who along with serving as a guide is a professor at a university in Pokhara. As we started our trip by bus he told us it was around 100 miles and that it would take approximately six hours. He also said that we'd get a good massage/spinal realignment along the way. He was right on all accounts. We were cruising along and reached a rest stop that seemed well more than half way there in about two and a half hours. At that point he said that down the road a short distance it was going to get "rough" for 36 kilometers because of road damage from the 2015 earthquake. Well, he was right again. We've been on some bumpy roads in our travels but nothing quite like this particular road. We bounced, shook, rattled and rolled along at a snails pace. We pulled into the Barahi Jungle Lodge pretty much right on schedule, six hours after leaving Pokhara. I'm not sure if I would call it a relaxing massage or spinal realignment but we definitely got a little bit of both.
The lodge sits in a buffer zone along a river bank just outside the National Park. It is only three years old and is amazing. Outstanding food, great service, great individual cottages and absolute serenity. It was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the major cities that we had been staying in along the way.
http://www.chitwannationalpark.gov.np
https://www.barahijunglelodge.com
We had several planned activities at the park. They all related to the park itself or the culture of the Nepali people who live in this remote area. The cultural show even included Steven and I on stage dancing. No big surprise, he was a much better dancer than me. There was a jeep safari where we saw a number of one horned rhino's. These huge creatures are highly endangered and the park has the largest concentration of them anywhere in the world. We also did a float down the river to a spot where two rivers merge for a sunset that featured a small barbeque.
The two highlights of Chitwan involved elephants. We did an elephant safari which was about a two hour ride on the back of one of the four park elephants. The way I had to sit on the elephant meant that I really didn't have any feeling in my legs for about the last 45 minutes of the ride. It was well worth it and circulation quickly returned when I stood up.
We had a "National Geographic" moment along the way. We came across a rhino that had been injured in an overnight fight with another rhino. Our guide told us that mating season was coming up and that the males were fighting for dominance, territory and females. This was an old rhino whose better days are behind him. He had a large cut on his side and was so exhausted he could barely lift his head, much less stand up. The good news was that the guide felt that after a few hours rest he'd be up and on his way. He just won't have much status in the jungle anymore. Between the elephant and jeep safari we saw more than a dozen rhinos, monkeys, crocodiles, wild boar, three types of deer and tons of native and migrating birds. We were hoping to see one of the more than 100 tigers in the park but they're real elusive and rarely seen.
The highlight of the adventures was bathing the elephants, or maybe it's more accurate to say bathing with the elephants. We were given the opportunity to ride these huge creatures bareback into the river. Once in the river they would fill their trunks with water, curl their trunks back and soak their backs and us with water. Later on one of the handlers had his elephant lay down in the river for a massage by five travelers who couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.
Our India and Nepal adventure is coming to an end. We flew back to Kathmandu late yesterday where we were promptly greeted with a traffic jam (although not as bad as the last one). It's now Saturday morning here. Later today we fly to New Delhi, then on to Dubai for a week. Dubai will obviously be quite different from India and Nepal. This part of the journey has created some memories that will be at or near the top of our travel adventures. We're looking forward to seeing what Dubai has to offer.