To Chitwan and Beyond….

Good night from Sauraha in Chitwan National Park. Just a quick recap of today as I covered the past few days in yesterdays blog and I wanted to start a separate one for tomorrows adventure to Kathmandu. 

Today was a interesting one. A day that pushed me out of my comfort zone and I am so glad it did. We started our day fairly early by piling in the back of the Safari Truck and driving twenty minutes to a specific boat launch site on the East Rapti river. It was from here that we would start our hour canoe ride down the river. Now this wasn’t just any ol canoe ride. Did I mention that this river was full of Crocodiles and the possibility of Rhino’s? We arrive to the launch site and get the first site of the canoes. They were long, very narrow and even looked rickety. One of the ladies with us took one glance and immediately declined to proceed. I can’t really blame her as I was debating it myself. I told myself that I paid a lot of money to be here, to experience new things and gain some new stories to tell. With that voice in my head being annoyingly logical, I decided to go for it. We were told to board one at a time to keep balance and all sat in a single line down the middle of the canoe. With every one ready and keeping still, we pushed off and started the journey. Within seconds a Crocodile appeared a few feet away and suddenly they were every where. It was a surreal experience as I was both nervous and fascinated. The weather was a perfect temperature with just a slight breeze as the current took us past sand banks with Crocs sunning themselves, birds of many species perched in various spots and different wildlife roaming the shoreline. Apprehensions aside, it turned into quite a relaxing experience. 

 We eventually came to the end of the excursion and disembarked, one by one, onto the shore line once again. It was then that I could officially give myself a little pat on the back for doing it. I second guess myself far too often and frequently let fear stop me from trying new things. I was very happy I was able to  put fears aside and opt for the end goal instead. 

 With a couple hours of down time and lunch, I posted some pics and talked to home for a few minutes. Then came for adventure number two of the day,  A jungle safari. With just a couple minutes walk from the hotel, we had to board yet another canoe on the same river but this time, it was just to go straight across and get off on the other side. From there we boarded another Safari Truck and ventured into the jungle. We had high hopes of capturing pictures of some exotic animals in their very own environment. We drove around, crossing bridges and through some rivers. We did manage to see some deer and monkeys however the exotics seemed to be camera shy on this day. We did stop at a little crocodile conservation area and stopped there to walk around, stretch etc. We then loaded up and proceeded to head back. Luckily we came upon another truck that was stopped and looking at something. To our glee, it was a Rhino just chilling among the trees. We watched him for quite some time, just moving around in a way that both acknowledged our existence yet ignored us at the same time. We took some pics and then carried on. From there it was just more of the same, Deer and Monkeys all over. I am thankful I was able to see a clear Rhino and Elephant yesterday as they never put on a show for us today. A short time later we arrived back to the river bank and on to the hotel from there. It was a couple hours til supper so a few of us walked just down the street and enjoyed some various coffee beverages a local coffee shop. Then on to supper and now a little free time tonight. I am using it to repack, write this and relax. I did go for a little walk myself back to the coffee shop, get a nice Cafe Mocha and wander a little. This little town is just wonderful. Every one is so friendly, with a Namaste every time you make eye contact. I do recommend this town if you’re ever in Nepal. 

 Tomorrow we rise early, load up and make the trek over to Kathmandu. We spoke to a guide tonight who just arrived here from there and he said it was a rough ride in some areas so it may be a long day. It is also winding and twisting up though and back down some mountains as we venture into the Himalayan mountain range. Kathmandu sits in a valley in the middle of the mountain range. It will be a pop a few gravol and bounce around kinda day I imagine. All part of the journey in this crazy adventure I am on. Kathmandu is the final stop on this tour so after a couple days there, we all go our separate ways. I head off to Dubai from there. 

 As for now, I will say good night and update you all again soon. Thank you for stopping by. Namaste!