Elephants Instead of Cars

Almost every day since I left the States I think to myself 'I feel like I am living through the pages of a National Geographic magazine'. Out latest 55 hour adventure lived up to that statement. Another hot, sticky, uncomfortable, 6 hour bus ride took us to Chitwan, the largest national park in Nepal. Upon arriving, other than noticing the significant increase of temperature and humidity compared to Kathmandu...I forgot I was in Nepal, Africa seemed more like it. 

We were attacked getting off the bus by at least 15 to 20 guys all trying to convince us that their guest house was the best to stay at. Confused and frazzled we sat in the shade trying to decide where to go, but Liz made the decision easy..."Alright" she yelled. "Who wants to give us a free ride?" We had a taker, so we hopped in the back of his truck, and off we went.  Going through the village the houses were made of thatched roofs and mud walls...and yes, elephants roam the streets instead of cars. 

After watching baby elephants and their mothers, the animals stole my heart. They have such incredible personalities! First, we went on a relaxing early morning dug out canoe ride...then we were picked up from our guest house on elephants.  In the past I have rode horses bareback a number of times...elephants however, that's a different story. We took them down to the river, and we gave an exchange of favors.  They sprayed us with a lovely cool shower of water and tipped us into the river, in return they would lay on their side and we would care for their skin by applying sand from the bottom of the river on their backs and rubbing it around with a rough rock, a natural exfoliation treatment.  It was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had with an animal, to be so close to such a gentle giant reminded me how much love was needed to create such an endearing creature. 

 

 

Shower Anyone???

 

 

 

Later that day we again hopped on another elephant (in a crate this time) and wondered through the jungle to spot the natural wildlife. At one point we came to a screeching halt, wondering what happened I leaned over and watched as the elephant noticed a loose peacock feather on the ground, delicately picked it up and handed it to his owner.  I couldn't believe he had such control over his giant trunk that he could pick up a feather with it! 

Once we were done our ride back to our room entailed sitting in the back of the truck as usual, but on top of a giant pile of dried leaves they gathered for re-thatching their roofs. We held on tight as we drove through the village making quite the scene while the Nepalis hung out the windows and blasted music from their cell phone as they sang and danced as much as they could without falling off.  

 

  

Unfortunately, no pictures were taken to capture our next two experiences of the night.

First, we walked down to a cultural dance. Peering in through the doors we were told that we needed to buy a ticket for 60 rupees (less than 1 USD) ...we said 'we are 1/2 an hour late, how about 40?' He didn't budge, and we're cheep, so we left.  Walking home we looped back around another road, I heard music getting louder and louder, then we realized we were at the back door to the stage of the cultural dance.  We joked about how funny it would be if we busted in and did a dance on stage just to spite the annoying ticket man that wouldn't let us in.  Suddenly one of the guys that worked at the guest house we were staying at spotted us sitting by the bushes of the back door. He asked us what we were doing, we told him how we didn't feel like paying...shaking his head chuckling he told us to follow him to watch fire dancing from backstage. Then he insisted we come on stage and dance, we all started laughing....was he reading our minds?! It didn't take too much convincing before 3 crazy white girls were flailing on stage, it was so much fun, and I couldn't help but be pleased when I thought about the ticket man seeing us up on stage with out paying one rupee.

Second, well into the late night two of the guides at our place insisted that we go on a casual "rhino" night walk with them. We followed them for an hour in the darkness until we came to the river, they cracked open some Nepali beers and we sat on the river bank hearing the sounds of the jungle...when no rhinos were spotted we decide a late night swim was needed, and we jumped into the same river I spotted a crocodile in earlier that day...If the locals weren't concerned about being eating by the razor sharp teeth of a croc at night, why should I? So I took my chances, and later that night we arrived safely back to our room with all of our fingers and toes.

While it had been quite the exciting day, I wasn't too sad to leave the mosquito infested, hot, sticky, humid town of Chitwan...and after another long dreadful bus ride, we are back to the city of Kathmandu.