Jungle Safaris

12-17 Mailed of package of some gear home. It was an interesting way that they did it b/c instead of the standard box, they wrapped it up in some cloth, sewed it up, and then sealed it with wax. I had forgotten to give my guide Chongbwa from the Mera Peak trip a tip before, so I made sure to meet with him today and give him his well deserved tip. I also forgot to mention that when I visited Durbar Square yesterday they had a big display going on celebrating 60 (or something like that) years of the UN’s refugee organization. It made me feel a bit proud to be an American b/c most of the big posters and pictures and displays were about some refugee camp where the Americans were helping or sponsored and funded by Americans. There are a few things that are difficult and annoying when traveling, such as dealing with touts, always packing and unpacking, etc. But for me, as an American, one of the difficult thing is the very negative image of Americans by a lot of Europeans. Before people know you are American you will overhear them talking this or that bad about my home. And even once they know, they will often make remarks of negative things towards Americans. I try not to let it bother me, knowing that we are a huge country and it is really hard to generalize anything about us. Those of us in the west can be quite different than the Californians or East Coasters and especially from our politicians. I like to think of us in a sports sort of way, like the Yankees…everybody loves to hate the Yankees…and it is because they are good. So anyways, I try to just figure that they are a bit jealous or what not, but it was really nice to see this and have America portrayed in such a nice way!

12/18 Took the bus to Sauraha where Royal Chitwan National Park is. I went for a small walk along the river in the afternoon and saw a one horned Indian Rhino in the distance. Then as I continue walking, I look around the bend in the river and there is a big rhino walking in the river really close to me! It then moved across the river and into an open field where it grazed, and I could see it very clearly.

Crazy thing is even down here in the Terai (the Nepalese flatland), you can still see the snowcapped Annapurna range way off in the distance. Watched a sweet sunset over the jungle and the river tonight.

12/19 Had a 5 hour morning jungle walk. Crossed the river and then had a safety talk about what to do if you meet one of the dangerous animals (elephant, rhino, sloth bear, leopard, tiger). I laughed b/c the directions always included running behind the guide (in case I should lose my way, the guide said). I thought in my head that if something is running after me, I am certainly running past the guide if I am faster. I think that is the guide’s way of making sure he is safe! The one behind gets eaten! I had 2 guides. Weapons of protection…bamboo sticks (as opposed to Maasai guides who a least carried spears and lion clubs). On the walk we saw several spotted deer w/ some fawns and a big stag. Also saw some barking deer. Great hornbills among many birds. Heard a rhino, but couldn’t see it through the tall grass. Saw sloth bear termite digs and tiger claw marks and scat. Saw some Langurs and rhesus macaques playing in the trees. The guides were very nice and extremely knowledgable in ecology and natural history, quite the surprise for the typical Asian guides I have had. In Nepal, something that is a bit annoying is the very first thing that 99% of the people say to you is ’which country? ’ or ’where are you from’ which just bothers me b/c I would like a how are you? Or something else. We are not who we are based on our country. Anyways, sometimes just out of annoyance I say something different like Guam or Barbados. But with these guys I just made up a country completely. Amarnia. Now most of the time, the people asking are just touts so you never here from them again, but with these guys I had been telling a tout when I was near their office and they overheard. Being smart guys, they were inquisitive and wanted to know everything about Amarnia. So I had a fun time making up things about my country. It was located off of the Mexico and we spoke Spanish. They kept telling me I was the first person they had ever met from Amarnia…no doubt I was.
The land here is partly riverine forest, partly Sal forest, and also a fair amount of grassland of which most is very tall (8-10 feet tall) elephant grass, which can make spotting things difficult. The jungle here is sooo much better than the hot humid rainforest jungles of SE asia in my opinion. No nasty sweating and clothes that don’t dry. It was perfect temperature here as well, being the winter. Lows in the low 40s and highs in the low 70s. I had read in the papers in October that the Chitwan area had been having an epidemic of Dengue, so I had been nervous to go. But with heavy spraying and the dry and cold season coming it had ended. I hardly saw any mosquitos, but to be sure (considering I have had Dengue before and the 2nd time is much much worse with hemorrhagic dengue), I slept in my little mosquito tent at night and wore full clothing cover all day. It was interesting to learn, especially since I am quite interested in human-nature conflict and conservation biology, about the human/jungle history here. Up until the 1950s the Terai had been such a terrible malaria area (they had tons of it and a particularly potent strain) that no one could settle and live there. In effect, this saved the wildlife and jungle from what was happening in similar places like India and SE Asia…people moving in and cutting it down and hunting out the animals. Then sometime in the 50s there was a conflict in Kashmir (still sort of is) where the group that wanted independence (still does) was kicked out by both Pakistan and India. They had no where to go except escaping into Nepal, and once here, they had nowhere to go except the Terai. They found that by eating especially hot and spicy foods they could somewhat protect themselves from mosquitoes and malaria. But still many were being affected by and dieing from the disease. So Australia and the US came in with that famous chemical, DDT, and basically eradicated malaria from the Terai. Of course we know what effects DDT has on wildlife, especially birds eggs, but it was certainly quite good for the people. This eradication of Malaria allowed the Terai to become populated easily and soon most of the jungle was cut down and things like tigers, rhinos, elephants, gharials, etc were on the brink of local extinction in Nepal. Luckily a few national parks were set up and populations started to increase. But in the 90’s when the Maoists tried to take over the government and there was a lot of fighting in the park, the soldiers had to give up protecting the park and massive poaching occurred. But things have settled now and populations are again on the rebound. Interestingly with all the population development, they were now having Dengue epidemics as the dengue mosquitoes tend to breed more in urban areas.
Although there is no maoist rebellion per se going on, Nepal is still actually without a government. There hasn’t been a working government since I have been in Nepal. It is always the headlines in the paper, but nothing is being accomplished. Of course the Maoists are trying certain things and trying to rally students, but so far there has been no movement towards a working government at the moment. And actually, when I first got to Chitwan, the elephant mahouts (drivers) were on strike in some support or opposition to the Maoists. I couldn’t quite figure it out. Though they ended their strike in time for me to do a ride.
In the afternoon I took a jeep safari to go deeper into the jungle.. Saw some more spotted deer and a couple of wild boars. We stopped at the gharial (in the crocodile family) breeding center which was cool. On the way back we saw a rhino up really close that did a bluff charge at our little jeep. We also saw 3 mugger crocodiles and some monkeys. A British gal on the trip, Charlie, told us about her interesting job where she works for a company that organizes students to go to different countries and combine sightseeing with volunteering. So she gets to travel quite a bit to look for locations for the students to do projects and also go with the students.

12/20 Took a dugout canoe ride in the morning, which was nice and peaceful. Saw lots of birds including several types of kingfishers, a maribous stork, lots of peakcocks, a serpent eagle, some parrots, and many others. Saw 3 mugger crocs and the very endangered Gharial! Pushba (my guide) invited me to his house to meet his wife, Sita, and son. Sita made me the traditional Nepali meal of Dal Bhaat. After lunch I took a hike along the river and saw a large mugger croc. In the afternoon I went on an elephant safari. I saw a Sambar deer and lots and lots of spotted deer and peacocks, and a huge mugger croc. It is a really cool experience going through the thick jungle so high up on top of the giant elephant and crossing the deep rivers too. Elephants are the ultimate jungle vehicle. A great perspective of the jungle being so high up. And animals are not so afraid when you are on the elephant so that you can get much closer. In the evening I shared some beers with Pushba and another guide, Rama.

12/21 Took a very early microbus back to Kathmandu so that I could get there before the post office closed as I was hoping that a package with some medicine my mom had sent poste restante had made it as it hadn’t before I left. Unfortunately it hadn’t! So now I am trying to decided how long to stay b/c I would really like to get to Darjeeling and India for Christmas. As I have mentioned, the roads in Nepal are crazy. They are like a combination of the big Thompson canyon and trail ridge road and independence pass, except without good pavement. So nepalis (for some reason it is always the nepalis, don’t know if it is genetic or just not used to cars) are always getting sick and puking. So far I had been lucky and never sat by any pukers, but this morning I was sitting in the back seat with mother and daughter who both were puking the whole way!
It is even colder in KTM now. Tonight is supposed to go below freezing. Now of course this doesn’t sound too bad as it is December; however, Nepal isn’t really set up for much cold so nothing is insulated and it just feels colder than when say it is in the 20s back home.