October 30, 2011: Exploring Royal Chitwin National Park
The day started with a short ride to the nearby forest. There we walked into a clearing to be greeted by an elephant and his handler. We were given a description of the elephants in Nepal. They are Asian elephants and quite different from their African counter parts. For example, the height of an Asian elephant is always exactly twice the circumference of their front foot.
Several of our group climbed up on top of the elephant and Linda rode with another tourist from the clearing to the river. At the river we all stripped to our bathing suits and got into the river with the elephants to give them a bath. The elephants seemed to love it. Karalee and David Baxter from our group got to ride the elephant back to the clearing.
After lunch, half our group went on an elephant ride to see the wildlife. The rest of us went on a jeep tour of the park, after which we went on a beautiful dugout canoe ride down the river, passing the point where we had bathed with the elephants in the morning. We arrived back at Machan Paradise, just as the rest of our group was coming back from their elephant rides. There was suddenly a lot of commotion among the elephants. We later learned that the group had seen a tiger close up, which was what had scared the elephants. Everyone was pumped up and excited at being so close to a real tiger in the wild.
Linda Rides the Elephant
Nukhet Does Too
Kath, Karalee, Judy, and Jan Hold the Elephant's Trunk
Karalee and David With the Elephant
Nukhet and Sandie Ride the Elephant to the River
Linda and Another Tourist Ride Their Elephant to the River
Elephant Baths with David, David, and Nukhet
Karalee and David Ride Back
David's Hands on the Elephant's Head
The Walk Back from the River
Marian, Dick, Kath, Karalee, David, and Linda Explore Royal Chitwin National Park by Jeep
Kath in the Jeep
David Too
Marian and Dick
Getting our Dugout Ready
Kath, Karalee, and Marian Ready for our River Ride
A Bird Flying Over the River
Our Steers Person
Sunset on the River
Dagmar, Sandie, Nukhet, Jim, Judy, and Jan on Their Afternoon Elephant Ride
Jim, Judy, and Jan
More photos are available in David's Royal Chitwan National Park Photo Set.
Our trip was organized and led by Marian Leighton of Vancouver, BC with local support for our trip provided by Razzu Tuladha of Samsara Journeys based in Kathmandu, Nepal.