Chitwan (Major) Disappointment

Well I had high hopes for Chitwan and deemed it worthwhile enough to dedicate 2 nights and 3 days of my Nepalese adventure to come here...by bus.

What greeted me upon arrival was a desert of dry farmland, clouds of dust from hundreds of vehicles and countless 'unique' jungle guest houses.

My accommodation - the Eden Jungle Resort, is a building site as it attempts to double in size to accommodate even more tourists. That said, the room I am in is sound, complete with electricity, a ceiling fan and bathroom.

At 4.00pm we were asked to meet our guide and go for a sight seeing walk. I have never felt so depressed. Elephants chained in stables, a rhino wallowing in a small river, litter everywhere, people smoking and hundreds of people on foot treading the same paths as us - loudly. Talking, laughing, shouting and all on their mobile devices. I genuinely wanted the rhino to get up out of it's watery pool and to charge at the 20 or so Chinese photographers who noisily jostled each other to get within feet of the great beast to take their pictures. 

Our guide said he would take us to the river 'look out' point for sunset where we would see lots of crocodiles. I could barely see the river for the throngs of people ambling along the path.

I have seen no wildlife (barring 1 kingfisher and 3 crocodiles) but I have seen millions of mosquitoes and other large winged creepy-crawlies. Indeed, something has taken a bite out of my ankle, (only discovered as I went to shower before tea and I pulled off a bloody sock.) One chap said I needed to check I did not have a leech in my shoe! My only pleasure as I sit and type this, is watching the geckos catching moths as they stake out the light bulbs in our restaurant.

Earlier tonight, I did enjoy a cultural performance from the native Thadu people of Chitwan. They sang and danced in a large (air-conditioned) community hall for hundreds of tourists and our group thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was only marred by the constant noise of people talking loudly in the audience. Can you believe that as I looked around, I could see dozens of faces illuminated by their own smartphone screens? The Chinese teenagers in front of me were watching  a TV programme on theirs! 

Tomorrow we are off for a jungle walk at 7.00am prompt. I am not holding my breath for a better experience, but we'll see.

Well the walk took us to the boating activity. I had naively assumed we would be white water rafting, but a sluggish brown river greeted us, covered in long canoes - each capable of seating a dozen tourists. Not an inflatable raft in sight. We climbed onboard, sat single file and set off. Actually, this proved to be the highlight of my Chitwan visit. It was very misty and rather eerie as we drifted - low in the water, a hot sun unable to burn through the damp air. Our guide did his best to look for wildlife and pointed out the odd bird and a crocodile, but as we were gently punted along with the current for 45 minutes, we saw very little. I did like seeing the local houses high up on stilts on the banks of the river. The monsoon season in Nepal clearly causes this river to rise many metres.

 

  

Coming to the shore, we then started an hour long walk through the 'jungle'. For jungle, substitute the image of a deforested, heavily traipsed landscape. Our guide gathered us together and said we must be very quiet, walk single file and keep our eyes open. We had been told to avoid wearing any bright colours, though a number of our group clearly did not consider their garish yellow and orange rucksacks. I then had the displeasure of walking single file behind people who talked incessantly. Some smoked, others answered their phones as they rang! One group of spotted deer heard us coming a mile away and promptly disappeared. One crocodile ignored the noise and continued to warm itself on the muddy bank next to a pool of water. Rhino - no, elephant - no, honey bear - no, antelope - no, birdlife - no, tiger - no (though to be fair we did see the footprints of a tiger and those of a rhino.)

                

Appropriate footwear for a jungle trek? 

We then arrived at the elephant breeding programme. Chained elephants, rocking back and forth or endlessly shuffling from foot to foot. A keeper who went in to feed an adult and adolescent with some sugar cane, but took the time to hit the young elephant on the head with a 3 foot length of the cane. Tourists stood at the fences shouting and heckling the elephants - to make them perform or respond. I couldn't bring myself to look around. The one positive was a 2 month old calf, which was being well looked after by it's mum, but I am sad that it has been born into this captivity.

 

We were then asked if we would like to see the elephants bathing? We drove to the river, where hundreds of tourists lined the bank and 3 elephants and their handlers (mahout remember) could just be seen in the water. I declined. This was nothing like my experience in Sri Lanka. My 3 companions (Aga from Poland, David from Australia and George from the Netherlands) were keen to go in, so I volunteered to take photos for them all and duly looped three huge SLR cameras around my neck as they got changed and put on life jackets. The river was brown. The elephants performed for each tourist in turn - allowing them to climb on board, squirting them with water, standing, laying down etc. My 3 companions loved it and laughed and screamed accordingly. To them it was a real highlight of their Chitwan visit, but to me - it was a poor version of what I had experienced in Sri Lanka.

 

In the afternoon, we were all due to go on elephant safari. We were escorted up steep ladders onto bamboo platforms as the elephants reversed into position one-by-one. We then clambered on board into the equivalent of an upside down square table, 4 people each facing outwards straddling one 'leg' each. The only thing is - I didn't. The way the cookie crumbled meant I was the last to board an elephant and I could not navigate my long legs into the remaining space. Furthermore, as I stood on the back of the elephant to climb in, the whole seating arrangement shifted worryingly to the side and I thought I was going to have to jump off. I decided not to bother, much to the dismay of the guide. Part of my decision was due to my general negativity to what I had already seen, part due to the unsafe nature of the seats, mostly due to the inadequate space for me to get in, but also because I believed it would only last for 30 minutes anyway.

As the 5 elephants rode off with 19 tourists, I climbed back down the steps and prepared to wait in the shade. The guide said they would be gone for an hour and a half and asked if I wanted some food. I declined and he was quite unsettled. He then said he was going for some food and would I come. I politely refused and said I was happy sitting in the shade here, but that he should go without me. This was still not the answer he wanted so eventually, I walked with him to a local home down the road, where he ordered some food and drink and I had a coke.

Again, to be fair to Chitwan, when the group returned from their elephant trek - they were all very pleased with their experience. They had seen one rhino, up close as the elephants marched directly past it and they enjoyed the ride itself.

What I can say, is that Chitwan is not abundant in wildlife, and as a game reserve it is not a patch on my experiences in South Africa. One Aussie doctor decided to arrange a personal jeep safari for himself, as he was really keen to see different birds and animals. He returned 4 hours later and said he had seen no birds at all and just a handful of deer and one rhino - the poorest amount of wildlife he had ever encountered in a nature park.

I can also say that the tourists coming to Chitwan (50% Chinese) are not the most considerate - indeed, they are the worst possible for such an environment, lacking respect for the animals, for nature, for pollution and for others. I was happy to leave. A great disappointment.