We've got jungle fever... in Chitwan

It’s funny how we’ve only been “on the road” for 4 days, but feel as though we’ve been in Nepal for a month or so. We are now used to all those things that were so alien to us on the first day: little or no electricity, the seamless swerving of vehicles just about avoiding each other, the eggs with toast and pancakes for breakfast (completely normal) served with spicy potatoes and onions (completely weird but, at the same time, wonderful).

I think the lack of time awareness is also down to the fact we haven’t really stopped until now. Yesterday we first went from Kathmandu to Charaundi some 90km away from the capital, where we were rafting for around two hours along the Trishuli river. The view was absolutely awesome, when we weren’t crashing face-first into rapids. It was a muggy morning at best, and the water was pretty cold, so the last half hour felt like hard work… I know those of you who are reading this whilst actually being at work are probably sticking your fingers up at your monitors right now, but you know what I mean!

We finally reached Chitwan, around 185km south west of Kathmandu, a town famous for its Royal National Park. Excited about having escaped the chaos of the city, we walked into the room that was going to be our home for the next two nights and I have to say, I felt giddy with joy: there was a shower with round the clock hot water! And it was transparent as opposed to the rusty orange water we had got used to after staying in our very, very basic accommodation in Kathmandu! Oh, how I showered! I felt drunk on water. That whole thing about the bad making you appreciate the good? I don’t think I ever truly believed it until now.

The next morning we took a traditional dugout canoe across the Rapti River in Chitwan for a spot of bird-watching! I have never seen anything like it. There were peacocks, eagles and kingfishers looking down at us, while we were gliding across the perfect, still lake amongst crocodiles! According to our guide, one of them had tried to attack his colleague the day before… so apart from secretly freaking out inside when the canoe started to tilt rather heavily to one side, I felt “at one with nature”; but I don’t think I’ll be bathing in rivers and all that just yet, at least not intentionally.

And, last but not least, we went for a walk through the jungle followed by an elephant safari in the afternoon! It was scary at first, uncomfortable after a while but totally worth it in the end because of the animals we saw. It did, however, make me realise what greedy beasts we humans are, because when we first saw a baby deer we were all “Wow! It’s Bambi!” and snap-snapping away with our cameras. Then we saw another one a bit later on, and were all “Look! Another one! It’s looking me right in the eye, look!”. Then we saw a couple more... and then a group of them, and in the space of half an hour it was all “Who cares about deer? I’m so over deer… we need to see some rhinos, man.” Well, once again, we were very lucky because we got to see both an adult and baby one. What a strange-looking animal! Photo evidence of this and more on my Instagram, and in the photo gallery… thank you for reading!

Guess what I found out in Chitwan!

1. The Ruddy Shelducks we can see from our hotel, or as the locals call them, the “Brahmin-Ducks” apparently always swim in pairs. In fact, when one of them dies, the other stops eating - basically committing suicide a la Romeo and Juliet.

2. One-horned rhinoceros “do their business” in the same place for around 20 days. Good news for us when looking for them in the jungle, bad news for the rhinos, as hunters simply wait around the dung with their guns, knowing they’ll be back soon.

3. Around 90% of the Nepalese population speak Hindi, purely from watching Bollywood movies. Very useful when blagging Indian nationality to get the "South Asian discount" on entry fees (foreigners are charged around 5 times more to even go to the main square).