There's rhiNO chance of being bored in Chitwan!

Our weekend started with a mammoth drive out of Kathmandu and following the mighty Trisuli river. We were following this monsoon-powered river for one reason; the LRTT tradition of white water rafting. We jumped out of the bus at a remote shack that seemed to be made of buoyancy aids and paddles perched between the river and the road. Our guide and pro-paddler for the day was Deepak and he showed us down a cliff to a sandy beach that lay alongside the river. After an incredibly brief safety briefing, we were sat in our boats, ambling down the river towards the first set of rapids. The scenery around us was so impressive- tall mountains that rose straight up from the river bank and were covered in forest and wispy clouds. The mobile phone companies had clearly taken inspiration from ‘HOLLYWOOD’ when they decided to plant a huge sign half way up one of these cliffs. Surely the most memorable moment had to be Dan popping out of the side of the boat on a particularly flat section but as soon as this happened, the sabotage started. The best tactic was to wait for someone to be admiring the scenery, catch them off-guard, lift up the legs and watch them tumble backwards into the water.




Our next stop was Chitwan National Park. Everyone you meet in Kathmandu asks you when you are going to take a visit there as if it is a right of passage. Shisir (CEO of Teach For Nepal) had organised a weekend of explorer luxury for us. We arrived to colonial feast- large, rural hotel with fans and air conditioning (it was about 5^oC hotter and a lot more humid in the park), a feast of local foods, a signed picture of Elton John on the wall and two REAL elephants in the elephant shed!

The early start the following day (0530!) was immediately compensated by a jungle trek that resulted in us being within 10m of a group of huge black rhinos. By the end of the walk, the group’s leech count was over 10. We couldn’t decide whether to take them off or let them drop off but experiencing 10 minutes with a leech stuck on my leg was enough time to make my mind up. Next stop were the elephant baths, casually. Letting an elephant squirt you with its trunk and throw you off its back is surprisingly good fun.

As you can imagine, we were all in such a happy mood by lunch time. Everyone was so relaxed and enjoying the experiences that a tropical jungle can inject into you. Even the mosquitoes couldn’t suck out our high spirits. We rounded off the trip with three crazy journeys. The first was a ride on the back of an elephant through the jungle whilst spotting rhinos, monkeys, deer and a chicken.

This was followed by a night-time tour of Chitwan on the back of a pick-up travelling at break-neck speeds. The final crazy journey was back to Kathmandu after making the most of Nepal’s distilled products the night before. Some people were suffering from severe “altitude sickness” on this journey.