As promised, we braved the cold and fog and loaded into the Land Rover again before dawn, in search of the elusive rhino. With so many rhinos in this part of the park, there had to be at least one willing to step into the limelight! Again, lots of tracks and lots of fresh poo, but the rhinos remained hidden in the dense forest.
About 1.5 hours in, we turned a corner and an enormous rhino silhouette appeared in the fog – a momentary glimpse, and he ran in to the forest. Still, we feel very fortunate to have seen something.
Andrew wasn’t quick enough for a proper photo, but he did manage to capture a shot of the rhino’s butt as he disappeared. At least there is some proof!
Credit to our guide and the safari team, who searched and searched for another hour. They even found footprints of a Mum and baby, so we know they were close.
Chitwan is about 50km from Kathmandu as the crow flies, but about 7 hours by car, so we flew from Bharatpur. On this trip we’ve seen a whole range of security standards, but Bharatpur airport was by far the most relaxed. No scanner, no pat down, just bags open for a cursory glance. I guess people are pretty trustworthy in these parts!
The ‘Yeti Airways’ plane was about the same size as the bus we had for the first few days, but the ride was a lot more smooth, and a lot less risky!
It was interesting to see how spread out Bharatpur is – houses at the front of the block, with large areas out the back which looked like market gardens. Even in this town, life seemed to retain the simplicity that we’d seen in villages along the way.
Small plane and a short flight meant we flew low over the towns, hills, and rivers that we had travelled over the past 10 days. Unfortunately clouds were covering the Himalayas, but we still got a great view of the hills that are the heart of this beautiful country.
Back in Kathmandu, we had the ultimate two-hours-of-power in the shops of Thamel. There is more trekking gear in this town than you could ever imagine, so we’re now well and truly equipped for camping and hiking expeditions closer to home.
North Face (North Fake!) is very popular, and I suspect that anything you want could be whipped up out the back, complete with a very realistic logo. There is a legitimate shop in the town, and we wonder if they turn a blind eye to the fakes in the hope it will sell more of their product at full price in other parts of the world.
Tonight marked the final night of our group tour, so Padma took us to a traditional Nepali restaurant. He’d promised to take us somewhere to teach us how to eat with our fingers and didn’t disappoint. The Thali was fantastic, and everyone enjoyed the liberation that comes with using your fingers to mix dahl and rice, and adding chicken and pork curries, mixed veg, and spinach.
The experience was an interesting one for our little lefty… The left hand is definitely not used for food in this country!
We bid farewell to our group, and to Padma. We’ve had a great time together, supported each other through multiple bouts of awful sickness, and managed to laugh about it along the way. Padma was wonderfully encouraging with all the kids, and the smile never left his face – he is an absolute credit to Intrepid.
We’ll take many great memories from this tour, and as always, our wonderful guide will be at the centre of them 🙂
Love theBunch x
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