Friday October 24
Kamal said that our vehicle wasn’t
authorized to be in the area that he wanted to try today to find tigers, so he
said we would need to switch to a different vehicle, and it wouldn’t be
available until after lunch. So, we did the usual area in the morning.
We then drove to the new area until we came to a narrowing in the road and
were told we couldn’t go any further. There was a lot of back and forth and
another guy came and talked to the guide. Finally, we were given permission to
continue. We came to the bridge where we were waiting for the other vehicle,
and it was time for our lunch. With no place to sit outside of the vehicle that
wasn’t on the back seat cushion on the ground and in the sun, we asked if we
could just eat in the jeep. So, we all decided that was the best option. The
lunch has been the same every day. Not an issue, but it might have been nice
just to have something that maybe didn’t need to be kept cold since they didn’t
have a way to keep things cold.
After we all found places to mark our
territory (it wasn’t all that private there with a village near by and people
crossing the bridge) The guide even walked all the way to the village to see if
we could eat at the restaurant there, but it was closed.
We crossed the bridge to meet the
other driver and vehicle and waited a while until he got there. It was an
afternoon with numerous Spotted Deer and many crocodiles. We came across the
occasional Wild Boar and a few Rhinos, one was a dominant male and had a very
long horn.
At one point at least 30 hornbills
flew by. The guide said he had never seen that many together before. It was
nice to see different villages with many waving and friendly people. We saw
quite a few people bathing in the river and washing their dishes and clothing
in the same river.
Of course there were plenty of ducks,
dogs, chickens, cattle, water buffalo, goats and sheep.
A tiger had been sighted earlier in
the day (or the day before) and there was evidence that it had been there
recently so the guide said we should just sit and wait in one place for a
while. We agreed that was a good plan. However, with no air movement I started
to feel hot and sick. Yesterday after the packed lunch I felt sick to my stomach,
but it passed. Today it came on quickly as I got the hot/cold feeling and I had
to leave some scat for the animals to wonder what that came out of and I was
splashing my face and neck with water and then I hurled over the side of the
vehicle. After some Tums and Pepto I felt better after all the bad stuff was
out of my system. So, to give me some air movement we got moving. It was
towards the end of the day anyway and we worked our way out of the park.
Back at the lodge I was hoping for
mashed potatoes as we had them the first night and I was thrilled when I saw
them at the buffet. It was nice to have something bland on my stomach even
though I was feeling much better. Food has been sufficient and tasty each night.
We planned our last morning with Kamal
as we were to have a birding tour/look for tigers half day, but Greg and I
decided that we didn’t want to fly after doing that with no time to shower, so
we opted for the Meet the Elephants activity and the Village visit. Tom &
Cathy decided to take the morning off. With our plans finalized we went back to
our rooms.
The final night of Diwali the festival
went until at least 3:30 in the morning.
Photo album: Chitwan Day 3 https://photos.app.goo.gl/oPwsr67j8EUKfaLf6
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