SAFARI POR EL CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK, EL LIBRO DE LA SELVA

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Estábamos muy emocionados ante la perspectiva de estar todo el día relajándonos y descansando en Pokhara, una ciudad realmente buena para ello, pero al segundo día estábamos ya aburridos. Así que nos fuimos al Parque Nacional de Chitwan, hogar del tigre de Bengala (Shere Khan), elefantes (Winifred), leopardos (Bagheera), osos perezosos (Baloo), rinocerontes y demás bestias.

Partimos de Pokhara a las 7 de la mañana, esta vez desde la terminal de autobuses que estaba realmente a diez minutos a pie de Lakeside. El viaje fue muy movido y llovió durante todo el trayecto, durante el cual tuvimos que vadear un par de riachuelos. Al llegar a Chitwan descubrimos que el agua había entrado en el maletero del autobús por lo que las mochilas de Marina y Stefan estaban empapadas. La mía se salvó.

Del páramo en el que el autobús nos dejó casi siete horas después de dejar Pokhara fuimos hasta el Rainbow Safari (en la zona Tharu de Meghauli) en la parte trasera de un camión junto a una familia de chinos de la tercera edad, una pareja de chicas chinas que intentaban secar sus mochilas con pañuelos de papel y un chico japonés que llevaba atada una toalla a la cabeza.

El Rainbow Safari estaba muy bien, la habitación que nos tocó era espaciosa y tenía ducha de agua caliente, mosquitera alrededor de la cama y un ventilador. Las comidas eran estilo buffet en el que cada día cocinaban cosas distintas con la única constante del té. Los dos señores que hacían de encargados eran muy atentos y se sabían al dedillo las agendas de cada uno. La verdad es que daban mucha tranquilidad.

El mismo día en que llegamos nos fuimos a dar una vuelta con uno de los naturalistas durante la cual pasamos por los establos donde tienen a los elefantes gubernamentales que se encargan de patrullar la jungla en verano. Durante el resto del año patrullan en coche o moto, pero en verano la vegetación es tan densa que los únicos capaces de moverse por ahí son los elefantes. El gobierno tiene “contratados” a varios de ellos para que hagan las labores de vigilancia en la jungla, principalmente para evitar la caza furtiva de elefantes salvajes (valorados por el marfil) y de tigres, leopardos y rinocerontes (muy apreciados en la santería china).

Al día siguiente a las 6:30 de la mañana estábamos subiendo a una canoa para descender por el río de camino al paseo matinal por la jungla. Durante la hora de trayecto por el río pudimos ver a un par de rinocerontes bañándose, a un cocodrilo y a un montón de aves.

Una vez dejamos la canoa empezó a llover y nos introdujimos en la selva. Nos acompañaban dos naturalistas locales, el japonés de la toalla en la cabeza y un chino al que deberían sacrificar de lo tonto que era. No se contentaba con llegar siempre cinco minutos tarde, el muy avispado se vino a la selva en sandalias, pantalón corto y camiseta de tirantes. 

Os podéis imaginar el panorama: los naturalistas, el japonés, Stefan, Marina y yo íbamos vestidos todos con ropa oscura y larga, además de llevar botas de montaña, y aparece el chavalote como quien va a comer tortilla al río. A los diez minutos los tobillos le chorreaban de sangre, y no porque se fuese chocando con raíces y ramas, que lo hacía, sino por la cantidad ingente de sanguijuelas que se le adherían a la piel. El chico entraba en pánico cada vez que se veía una así que se la arrancaba y se tiraba agua de la cantimplora sobre la herida. El resultado fue que a la media hora ya no le quedaba agua, iba sangrando como si le hubiesen vaciado el cargador de una ametralladora en los tobillos y le daba un microinfarto ante cada ruido no identificado que escuchábamos, que en la selva son unos cuantos.

Estuvimos caminando por la selva durante unas cuatro horas durante las que únicamente vimos insectos gigantescos. Ni un tigre, leopardo, elefante u otro mamífero (vimos algún ciervo, eso sí) que debían andar todos en casa viendo la tele porque estaba lloviendo a cántaros.

Volvimos al Rainbow Safari donde pudimos ducharnos, comer y prepararnos para la actividad estrella: el safari en elefante.

Nos llevaron al establo donde tienen a los elefantes e hicieron grupos de entre 3 y 5 pasajeros por animal. Nos habían dicho que el safari en elefante es la mejor manera de ver a los grandes mamíferos ya que los animales de la jungla están habituados a los elefantes y no se asustan cuando los escuchan, huelen o ven. 

Lo que nadie te dice es que los chinos encuentran tan fascinante lo de montarse a un elefante que no dejan de berrear y gritarse de elefante a elefante desde que se suben hasta que se bajan. Por este motivo hasta las ballenas de Tonga sabían que había un grupo de turistas sobre excitados entrando a la jungla de Chitwan.

Lo cierto es que los chinos eran tan molestos que el jinete de nuestro elefante, visiblemente enfadado, se separó de la manada y nos llevó por un recorrido diferente. Durante nuestro rato de libertad encontramos a una manada de rinocerontes, pudiendo acercarnos mucho a uno de ellos, unos cuantos ciervos e incluso un cocodrilo al que casi pisamos.

Al finalizar el safari los chicos del Rainbow Safari nos llevaron al criadero y escuela de elefantes donde pudimos ver a un par de bebés elefante. Incluso uno de ellos, que debía haber estado comiendo más chuches de las recomendadas, se acercó a saludarnos.

Una vez de vuelta en el Rainbow Safari nos dijeron que había habido desprendimientos en la carretera por lo que al día siguiente saldríamos muy pronto camino a Kathmandú. Nos dijeron que no teníamos que preocuparnos por nada ya que antes de partir nos bendecirían y nos pintarían el entrecejo de rojo, que es infalible.

Chitwan está a unos 150 km de Kathmandú, de donde nuestro avión salía a las 21:00. El autobús salió de Chitwan a las 8 de la mañana y llegamos a Kathmandú a las 19:45. Una vez allí cogimos un taxi y sin tener tiempo ni ganas de pactar un precio razonable nos llevó pitando al aeropuerto, llegando justo cuando estaban cerrando el embarque de nuestro vuelo a Malasia, tuvimos mucha suerte.

Casi sin darnos cuenta estábamos volando de vuelta después de casi un mes de aventuras por Nepal.

Enrique & Marina
English version

THE JUGLE BOOK: OUR SAFARI IN CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

Although spending a full week relaxing and not doing much in Pokhara sounded like a great idea at the beginning, we started to find it boring on day two. Therefore we decided to move to Chitwan National Park, home for Bengali tigers (Shere Khan), elephants (Winifred), leopards (Bagheera), bears (Baloo), rhinos and others beasts.

We left Pokhara at 7 AM, this time from the bus terminal that really was a 10 minutes walk far from Lakeside. The journey was bumpy, it was raining all the time and the bus had to cross a couple of little creeks. Later in Chitwan, we found out that somehow the water made its way to the luggage compartment and Stefan’s backpack and mine were completely wet. Not Enrique’s though.

From the bus drop off and after 7 hours of bus drive, we still had to go to Rainbow Safari Resort (in the area of Tharu in Meghauli). A van from our accommodation came to pick us up and we jumped to the back of the vehicle along with a big group of elderly Chinese people, a couple of Chinese girls who tried to take the rain drops off their backpacks with pocket tissues and a Japanese young man who wore a towel around his head, what a classic.

The Rainbow Safari Resort was pretty good. Our room was very spacious and clean with an ensuite bathroom and hot water. We had a mosquito screen over our bed (we had two beds) and a fan in the ceiling. Meals were included in our rate and were served in a large dinning room and were buffet style. The food was different everyday and hot drinks were available anytime. The restaurant staff was very friendly and the hotel had two hosts who knew everyone’s schedules very well and would take care that no one would miss their activities. For a change, it was really good to just relax and let someone take you around for a couple of days.

We had lunch on arrival and later we went for a little walk with one of the in-house nature guides that included a visit to the Government elephant stables. In the summer, the police uses these animals to patrol the jungle. The rest of the year they can use motorbikes or 4WDs but in the warm season the vegetation is so thick that the only way to move around is by elephant. For that purpose, the government “hires” a few of them to help the police officers in their task, which mainly involves patrolling the jungle to protect the wildlife from poachers that illegally hunt wild elephants (highly appreciated for their ivory) and tigers, leopards and rhinos (extremely valuable in some Chinese cultures).

Next day at 6.30 AM we hopped on a canoe and descended the local river to get to the start of our morning walk in the heart of the jungle. During the hour that the ride lasted we could see a couple of rhinos bathing, a crocodile and lots of beautiful birds.

As soon as we got off the boat and back on shore and into the jungle, it started raining. We were a small group formed by: our two local guides (one leading and the other closing the march), Enrique, Stefan and me, the Japanese young man of the towel on his head and a pretty dumb Chinese young guy. This lad not only had the annoying habit of always meeting (and holding) the rest of his group 5 minutes (or more) late but also thought it was a good idea to wear sandals, shorts and a colourful singlet in the jungle, even though we all had been strongly recommended not to do so. 

You can easily picture the scene: the guides, the Japanese lad, Stefan, Enrique and me all wearing   long dark clothes and trekking boots and this fella dressed like going to the beach. Only ten minutes after the start his ankles were covered in blood, not because he was tripping with branches and roots (which he was too) but because of our dear leaches. The poor guy was covered and kept pulling them and trying to clean his wounds with water from his bottle. Of course after just half an hour he had no water and his legs still looked like a soldier’s just coming from the battle field.

We walked in the jungle for about four hours and we could only see gigantic insects. We didn’t see a single tiger, leopard, elephant or any other big mammals (only a few deer, but that’s not too exciting). Probably because they were all sitting at home watching TV since it was pouring and no one with a bit of common sense would be outdoors.

So, we asked to get back to our hotel were we had a shower, some food and got ourselves ready for the activity we had been looking forward since the beginning: the elephant ride.

In the afternoon our hosts took us to the elephant stables where they organised us in groups of between 3 and 5 people. Going on a safari by elephant is pretty exciting. We’d been told that riding those massive mammals is the best way to explore the jungle because all the other native animals are used to them. Therefore they don’t run away when they see, hear or smell them providing us with a closer approach.  

However, what no one tells you is that most of the Chinese tourists that make up the groups will be loud and shouting pretty much from the minute the climb up the elephant until they jump off. For this reason, even the whales from Tonga are aware of when it’s elephant safari time in Chitwan. That’s besides all the selfies they also take but, luckily for us, this is a way quieter activity. 

To be frank, sharing the safari with such a loud group was very annoying. Our guide, who also seem pretty irritated, decided to break apart from the pack and took a different path. That gave us the chance to view a group of rhinos from really close, a few families of deer and a crocodile that we almost step on top. 

After that, our guides from Rainbow Safari took us to the elephant nursery where we could see a few babies. There was a little one that probably had had too many elephant lollies and came demanding his daily share of cuddles. I absolutely loved that, I can’t recall seeing anything cuter than him ever in my life. 

At that time of the afternoon we done with the rain and being so wet, it was time to go back to our hotel. Our hosts welcomed us breaking the news that there was a new land slide in the way to Kathmandu and for this reason we’ll depart earlier the next morning. But there was nothing to worry about, we’ll be blessed on departure and we’ll be wearing red dots on our foreheads which will bring us good luck. 

Chitwan is only about 150 km far from Kathmandu and our plane was leaving at 21.00. The bus from Chitwan left at 8.00 (it really was on time in this case) and we got to Kathmandu at 19.45. From the “bus stop” (aka random street) we took the first taxi that didn’t look like it was going to break down within the next hour and asked the driver to take us to the airport not even agreeing on a price or route, there was no time or energy to do so. We barely made it to the counter in time to check in to our flight to Malaysia. We knew we had been very lucky after all.

And only then, while sitting on that Air Asia bus-plane, we realised that we were going back home after almost a month of adventures in Nepal. 

Enrique & Marina