Ignorance and a big stick

"If a rhino charges, run as fast as you can away because their eyesight is poor. If a wild elephant charges you should run but make it a zig zag (they're not so good at the side step), and if a sloth bear charges then get in a group and make as much noise as possible." That was the safety talk from our guide Chitra before commencing a day long walk through the jungle and grasslands of Royal Chitwan National Park.

He left out what we should do if we came across a tiger but as he'd given me a bamboo walking stick I didn't feel too vulnerable ... and as it turned out the only dangerous animals I saw were crocodiles from the other side of the river and a rhino from the top of a fallen tree trunk (which apparently made us "100% safe"), not to mention the ubiquitous insect life.

We'd made it to Chitwan after a two day rafting trip from Kathmandu during which both of us managed to maintain our composure inside the raft but Michaela managed to pick up giardia which sidelined her for the walk through the jungle but couldn't stop her from going for a swim with our resort's elephant the next day ...

or heading into the buffer zone around Chitwan on elephant back. While Michaela was fortunate indeed to spot some deer and the mysterious jungle fowl a.k.a. a wild jungle chicken I managed to hit the jackpot with a sighting of a baby rhino and its mother.

S