Footers Abroad: Chitwan National Park

We arrived at Royal Chitwan National Park on Nov. 11 & have had three wonderful days of exploration & adventure. Chitwan, which was previously a hunting preserve, was established as a national park in 1983 by the former king. It covers 450 sq kilometers.

We have had a wonderful stay and find our guest lodge to be very peaceful and relaxing. We have already been on many safaris--by elephant, by jeep, by canoe, and by foot.

We have seen wild & domestic elephants, five wild rhinos, many muggar & garhial crocodiles, deer, wild boar, snakes, peacocks, and tons of birds. This is in addition to the plethora of butterflies and flowers that you see regularly. Our longest day was yesterday as we took an 8 hour jungle walk through mostly Sal forest & marshland where we saw many exotic species of plants & wildlife. We also saw many tiger tracks and scratchings (our guide even had us smell fresh tiger urine on the trail), but, alas, we did not spot any tigers.

Our guide, Krishna, is an encyclopedia of knowledge and quite adept at spotting hard-to-see wildlife. We loved the canoeing & elephant bathing so much we did it twice.

The landscape consists of mostly grassland & gentle rolling hills interspersed with Sal forest & spiked silk cotton trees, marshland, several rivers, & 15ft high elephant grass. The native Tharu people continue to inhabit the region & make their living as farmers, shop owners, mahouts, & guides. Below are pictures of our time in Chitwan:

Dugout canoe on the Rapti River