The early bird catches the worm.....breakfast at 6.30, pancakes YUM ! Ishaw came to meet us and took us down to the river (im afraid i didnt find out the name of the river). It said in our paper work that there would be canoe rides, i was worried they were going to try and make us row (i wasnt feeling particularly adventurous and didnt want to do that) thankfully they didnt. It was a lovely boat ride down the river, Giselle was sat in front of me and ishaw in front of her, he was telling us all about the birds and pointing them out. Behind me was another man who i hadnt seen before, he was talking alot in what im guessing was hindi but occasionally he would say the odd word in english, like 'deer' (when there was a deer). I didnt know if he was talking to me or not, it was fairly awkward as i wasnt sure what to do, so i just occasionally turned round and said thankyou.
We got to the river bank and Ishaw was very happy that we were the first to set of on our jungle walk (the man who was sat behind me followed us). We'd only been walking for a couple of minutes, "im sorry i need to go to the toilet" Ishaw said and put his hand out to tell us to wait there. Me, giselle and the strange man. I looked around to find lots of silver like spiders in webs, thankfully they stayed where they were. Giselle "do you speak English?"... man looked slightly scared and shook his head. Giselle then beautifully mimed a spider biting, to see if they were biting ones.
Ah Ishaw appeared from the bushes and waved us to follow him. All of a sudden the floor had lots of red scary looking bugs on the floor. "err what are these"... Ishaw turned around "they are Red cotton bugs, not poisonous"...man "Red cotton bugs, not poisonous". Ishaw then proceeded to pick one up, they freaked me out alot and some were really small and some were massive ! it was a task and a half to avoid standing on them, i think i managed it though.
Ishaw being the genius of a guide he is after following rhino foot prints, looking at their poo and climbing some trees got us amazingly close to some ! I was very impressed and terrified ! We also got to see a crocodile across the river (Giselle was dubious to whether it was a plastic one or not though, i don't think it was). We also saw some sloth bear poo and foot prints sadly no bear though :(.
On the walk back we stopped of in a tall watch tower to have a rest. Ishaw started to tell giselle that here bag was a good colour for jungle trekking but here trousers wernt. "White trousers not got....... White people good though".... hmmmm me and giselle did a little laugh here, only a little politically incorrect. Ishaw had a strange sense of humour but thats why we loved him.
Back at the hotel we had a quick change of clothes and then out to the river again we went. Lots of baby elephants were all playing and spraying water every where. The man told us to take are shoes and glasses off, we did. He then ushered us on top of the elephant, what !? how are we meant top climb on that. He put his hands out and gave me a leg up, pretty much threw my self on and put one leg over. WOW on an elephant bar back, crazy! The baby elephant soaked us and i mean wet through. I was no longer too hot any way. I have probably got some horrible water related disease now.
That afternoon we went on an elephant ride in the jungle, sitting bare back on an elephant was pretty comfy, sitting on the weird seats they made on the elephants how ever were not in the slightest comfortable. (we were sat there for around an hour to an hour and a half, i am now covered in bruises.) Recently i have started to get motion sickness, i haven't worked it out fully yet. I'm fine in cars, trains, buses and on small boats, but put me on a ferry boat or make me try and watch a hand held camera film or doc and i feel like i could be sick every where (nice i know). Sadly the elephant ride goes into the latter category, i wasn't sick but i sure didn't feel my best! It was all made better though when we came meters from a rhino in the open air ! He didn't seem too bothered and just ate some grass. There not as big as i expected but they sure are incredibly cool. We also saw some spotted deer, a mongoose and strangely enough a chicken (it may of been lost, ran quite fast when it saw the elephant coming.) Our elephant was the cutest thing, it kept on picking up massive sticks and wafting them around in a jolly sort of way, me and Giselle were sat at the back and our feet ever so often got hit by its tail that was constantly wagging.
Chitwan was well worth all the pennies, and a special thanks goes to Ishaw, thanks for finding me some Rhinos!
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