Travels in Nepal # 63 Elephant Breeding Centre
Elephant Breeding Centre, Nepal
After our canoe ride on the river in Chitwan National Park we went on an hour’s visit to the Elephant Breeding Centre. This is a government run agency attempting to breed elephants. It is open to the public every day and while it is a little depressing to realise that the elephants are tied up at night the centre seems to have the right motives and methods.
Elephant Breeding Centre, Nepal
I am no expert on elephant breeding and my comments are merely a reflection of those made at the time by our guide for the afternoon. The elephants are tied up in an enclosure each night to stop them raiding the nearby farming land and doing immense damage to crops. The village and farming communities rely on their crops to eke out a meagre living. Their attitudes to the elephants would quickly change if they were allowed to rampage through the crops at random. There is a big enough problem with the occasional rogue rhinoceros raiding the crops. One rhino came through a nearby crop that night and we saw the damage next morning.
Travels in Nepal # 62 Canoe trip
Canoe ride on the Rapti River, Nepal
On the second afternoon during our stay at the Royal Chitwan National Park we were driven a short distance over a very rough track in a rather dilapidated old 4WD vehicle to an upstream section of the Rapti River. A canoe, together with a canoeist, was waiting for our small group to take a half hour trip down river.
The man operated the canoe with a long pole along the same principle of a gondolier. The river in this section was flowing quite rapidly and so he only had to guide it along. This section of my overseas trip was the best birding of the whole trip and it only lasted half an hour. I managed to add no less than 19 new species to my life list. (A ‘life list’ is a list of all the birds I have ever seen in my life.)
Our guide for the afternoon was Kamahl, also a keen birder. He was able to point out and name the birds we saw as we went along. My list would have been much smaller if he hadn’t helped me.
Although the trip was fantastic, there were a few problems. Too much, too quick and all too soon the boat trip was over. I had to juggle the following:
- Looking at the birds
- Looking at the scenery
- Looking at the field guide to identify the birds
- Taking photographs
- Using my binoculars
- Writing a list of birds seen in my notebook
- Trying to keep my balance in the canoe
- Trying not to be scared of the man-eating Mugger Crocodiles on the sand bars just metres away!
Travels in Nepal # 61 Elephant ride
Elephant ride in Chitwan National Park
I found that using an elephant to travel through the Royal Chitwan National Park was an excellent way to safely cover some of the national park. I say some because it is rather slow, but perhaps no slower that walking. It has other advantages too. It gives one an elevated view of the surroundings and the wildlife, decidedly advantageous when meeting a rhinoceros (which we did – twice) and tigers (which we didn’t). It is also great when crossing rivers; the elephants don’t mind getting their feet wet. (As an aside, the elephants we travelled on preferred to use the river as a toilet stop.)
There are disadvantages of course. The platform they provide as a seat is rather uncomfortable after an hour or so, and rather cramped. The seating we had was designed for four people. We only ever had three on board and it was still crowded. The constantly lurching animal beneath you makes good photography something of a challenge.
By the way, the woman next to the elephant is Jade. She and her husband Kane had also been on the trek with me. We were the only ones to add on the Chitwan leg to the trek, so we got to know each other quite well.
Travels in Nepal # 58 Another Rhinoceros
Elephant ride in Chitwan National Park
On our second morning at Chitwan National Park we woke to find that the foggy conditions had worsened. After a relaxing breakfast we travelled a short distance by 4WD to another part of the national park. Here we found about a dozen elephants waiting to take us on another walk through the park.
Rhinoceros in Royal Chitwan National Park
Animals and birds
The foggy conditions made photography rather difficult. After a short distance we managed to find another rhinoceros and it posed beautifully for my camera. We also had brief views of a mother Spotted Deer and her baby, a Hog Deer (it might have been a Barking Deer) and distant views of some monkeys, possibly Rhesus Macaques. The birding was rather disappointing but I did get good views of another male Indian Peafowl, a Red Jungle Fowl and some Lesser Whistling Ducks.
Rhinoceros in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal
Travels in Nepal #57 Tigers in Nepal
Royal Chitwan National Park
On our elephant ride through the Chitwan National Park we didn’t see any tigers. There are about 300 tigers still in Nepal but very few people get to see one in their natural habitat. In the evening our guide showed us some slides of various aspects of the flora and fauna of the national park. He commented that only about one per cent of visitors actually see a tiger. Another guide was holidaying there with his family. Over dinner we had a long talk with him. He said he’d been guiding here for 22 years and had only ever seen two tigers, both on the same day.