Imagine living with a backdrop like this? As Rob said, we should have been doing the sunrise thing today, as it would have been spectacular. Instead, we had an earlyish start and we were headed for Chitwan National Park to spend the next couple of days communing with nature. Or something.

We stopped to take this photo on our way out of town. It’s roughly 3 hours to Chitwan, though as my friend Morgan reminded me, there are lots of roadwork delays on this road.

It was a pleasant drive. I had a snooze, because I woke at 4AM to get yesterday’s blog post written, but after that, we all chatted and the miles slipped by.

When we stopped for a loo break, Raj told us that soon we’d be crossing the Tissouli river … the river that caused all the chaos two weeks ago.

The reason the town and the bridge are all still standing is that when the torrents of water flowed past here, the river banks are far apart. It was downstream, when the banks got narrower and the cliffs higher, that the pressure in the water built up and caused the catastrophe.

It felt very strange, driving over that bridge.

There wasn’t any time to indulge in melancholic thoughts. As soon as we were over the bridge, we were stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour. There was a small landslide on the road ahead, and a crew was working on clearing it. Quite a few entrepreneurs live in this town. Quite a few men were keen to offer refreshments.

This guy even offered music.

We were in the traffic jam, when I saw something move on the top of the car next door.

”Hey! There’s a goat!”

We drove past the crew clearing the landslide. Raj said that they work for 15 – 20 minutes, then they sit back and let the traffic through, then they start working again.

We stopped for photos at a suspension bridge. I tried jumping on it, but this one was STURDY.

It’s so sad to think that something so beautiful could have killed so many people.

We were coming through the town when all of a sudden… elephants!
“ Grab a photo!” I yelled, as I scrambled to undo my seat belt.

I got the shot.

The place we’re staying I has a surprisingly tropical vibe. The constant humidity is a part of it, but the plants were definitely not what I was expecting.

My room even overlooks a couple of elephants.

We had 3 hours to kill before our jungle walk, so Macy, Anne, Russell and I decided to go for a wander in the town. I bought birthday presents for the 2 kids having birthdays this week, then as if someone opened a tap, the rain came pouring down.
We made a dash for the café over the road and emerged after the rain stopped.

As we were walking back, more elephants appeared.

Our guide on the walking tour said, “In the world there are two kinds of elephants: African and Asian. In Nepal there are also two kinds of elephant elephants: Government and private. The government ones are not used for safari.”

As we began our walk, the heavens opened again. We sheltered under a tarp spread across the street, while our guide filled in the time with random information. Apparently, this style of house is indigenous to the area.

In this part of the world, goats mean riches.

She has tattoos on her legs from the ankle to the knee. Arranged marriages… tattoos are to show that the family accepts her.

Higher class ladies have tattoos.

As we were walking, I heard a sound I’ve only ever heard in movies. It was a hand pump for water.

Then we rounded the corner, obviously still in town… and there was a rhino.

Nepalese  black one horned rhino. They are critically endangered…  roughly 4,000 left. Nepal has a quarter , while India has the rest.

When they are aggressive, they bite and crush you into the dirt. The horn doesn’t come into it.

He thoughtfully shifted position for us.

Our guide said that the best way to escape a charging rhino is to hide behind a big tree, moving around the trunk as it does. Or you could climb 6 feet up the tree.

Or you run in a zigzag, throwing food in one way and running the other way.

Sounds all too easy, doesn’t it? We were only 50 metres from it, in a suburban street, so god knows where we would’ve scattered to if push came to shove.

Then it was on into the National park. The first two elephants are twin boys aged around 24.

The rangers use them to patrol the park during monsoon season, when it gets too boggy for jeeps.

You can see the chains around his feet.
A few years ago, an American woman came here and was horrified to see this. She went home and raised money to install electric fences so the elephants could exercise free will in their paddock.

In the week after the fences were installed, 7 elephants escaped. So the chains were reinstated.

These stray dogs were with us throughout the walk, though the bitch was smarter than us and disappeared just before the leeches appeared.

Now, I love Survivor, and I’ve watched every single episode of Australian and US Survivor. But I’d never put my hat in the ring to compete, because they always have them wallowing in mud.

I can’t stand the stuff. This is what we were walking through. I was definitely not happy, particularly in one morass when I nearly went A over T. It was all over my boots, and as we kept walking, I could see that my boots were letting mud in.

But then, on the other side of the river, we saw another rhino.

There was also a herd of Spotted Deer, coming down to the riverside to drink.

Life’s too humid to stay standing.

My boots weren’t looking too flash.

People started finding leeches on themselves. Our guide was picking them off people, while Russell was picking them off his wife.
“That’s when you need a good man,” she said, “when you need to get the leeches off!”

Can you see how the leech has crawled to the edge of the leaf and is reaching out to latch onto someone? Yuck. Nasty little creature.

Meanwhile, I was unscathed. No leeches were on me whatsoever.

You can see by their perky postures just how much we enjoyed the jungle walk…

Back into town, with another storm brewing. We are very close to India here. Walk behind those blue hills and you’re there.

A peacock coming down to the river. At this time of year, they drop most of their feathers.

Then it was home again for dinner and a cultural show. I went back to my cabin, pulled off my left boot… and found at least 5 leeches feasting on my foot,

I yelped and started trying to get them off me. They were horrible. I’d grab one, pull it off my leg and find that in that split second of grabbing it, it latches onto my fingers.
I got rid of all the leeches, but there was red dye running everywhere. At first I thought it was blood, but fortunately it wasn’t. However, I now had wet boots from washing all the mud and leeches off, and I only have the one pair of shoes…

Instead of dinner and a show, I spent my evening using toilet paper and the hair dryer to dry my shoes. It took HOURS.
I left the aircon on overnight and by morning the boots were dry. Phew!

The red dye has come off my hands…

… but not my feet. I look like I’ve kicked someone to death!

No more jungle walks after heavy rain for this little black duck!

Dad joke of the day: