Sunday, October 31st.
After being boated across the river in incredible dug-out canoes this morning (I'm gonna make one of those some day...), we were guided through the jungle for about 14 miles, or 8-ish hours. We saw no tigers, much to our disappointment, but we did traverse their paths and see their might paw prints! We also saw lots of deers, two different kinds of monkeys--jumping, chatting, and fight in the treetops--, and lots of birds. We then had dinner in costume, followed by church and bed. Costumes included post-crash paraglider, rhino bait (bright colors up the wazoo), and Bob Marley (David through Nepali eyes).
Monday, November 1st.
Another full day in the jungle.
After breakfast, we rode in the backs of two safari trucks to elephant-riding Central. Our bideshi (foreigner) parade proceeded on the backs of five lady elephants and one male. It was so much fun. Very bumpy, but much more enjoyable than a bus ride. Our elephant's name was Pan Kali. She's twenty-five years old (elephants can live to around seventy), and ate everything in site throughout our walk, undeterred by the harsh smacks of her rider that made us cringe every time. Despite this, she was a very skilled escort, especially at crossing rivers and descending and ascending steep, muddy terrain, which succeeded in hurtling us forwards or backwards depending on our position. It was fascinating seeing the jungle atop this incredible creature. Pan Kali had beautiful, papery, pink and grey-freckled ears and amazingly tough skin. Our driver was a stern, older man, who, when we questioned and talked to him in Nepali, rarely responded with more than a nod or a grunt. After dismounting the dear elephants, we went a conservation center where we heard an interesting presentation on the park. The nearby community forest is one of Nepal's richest, thanks to local tourism, and local buffer zone villages receive 50% of the park's revenue, amounting to around 90,000 USD annually (impressive). It's obviously a successful model here in the tourist-rich terai.
After lunch, we all boarded a single dug-out canoe with Kewal and Lama, who said he'd been in the same boat with something like 48 Chinese tourists. Hard to believe, considering how much water the 25 of us caused it to displace. The river was remarkably peaceful, and we saw several crocs both in and out of the water. Afterwards, we went on a short nature walk and then through an informational exhibit at the elephant breeding center and saw some of the elephants chained under large, open shelters. They were fascinating to observe, but the information we read about the training process for the magnificent captive was very sobering, and turned at least some of our joy into sorrow. It's an interesting topic--the balance between wildlife conservation and human livelihoods.
After dinner on Monday, we sat on benches on the lodge's central lawn and saw a stick dance presentation by a group of Tharu students. It was one of the coolest things I've seen. They all wore white outfits with red sashes, and danced to the beat of a large, two-toned drum. After several dances both with and without sticks (one of which featured a crazily spinning girl, and one of which was done by a solo guy with fire on either end of one of the longer sticks), we got to follow their lead in a big dance circle. It was so much to move around like that! It hearkened back to night-time dancing on the trek.
Tuesday, November 2nd.
Early this morning, a few of us got up for a bird walk with Lama and Kewal. It was very foggy, but we saw some kingfishers, orioles, and bullbulls, and heard a lot more. After breakfast, we embarked on our final bus ride as a group. After four or five hours of driving and a couple of sitting in traffic once we got over the ridge into the urban valley, we were back in the smog and happy bustle of Kathmandu. We have two nights and one full day here before flying to Lukla on Thursday morning to begin our trek in the Sagarmatha National Park (Everest, here we come!!). We will be doing research in villages like we did in the Jumla region, but this time we're on our own, as most people will speak some English. And then it's back here to the Kathmandu Guest House to write our papers and explore the city.
Over and out.
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