Safari Adventures!

Rounding out our adventure travels, Betty and I signed up for a safari in Chitwan National Park, hoping to see some fierce animals! Originally we were supposed to canoe for an hour and then do a full days walk in the park to see animals, but there was some confusion and we were no longer able to canoe. A little annoyed, all of my anger left when I actually sat in the canoe (we had to take one to cross the river to start our walk) and realized how unstable it actually was. "My iPhone!" Was the only thought that went through my head. Not "oh crap, there are crocodiles in this water that could eat me." But, "if the boat flips I need to be sure to keep my iPhone out of the water." Clearly I have my priorities in order. Once on the other side (relieved to have passed imminent danger) we walked along the river and into the park where our guide (one of two) explained some safety rules: If we saw a rhino and it started to charge us we were to run in a zig zag pattern (because rhinos have poor eyesight) and then climb a tree. For tigers we were supposed to stick in a group and be loud and menacing and try to stare it down. For sloth bears we were supposed to stick in a group and try to scare it but not look it in the eyes (sloth bears hate eyes/faces and will try to scratch your eyes out). Did I mention our guides had sticks for weapons and we were on foot? Right. The day turned out to be really good though, and relatively safe (with only one close encounter). We saw:
- a long snouted crocodile
- a spotted deer
- a massive deer the size of a giraffe
- a mongoose
- an Indian cuckoo and other birds
- red and grey monkeys
- some really cool red leaf cotton bugs
- a gharial (like a crocodile)
- some rare lizard
- a wild bore
- some wild chickens
- government elephants
- and two massive rhinos!

The first time we found a rhino we were trumping through the jungle (waving sticks infront of us to clear the cobwebs) like adventurers. Our guides told us to hush and we stalked it in the bush for awhile and then crouched while it crossed the path in front of us. Rhinos are massive animals! And quite scary in person when you realize how big they are and that there's literally nothing between you and it. I got an awesome video of it walking and peeing (who knew rhinos peed straight back??). Later in the day we found another rhino frolicking in the river. We creeped up to get a good look at it when another couple with two guides clomped up behind us loudly. The sounds angered the rhino because we were to close and so he lifted his head, looked at us and growled. "Run" our guide said. So we ran, all frantically and zig zag for about 200m until we realized it hadn't followed us, just growled. The noisy couple left and we crept back up closer and watched as this massive animal rolled over in the river and kicked its feet in the air, frolicking. This was when I need an SLR! It was incredible. We had lunch by one river, trekked bare foot through another (Chitwan has like three rivers bordering it) and checked out numerous observation towers before heading back to town for dinner. All in all an amazing day :)