Day 4: Chitwan National Forest

Went on a canoe ride through crocodile infested waters, climbed up a vine in the middle of the jungle, and saw my first rhino.

Began the morning with a quick breakfast of eggs and vegetable curry at 7. We then set off in a super cool jeep and drove through the jungle to a river where we were met by canoes. Each canoe is made out of a single tree.

The water was murky because it is monsoon season here. We saw three crocodiles, but sadly I didn’t capture a photo of them. After floating down the croc infested river for about an hour we went for a walk through the jungle. It was absolutely stunning our guide told us a lot about the wildlife and the plants throughout the jungle.

My favorite part was when we learned about a vine that uses tress to grow and steals their water and nutrients. It is extremely strong, so our guide told us we could climb it if we wanted to. I along with four other people decided to take on the challenge.

We finished our safari walk and went back to lunch at the hotel. There was Pakora and fried eggplants.

After lunch we had a few hours to rest and nap, which I took full advantage of. Around 4 we set back out and took another walk through the Chitwan National Forest in hopes to see some Rhinos. We had to sit and wait for quite a while, but luckily we were able to see one. Even thought it was across the river I was still amazed to see how thick its ‘armor’ is.

We then enjoyed the sunset from a roof top bar overlooking the water. Once it was dark we headed back to the hotel for dinner. We enjoyed a traditional Nepalese meal of Dal Bhat, vegetable curry, chicken curry, roots from the jungle (not sure what that consists of, but they were delicious). I learned that Dal is the lentil soup and Bhat is the rice.

Instead of going back to our rooms for bed we went back into the village for a traditional Tharu cultural show. It was very fascinating to watch. There was multiple different dances performed. My favorite was the peacock. Once the show finished we went to bed. I barely had time to shower before I was fast asleep.