Royal Chitwan National Park - Tiger Top Jungle Lodge

Rhinos in the mist.

Itinerary:

Feb 24 - Chitwan. 5:30 a.m.: Wake up call followed by tea/coffee.
6:00 a.m.: Bird watching / Elephant Safari / Jungle walk.
8:00 a.m.: Breakfast.
9:30 a.m.: Crocodile walk. A 45 minutes walk through grassland and forest upstream of the Narayani River. After the walk you will board a boat to observe crocodiles along the banks while floating back to the camp.
1:00 p.m.: Lunch.
3:30 p.m.: Elephant Safari /Jungle Walk / Visit Observation Tower/ Nature Walk
with Boat Ride.
8:00 p.m.: Dinner.

I've never let a limited grasp of the facts or a small base of actual experience get in the way of leaping to broad sweeping conclusions, and this won't be an exception. We spent two nights at Tiger Top Jungle Lodge, so I feel qualified to conclude: If you visit Nepal, the Royal Chitwan National Park is a must see destination, and the Tiger Top Jungle Lodge is the best way to experience it. It is a well run operation that strives for eco-friendly operations.

The umbrella Tiger Mountain organization has undergone a management shift since the death of founder and leader Jim Edwards last year. New CEO Marcus Cotton and Operations Director Tim Edwards (son of the founder) were on-site during our visit. Both were very friendly and interactive with guests. We learned the lodge had a rough spot last year, with a precipitous drop in American tourists. I'm not sure whether this was attributed to the financial crisis, the Mumbai massacre or both but we were very happy we made it part of our tour. Our countrymen need to get a book on rudimentary statistics, stop worrying about terrorist threats that are less probable than getting killed crossing any urban street, and visit this Nepalese treasure.

Located within the park, the main attraction of the Tiger Top lodge for us are the Elephant Safari's - forays into the park riding the back of an elephant. The elephant safari was one of many options afforded to explore the wildlife - including jeeps, canoes, boat rides and hikes. I arrived thinking the elephant safari might turn out to be a gimmick. Our first excursion disabused me of that notion.

After fording rivers, marshes, and bulling through thick grasslands that towered over our heads (even sitting on an elephant 12 feet off the ground), it was clear that the elephant permitted exploration of terrain that would be completely inaccessible any other way. Moreover, a little research confirms that this was a preferred means of hunting game in the park for a very long time before it was a park. These from a 1911 King George V hunting party in Nepal:

Ripped from "Old Indian Photos". More on this series linked here

We were scheduled for four game explorations during our short stay, and chose the elephant ride every time. This cost us a tiger sighting on the second night. A National Geographic tour group was staying at the lodge while we were there. An interesting group, we hung with them for most meals and excursions. On the second night, they opted for a boat ride down the river and spotted a tiger hunting deer during the jeep ride back. While there are more tigers here than Ranthambore, the sightings are more rare. There is more land, thicker cover, fewer trails, and the tigers are much less habituated to tourists. It would have been cool to see, but we didn't begrudge NatGeo group the tiger spotting. We had a great sighting in Ramthanbore, and in any case, were here to see the rhinos:

Rhino in the grass

Rhino in the water

Smiling Rhino

Laughing Rhino

Elvis Impersonator Rhino

We had so many great rhino sightings that it was easy to forget just how rare these animals are in the wild. They are even more endangered than the tigers. We almost became complacent about it. Almost. But not really.

A face only a mother could love.

Chitwan Park sunset from elephant back

MW RECOMMENDED: Royal Chitwan National Park - Tiger Top Jungle Lodge

This is a magical place.

Africa Journal - Matobo Hills - Tracking with Jeffrey

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September 29, 1995

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Matobo Hills - Tracking with Jeffrey

We leave Water Wilderness to Adrian and Cicely and catch the Trislander at Bumi Hills for the flight over the lake to Kariba Airport. There we must disembark and unload the luggage, check in with Air Zimbabwe, then reboard and reload the luggage back on to the exact same plane with the exact same pilot for the flight to Bulawayo. The Trislander loses much of it’s charm over the course of the 90 minute flight to Bulowayo.

We arrive at Matobo Lodge in time for the afternoon game drive/walk with Jeffrey. Jeffrey is a professional hunter, and knows all the guides that we have met on the trip. He takes us in a group of 8 into the Matobo Park Intensive Rhino protection zone.

The upper sign says "Anyone seen or suspected of POACHING ACTIVITIES will be shot on sight." 

The lower sign says "REMEMBER do not be mistaken for POACHERS". Good Advice.
There is a herd of 70 rhino in the park. They are guarded by park rangers with automatic weapons. Poachers are shot on sight, as are tourists who are mistaken for poachers. No one is allowed to walk in the park without a professional guide or hunter, and the guide must report in before entering the park.

Jeffery finds rhino tracks and leads us through a field of dried yellow grass as tall as I am. We circle the field to get downwind and, in a clearing, find a white rhino cow with her 18 month year old calf. A very exciting sighting. I carve a third notch into the camcorder, now more than halfway through the Big Five.

Jeffery does not carry a rifle, as have our guides on previous walks. I thought that it was required by law and ask him about this. He explains that there is no point to carrying a rifle into a Rhino Protection Zone, because the penalties for shooting a rhino are so severe. In other words, while Zimbabwe values its tourists, it values its rhinos even more. I can’t argue with that.

Baby Rhino

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NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This is a back-post / cross-post from my first on-line journal/blogging effort - a journal of our Southern Africa Tour in 1995. Originally posted to an abandoned domain (NetSnake.com), the term "blog" had not yet entered the parlance. I am migrating the original posts to this blog. Links to the original journal Date Index or Africa Tour Home Page will likely eventually disappear. The images from the original post were graphics and screen caps from video which I am leaving in it's low-rez glory for historical integrity. My intent is to also add some of Sigrid's higher quality scanned photos to these blog back-posts.  The difference in images should be obvious.