Friday, 6th November …..

We had passed a few elephants last night on our way to the riverbank but today we travelled for about an hour by dugout canoe (yes, all of us were in just one canoe) to the Elephant Breeding Centre. We saw some beautiful birds on the trip including a coucal, kingfishers and drongos. From the river, we had a forty-five minute walk through the jungle to get to the centre. All along the way we watched out for animals but saw nothing except piles of rhino and elephant dung of various ages. However, it was a fantastic walk.

The highlight of the visit to the Breeding Centre is to see the twin baby elephants who are only one year old. We were told that twins are very rare and this pair might be the first ones bred in captivity. Who cares about records; they were delightful.

I thought nothing could beat the majestic presence of the elephants but we met a goat on our way out of the Centre who stole the show. She had set herself up(yes, she must have been a female) on the base of a water tower and preened herself with all the elegance of a super model. She sat with front legs crossed and stretched her neck up and around drawing attention to her good points. I had never thought of goats as being pretty animals but this creature was strangely attractive.

We had a short walk to reach our jeep and we crossed the river on a very interesting footbridge whose pathway was made of sandbags. There was a school group playing in the river, boys to the left of the bridge, girls to the right, and the teachers were tearing their hair out trying to keep the boys and girls separate. There was much whistle-blowing and gesturing and shouting.

Next stop was to the riverbank again to see an elephant being washed. Once upon a time, tourists were invited to join but the danger of accident was too great and it is now ‘Forbidden’. One mahout had trained his elephant to take bank notes from a tourist’s hand and pass it up to him and he was doing quite well from this little sideline.

We gathered mid-afternoon for the elephant ride. I’ve never been in such an uncomfortable position. There was a metal box on the back of the elephant with webbing on the bottom. Four people sat, one in each corner, with their legs on either side of a square metal post – no footrests and no padding. The trip was over an hour and was up and down, into and out of gullies, through the river and on narrow forest tracks. I was worried about being caught up in one of the many leaf-cutter ants’ nests as the elephant blundered about.

Our objective was to watch out for wildlife and we saw lots of deer, various birds, including a superb jungle fowl, and monkeys but our hope was to see a rhinoceros and/or a tiger. Chitwan is one of the last refuges of these two endangered species and they are under constant threat from poachers. A dead rhino was found on the boundary of the park last week but rangers don’t believe it was a victim of poaching as the horns and feet were intact.

The chances of seeing either one of the animals is remote. They are both shy and the last sighting of a tiger was four months ago. However, against all the odds, we did come across a rhinoceros and her three-month old baby. What a treat and to see it from the back of an elephant was even more special.

I thought that getting into the elephant howdah was difficult but getting out was even more painful. I had to go first which was unbelievably difficult. I was jammed in by three other bottoms and I had to push myself to my feet while trying to extricate my legs which were just hanging down and not able to lend any assistance. Finally, I came out like a cork out of a bottle, and having bent my legs in strange ways. Not a comfortable trip but seeing the rhinos was worth every ache and pain.

That evening, our ubiquitous guide offered a slide show showing the wildlife of the reserve. It was very academic and his accent was a little difficult but he certainly knew his stuff. We clearly impressed him with our interest and he offered to take us on a bird-spotting walk in the morning. We don’t need to leave until 10.30 so we’ll meet him at 8.00 after an early breakfast.

What a great day!