Up before wake up but I still managed to be late for breakfast. Sadly I couldn't face a large spread this morning and settled for a slice of toast and a large mug of coffee. After breakfast we tried quickly again for the Internet and after a first abortive attempt we had success and Cathy managed to email her planning application concerns and I sent a quick "Hello" to home.
Quick snap we jumped into our jeep and drove to the Entrance to Bardia National Park, through the village and lots of giggling children and brightly dressed ladies in small cafes and shops. At the gates with met Bimhs brother briefly and walked to meet our Elephants ..... Ram Kali and Sham Kali. The David and Goliath of elephants!! In true memsahib style we mount the elephant from a proper elephant stand, D and Kate on Ram Kali and Cathy and I on the compact and bijou Sham Kali. Aft some rearrangement due to weight distribution issues, we set off at a pace. Losing the lead elephant we ventured out on our own, through forest and grassland.
Sham Kali moves stealthily and sore footed ply and when I dropped my water bottle (bimbo gene in action at all times and places!), she stealthily picked it up and threw it up to her Mahoot, fortunately she hadn't expected me to catch it or we'd be at it all day.
Today's safari on Sham Kali produced a couple of Swamp deer bathing in the river, hairy little wild boar that tore through the forest. A well spotted common Indian Monitor lizard. Open billed stalks. Bush chickens - the ancient ancestor of the common chicken. Some spotted deer. A magnificent Hog Deer replete with a fine set of antlers, Rhesus macaques and the piece de resistance a solitary young female white horned Indian rhino who we disturbed from her bathing in the mid morning heat. Some tiger foot prints and a well used motorway with elephant, rhino and tiger foot prints.
We arrived in camp after a couple of hours, waist work out complete and had the fun of the first dismount. I. Not saying it was elegant but it worked and no one got injured!!! A glass of cool water (chiso pane)sitting out looking over the dried river bed with Sham Kali wondering to the water for a well earned rest - is this what a paradise looks like???
After a large lunch of chicken curry rice dhal and vegetable curry , we sat at the table and tried to learn the game backpacker, the humidity and temperature continued to soar and a mistral wind which instead of cooling you down seemed to scorch the hairs off ones sweat glistened arms!
Bimh would check back in periodically to see we were alright before disappearing off to check out yet another watering hole to see if there were any creatures occupant worth visiting. At 4pm we jumped in the jeep and drove 10 minutes to another sort of watering hole - this of the human variety (and No! before you think it they don't have a pub in the middle of the Nepalese Jungle!!), as we arrived a magnificent peacock flew across our view of the small tributary of the Karnali River we were to use as a bathtub. Swimsuits already donned back at camp we strode into the lukewarm water and sat for half an hour or so getting beautifully clean before putting dirty clothes on over the wet togs and collecting half a river bank in our now damp sandals.
We hopped back into the jeep with silty damp butts and stopped for a walk to visit a couple of watering holes, a tigress and her cubs had been spotted at the second one recently but when we arrived it was like the queue for Leicester Square cinema on the opening night of Star Wars. Too many people locals and tourists alike crammed into open spaces on the river bank hoping to get an elusive glance of the tiger. We soon have Jo and opted to head back to camp before it got too dark.
Dinner again was a multi coursed affair by gaslight. Followed by lemon Tart for dessert - very old colonial sat at a table and chairs being served classic French patisserie!!! Dinner ranged from the lighthearted to the serious whilst fireflies danced around us,mbut my favourite anecdote of the day - specially for you Mark - is the story of the first women's fundraising trek. Haven produced brochures and tried to advertise it in the press it turned out that the newspaper assumed that JoLt stood for "Jolly Old Lesbian Travellers"!!
At 9pm we retired to our tents to be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the jungle - including the bush rooster.
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