Lions and Tigers and Bears oh....YES!

I returned to Kathmandu (reluctantly) to solidify all the details for my trek to everest basecamp and to meet my trekking partners Jon and Anita who were flying in from Japan. Young couple from Toronto who Erdman introduced me to at english camp back in June, Jon and Anita are on a year long trip around the world which started with english camp in Italy. I
mentioned my plans to Jon and he was sold, so after some serious convincing with Anita, here they are!
My plan was originally to find someone in the guest house to trek with or do it on my own, but having two friends along who I know and get on well with will make for a far better experience. Two weeks is a long time to spend with someone that you wrongly think you'll get along with.
On the morning of our flight to Lukla, it was the typical hurry up and wait scenario. We got to the airport and entered the disorganized zoo of budging lines and shouldering our way through crowds to get to the gate as soon as possible. And it was lucky we hustled because we only had 6 hours of waiting...and then all the flights were cancelled.
Weather is a big issue when flying into Lukla because it is a tiny airport nesstled in the mountains at 2805 meters that you have to see to land on. There's no radar or positioning system to guide the plane in when it's cloudy; it's either there and you land or it's somewhere and you don't. In our case it was somewhere so we didn't.
To make matters worse, Anita picked up a bug somewhere along the line so was really in no shape to be beginning a two week trek. Turns out the weather was a blessing in disguise. We swaped our plans a little and instead of trying again the next morning we jumped on a bus down to Chitwan National Park, which we were planning on doing after the trek, but instead, giving Anita some time to relax a bit and kick her bug.
Jon and I got dropped off about halfway there and went the rest of the way by raft. It was a great way to see the area for sure but unfortunately it was pretty tame. There's just too much water from the monsoon to have any decent rapids. Jon and I seemed to be the only ones who had any paddling expereience of any kind so we basically did everyones share. At one point I looked back at the others and watched them all put the corner of the paddle in the water (at different times) let the current pull it back then take it out. And repeat. Oh well, it was a hell of a lot better than the bumpy bus ride!
I wasnt planning on going to Chitwan because i figured i had done the jungle thing and wanted to save some money. But I figured why not, and since I basically saw nothing in Bardia, maybe this time I can cash in the karma dollars. And did i ever!
We had a huge day planned starting with a river float in a little dugout canoe. Within minutes there was a crocodile chilling on the bank and loads of colourful birds. Next was a jungle walk for about two hours through some seriously muddy terrain. But thanks to the contingent of giggling and yapping Chinese with us who couldn't for the life of them be quiet, there really wasn't any chance of seeing anything. And one of them was basically chain smoking, flicking his butts into the jungle which was seriously pissing me off. I just don't see how people can come to a pristeen protected area and start throughing garbage around like it's just going to disappear.  I wanted to smack him.
After lunch we were picked up by our elephants. Ours was a female but I think Cletus was a suitable name because she had a tupee of orange hair a bit of a droopy eye and seemed to have a piece of grass or branch permanently sticking out of her mouth.

Me and Cletus

I wasnt expecting to see a whole lot, since elephants are so big i figured they just kinda barged their way through the jungle. Not so much. Cletus trucked us through the jungle with barely a sound, and apparently to other animals, people on an elephant is no different than a plain old elephant, so they don't care. We trudged by a wild bore looking for grubs in the dirt, families of dear who barely batted an eye at us. (except for one who was blocking the path which Cletus took exception to, so she unexpectedly charged it down trumpting wildly. The dear moved.) Soon after we came into a field and stumbled upon a big momma rhino and her little 2year old...baby? I dunno if there's a term for baby rhino, cub sure doesn't fit; it was cute for sure, but cuddly never came to mind. Unless your REALLY into fine leathers...

We basically surrounded them with three elephants but they just went on with their lunch like we weren't there. Jon asked the driver if they cared about elephants and he said a simple 'no' with a shrug, but when he asked if they would care if we were on foot, he got quite serious and said 'ohh no no, vaaalyy dangerous.'
They are an amazing animal, it's hard to believe something so prehistoric looking is still kickin' around.  Their numbers are slowly getting better since hunting was banned and poaching has been reduced but they can only grow so far because their habitat is quickly becoming contaminated with polutants, and even quicker shrinking.  Same old unfortunate story really.
In the evening we went to a cultural show (no booze this time unfortunately) that demonstrates a number of significant cultural dances and songs. I think it was the best cultural show I've ever seen because they got straight to the point; the dances were upbeat and exciting, they were flinging fire around, and we were in and out in less than an hour.  I somehow ended up on stage dancing at the end (trying to at least). I need to start sitting in more obscure places I think. My Nepalese dancing skills are better than my Turkish I think, but there is still no need to go into any detail about them. At all.
The whole time we were at the park, I had been going on and on to our guide about how I really wanted to see a tiger but had had no such luck in either park.  Next morning I was woken up early by our guide because apparently a tiger was in the town just down the street. I was up and on my way in no time and sure enough hiding in the bushes of the Royal Park Hotel was a huge Bengal tiger. And lucky for us he decided to set up shop right under a balcony so we had an almost perfect view from directly above. The only unfortunate part was there was some plants blocking his face so best I got was half. But I'm not complaining, I bagged me a tiger!!

Bengal Tiger 

Apparently it had just been in a territorial 'dispute' with another tiger and was trying to lay low and nurse it's wounds, but now had hundreds of people staring down at it. I felt bad for it, but not before I went ahead and joined the crowd.
A typical 8 hour bus journey that should have taken 5 and we were back in Crapmandu yet again, and ready to make our second attempt for Lukla the following morning.
Chitwan as a whole: great success!!