the diary of a traveling dreadhead: Elephants & Rhinos & No Tigers OH MY

Well, I was hoping to write this blog post to report seeing a tiger in real life. But after spending 2 ½ days in the jungle of Nepal, I am sad to report that is still just a dream of mine. On Thursday, a few fellows and I took 8 of the most outdoor enthusiastic hostel kids to Bardia National Park. Brendan, our outdoor education fellow, has been playing "ultimate jungle challenge" with the kids for 7 months. This entails spotting birds and animals, naming them, learning more about them from the animal guide book, and drawing pictures of the animals. Some of the kids have gotten really into it..."a red-winged spotted drango!" "a honeycrested sugar glider!" they will shout from the roof of the hostel...they know their stuff and Bardia was the reward for the jungle challenge winners. Bardia is situated in the southwestern corner of Nepal almost reaching India, and it is the largest and most undisturbed national park in the region. We wound up and over mountains, across plains and through towns for about 6 hours before reaching the park’s edge. We had to get out of the school bus and walk across the bridge because of weight limitations, which I thought was kinda silly. But I was so thankful we had to do it moments later because just as we were crossing and casually pointing out fish and crocodiles, a massive wild elephant crossed the river about 400 yards away from us! It was beautiful and natural and so amazing to see this impressive creature just strolling through the river and splashing around to cool off. The elephant disappeared into the brush moments later, but it was a truly unforgettable moment and I hoped it was foreshadowing all the amazing things we would see that weekend. In the evening, we were supposed to take elephant rides around the outskirts of the jungle, but unfortunately there was a tragedy the day before. One of the Nepali elephant trainers fell off the largest elephant at the sanctuary and was trampled to death, and they decided to give the elephants and trainers a few days off to recuperate. So sad! I still got to see the elephants, shake their trunks, become best friends with a baby ele, but it was bitter-sweet because it was pretty obvious that was not the best environment for the elephants. The elephants’ front paws were chained together and connected to a post close by; they looked content but I just couldn’t help and compare them to the wild elephant we had seen hours earlier that looked so relaxed. After visiting with the elephants and taking way too many photos, we took a short walk in the jungle and saw some monkeys, deer, and many different species of birds. The kids were so in their element – identifying all the different birds, fighting over binoculars to get a better look at the mammals in the distance, and trying so hard to be the first one to spot something – and they were naturals!

The next morning, we were up and ready to go after breakfast at 6:30am. We rode in the back of jeep wranglers and went deep into the jungle. Since it was early, the temperature was perfect, the animals were out, and there was this fresh outdoorsy smell that made me realize I really haven’t smelled anything good since I arrived in Nepal. We spent the late morning and early afternoon hours perched on a cliff overlooking a river and some brush, hoping to spot some good wildlife. We watched a rhino bathe for two hours before yawning and meandering into the forest, some deer with really impressive antlers gallivant around, a peacock with its feathers down awkwardly waddle across the plain, but unfortunately the tigers were nowhere to be found. Mid to late April during the hours of noon to 4pm is officially the best time to spot tigers in Bardia. Tigers had been seen everyday for 5 days prior to our trip and we were told there was a 99% chance we would see one. The person who gave us that estimate must not have realized we would be in the jungle with eight small people between the ages of 8 and 13. To the kids, being quiet meant yelling once every 10 minutes, being stealthy meant sitting still for 1 minute before sprinting to find a new place to play, and being calm meant only having a spaz attack when it was absolutely necessary. I can’t say for sure if we would have seen a tiger, but the small people definitely didn’t increase our chances. Even so, it was really cool to watch the wildlife appear and disappear from our sight throughout the day and I felt like a badass jungle ranger in my forest-green button down strolling through the brush with my walking stick all day. We wrapped up our trip the next morning with a swim in a possibly crocodile-infested river that ran through the jungle, and headed back to Surkhet with all of our kids accounted for and in one piece somehow.