Chitwan National Park Jungle Safari
Chitwan National Park is amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my 2-day tour of the park and Chitwan village. Some of the highlights were a Tharu cultural dance show, a walk to Rapti River, elephant ride jungle safari, Rapti River canoe trip, hiking through the jungle, and a visit to the elephant sanctuary.
If you would like to visit Chitwan National Park you can book your trip through and number of travel companies in Nepal or Upper Himalayan Treks and Adventure, which has an Office in California and Nepal. 2 for the price of 1! All joking aside, mention this article and receive a 10% discount on your Chitwan National Park Jungle Safari tour.
Day 1 Visiting Chitwan
My friends and I were on vacation from our jobs with the Peace Corps. We were all hanging out in Pokhara, when I got the idea to visit Chitwan. I contacted Ganga who booked my trip for me. The next day I told my friends I was going to Chitwan in a couple of days, and they insisted on coming with me.
It was me, Saline, Sacha, and Stephanie. It was an oblong dynamic to say the least. I could never remember Saline’s name until I associated it with salt, which is unusual because her personality was more creamy than salty. Saline and Sacha were best friends, and Stephanie was my former girlfriends best friend.
How we all ended up in Chitwan together, I have no idea. But there we were, 2 days later, on a tourist bus from Pokhara to Chitwan.
We traveled for 4.5 hours before arriving to Chitwan. The trip was entertaining because I enjoyed seeing the country side. You can see a lot of Nepal by taking the bus to different locations.
Chitwan
We were picked up by our travel company when we arrived in Chitwan. It was a very easy process because everything was arranged for us. They drove us to our hotel, which was beautiful, and we checked into our rooms.
I went out exploring because why stay in a room when an adventure awaits outside the door. I discovered an elephant stable in the back of the hotel. You couldn’t imagine how happy I was and the amount of discipline that kept me out of it. Honestly it was also partly fear of being stepped on. Those are some huge animals.
Next, I walked down the main road, which doesn’t have much in terms of tourists’ interests. I remember being extremely unhappy about the result of my adventure. The result was me back in my hotel room playing cards with the girls. I laugh about it now.
Hike to the Rapti River
Our guide knocked on the door and asked us if we wanted to go down to the lake and watch the sunset over the Rapti River.
The road from the hotel leads directly to the river, but we took a side trail and hiked to it. We didn’t see much of nature, because it was December. When we arrived at the river, we saw a heard of elephants, some wild boar, and a lot of alligators and crocodiles.
The sun set over the jungle and it reminded me of a mirage in the Serengeti desert. It looked a like this Picture from Wikipedia.
Tharu Cultural Dance Show
Finally, we concluded our day by going to the Tharu Cultural Dance Show. The dance show was housed in a hall in Sauraha, Meghauli, which is right near the river.
The program was developed to introduce Tharu culture and tradition to tourists. We saw dances like Danda Nach (Stick Dance), Aglo Nach (Fire Dance), and Mayur Nach (Peacock Dance). The host talks about the dance, when it is performed, and why it is performed before each performance. The show lasts 45 minutes and is a treat to watch.