3 January 2009
Rudely awakened at 5:45am we headed off on our dawn nature walk. We had only been going through the jungle for about 10 minutes when we found ourselves with eleephants on either side and a rhino straight ahead not sounding the happiest soul in the world so we all kept running after it. SB managed to get a video before it ducked away into some denser undergrowth. We also saw what looked like a bear and a few other native species before heading back to the main resort for breakfast – what a strange way to start the morning.
Straight after breakfast SB started getting sick with cramps and nausea, so I checked with the resort and they didn’t have any medication or means of getting any until later in the afternoon – hmm not very good when you are a toursit hotel. Anyway I rustled up a variety of pills from other guests and put him to bed and I headed out on another nature walk/crocodile river canoe ride.
The walk didn’t see any animals, although we saw a lot of rhino prints and huge piles of poo. There are apparently 15-20 rhinos in the park, but only 2-3 tigers, who are nocturnal so the likelihood of seeing them isn’t much good. However, we did get to see prints and scratchings and tiger poo – how exciting. We walked out of the jungle and to the river where we saw 2 crocodiles who disappeared as soon as I go the camera out – typical, I am not usually in charge of the camera so am feeling the pressure. There were also a plethora of wild birds that stay in this region on their migration from Siberia. The walk ended with a boat ride back along the river to the resort. The current of the river was so strong that the oarsmen didn’t need to even paddle.
Next activity asn’t for a while, so I checked on SB who is worse, so I left him with more drugs and sat in the sun reading my book, skipping lunch and enjoying some peace and quiet. There was an elephant talk at 2:15, so kathryn (on the the other guests) and I were late so decided to try and find it and had a walk through teh jungle finally finding the elephone homes and the talk. When that finished we watched the elephants for a while and got to feed them. They were all bred in captivity and ranged from 25 to 40 years old. They just look so majestic it would be interesting to know what they are thinking.
I wandered back to see SB – no change and headed out for birdwatching which really wasn’t my cup fo tea, so I bailed and went and found a doctor and more drugs for SB, so fingers crossed these help him a bit more.
I headed back to the main area to watch the stick dancing show, which wasn’t too bad, but you feel trapped and have to look interested. Although as soon as it was over, there was a stampede to the dining hall and as the resort appeared to be packed, anybody that dawdled had to eat their dinner outside. Dinner was exactly the same as the night before, so a tad disappointing. It appeared that all the tbles had a reserved sign, so Kathryn and I joined with another group of 4 and made that a bit larger. There are a lot of large Nepalese family groups who sit up drinking and partying late into the night, so the resort isn’t exactly the quiet experience we were hoping for.