Chitwan 2

Bath with elephant

Day 2 in Chitwan may have actually beat day 1.  I skipped the 6am elephant ride.  I know, I know; how many more elephant safaris will I have the opportunity to go on?  Well, I'm a bit spoiled by a week of safaris in the Serengeti, and 2 hours on a lumbering elephant with a wooden bar between your legs may sound comfortable, but I assure you it is not.  Don't worry, I traipsed through the forest on a 1.5 hour nature walk at 830.  The 8ft tall termite hill worried me a little and convinced me not to buy any Chitwan real estate.

River? No problem

Next came the elephant info session and the opportunity to bathe with the elephants.  Fun facts for the kids at home: Asian elephants have a hump-back while African elephants have a straight back.  Asian elephants' trunks have one finger-type thing at the end while African elephants have 2, and (supposedly), Asian elephants' ears are the shape of India while African ones are the shape of Africa.  

The bathing was the best.  People basically volunteered to get sprayed with a fire-hose of river water.  Most of you should have guessed by now that I didn't think that was the best idea, but I was more that happy to watch and take pictures.  In fact, if no one had volunteered, it wouldn't have been any fun, so I thank the brave souls.

We ended the day with a Rover ride through the park.  It probably wasn't that fun for most people, but there's something really cool about conquering forests and rivers with a 1970's British truck.