We awoke early this morning to pole down the Rapti river in long tippy wooden canoes. "Sit still, and don't move" for two hours numbs the butt and cramps the legs, but each time there was the slightest movement by anyone of the six occupants, the canoe would rock. Since we were all carrying cameras that weren't waterproof, and we were right at waterline we stayed still and practiced yoga breathing as we glided down the misty river. The bird life was rich and wonderful.
What a wonderful way to start the day. We even saw hige crocs sunning themselves. It's quite different being in a rocky boat at eye level with these huge creatures. Be quiet we are told, they might come after us if we talk.
By 10:00 am, we reached our down river destination to start our jungle trek which would be five or six hours long depending the speed of our walk and the wildlife we would see. Our Intrepid group had four park guides, each carrying a big stick, no guns. We would be walking unarmed through a jungle filled with tigers, bull elephants, rhinos, and sloth bears. Hmmm, time to consider the wisdom of this expedition had passed, and we were in the jungle now!
We have all worn neutral blending colors for the trek so that we would not cause undo attention to ourselves..no white, red yellows, etc. We are carrying 5-15 lb. backpacks with water and overnight stay gear in a jungle guest house. Russ and I are in Khaki long pants and long sleeved shirts, Our guide now gives us additional instruction on jungle protocol and survival. Spray ourselves well with deet particular the bottoms of our pants and shoes. The jungle at this time of the year is tic infested. Luckily it is not the wet season, or we would be calf deep in mud with lots of leeches.
No talking or noise. We are to whistle or sh sh sh sh to get group attention, hand signals and pointing toward the direction of the animal with finger count of animals. Much of the initial part of our walk was through a control burn of elephant grass. The unburnt grass grows so tall and thick and closes itself around you it os easy to get lost and to not be a le to spot the animals lurking in the grass. The burned areas open the view so expeditions can see one another and potential threats, but the burnt grasses make for crunchy, pokey, tangling walking. There is a hand signal to walk quietly. That is a near impossibility for a line of 17 people. Each person must relay hand signals to person behind them.
We can take photos of wildlife, but be sure we are safe...distance, animals eating or watering are less aggressive. There are safe times and not safe times to photograph.
If we see a tiger, gather together, keep eye contact with the tiger, don't turn your head and run. They love the chase and will go for your neck and take you down. (not a safe time to photo)
If we see a bear, huddle in a group, look outward, raise your hands above your head, scream and yell. (not a safe time to photo)
If we see bull elephants or rhinos, and they charge, run! Rhinos can run fast 45 km per hour, but have a hard time turning. Sp we are to zigzag, hide behind a tree, climb the tree at least 10 feet up. I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking "holy rhino sh&@!", I'm going to die here! (not a safe time to photo).
I couldn't scale a tree ten foot high when I was 20..we aren't talking trees with low branches and footholds, we are talking trees where the first branch is 30 feet high and we are wearing backpacks.
We look at the elephant grass and the trees seem a long way off in the distance. Our guide reassures us that these are worst case scenarios and none of this will happen, but he needs to prepare us. I look longingly back at the canoe and wonder how hard it would be to pole it back up stream.
We trek for about an hour before we stop and Suk our lead guide climbs part way up a tree to look over the grass lands for animals. We follow him past some watering holes with lots of rhino prints and sloth bear holes and dens. We hear sh sh sh sh, and Suk puts one fisted hand with extended index finger to his forehead indicating rhino. He points and holds up three fingers indicating number and gives us the walk very quietly sound.
Less than 20 feet to our right, we can just barely see three rhinos through the elephant grass cooling themselves is in a mud hole. It' s hot and sweaty at midday, and we can see how the cool mud might feel good. We are at a standstill, being very quiet. Suk motions for us to give him our cameras. He stealthily moves forward to a position where he can better photograph them. The rhinos are probably aware of our presence, but seem unbothered. Individually, we edge a little closer.
One of our party coughs! We freeze, but the rhino doesn't. His head pops up and he stares right at us. Russ whispers, "Did you get that shot?"
Hell no! I frantically tuck the camera in my front pouch, before the rhino starts to move toward us, and the guide tells us to RUN! All of us start pounding down the trail, backpacks flapping behind us. There is a lot of crashing behind us.
We are somewhere in the middle of the pack and we can't tell if the crashing is the rhino or members of our group. Where are the trees? We have run about 25 yards. I see a tree slightly uphill, and am about ready to veer off the trail toward the tree when the back guide yells for us to stop running. The rhino has veered to the right and we can see him charging through the thicket, parallel to is. He is now ahead of us and seems to have changed his interest! Phew!
My knees are trembling. I guess now we can say we successfully survived a rhino charge! It wasn't on our bucket list, but we are checking it off anyway and hope it's the only one.
The rest of our jungle trek seemed pretty tame. We saw a wild bore, monkeys, deer and sleeping crocs. We made it to our jungle guest house about 3:30 pm. Made good time....must have been the runnug! We order cool beers, recount our experience, and watch the sun drop into the river before our Nepalese home cooked meal, and sleep under the mosquito nets. It's been an exciting day.
Tomorrow we must rise really early and be on our way to our base camp. There is a strike happening tomorrow and the main roads will be closing by 8:00 a.m. We will need to take a lesser used cross country, village road network back to our base guesthouse where we have left the bulk of our luggage.
Lights out. All is well with the Worrall Survive R's
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