Bardia National Park: One more chance to see a tiger

April 30, 2016

Day one:

Last night Mr.B said we were the only two for a Jeep safari for tomorrow. There are 3 other backpacker couples in the guesthouse. The American couple finally arrived yesterday after a 26 hour bus ride from Katmandu. They just wanted to recover and the others also didn't want to do any activity.

So we switch our plans making today the rest day. If others join the Jeep safari tomorrow the cost will be less. On any rest day the priority is laundry by Rachel and bike maintenance by Patrick. We are without power for most of the day, so we limit use of the electrical devices. Just as well the internet is very slow if at all.

Lunch was from a place across the street, Momo Central. Daniel a German staying months at Mr. B's, called and ordered chicken momos for us and told when they would be ready. They were very good!-It's a hot afternoon with no power, there's no AC but laundry dries quickly. Just relaxing until dinnertime. Another excellent meal of Spicy chicken on pasta and Lemon chicken with lettuce and cucumber salad and a citrus dressing.

Bicycle maintenance. Cleaning the chains, chainwheels and deraillers. Patrick's front derailler cable is frayed and needs to be replaced.

Day two:

"This should have been a good spot with the cover", Patrick says, as we wait by the river hoping to see a tiger. Then back in the Jeep to another spot after waiting for a half hour.

The day started early with another great breakfast before the Jeep safari. The other guests at Mr.B's are doing rafting or walking safari. And we decide to do the safari even with the higher cost.

The morning safari takes us through forest where we see lots of spotted deer, birds and smoldering logs from yesterday's fire. We go by a pond and our guide spots tiger tracks in the sandy road. And we wait while the guides listen to the forest sounds for any indication a tiger is nearby. Driving on, we get to a spot by the river and wait. The guides bring us camp stools to sit on and we wait for an hour, only seeing a peacock in the distance when we first arrived.

At lunchtime at yet another spot by the river, we have a nice bush lunch of hard boiled egg, curry potatoes and very flavorful rice dish with small amounts of vegetables, and the biggest fattest banana we've ever seen. Then, "fire, we go now" the guide says and we quickly take the path back to the Jeep.

After going to another part of the river, we see the American couple from the guest house doing the walking safari and a few other groups from other guesthouses. We are sitting on the camp stools and hear a guide running toward us and says rhino. We are up and running down the path and spot our first rhino in this park. The rhino is moving toward us while guides are moving away. To do the walking safari we were told that sometimes you have to be ready to climb a tree in case a rhino charges. We think the guides were picking which tree they would climb.

Back to the camp stools we watch for another hour or so seeing two rhinos cross the river. Then our guide says his friend called him and said he saw a tiger and everyone is off running back to the jeeps, we pile in and speed off finding another spot to wait. Finally time to go back to the Guesthouse, it's been a long 11 hours. The tigers outwitted us today.

We have 3 days until our Nepal visa expires. Tomorrow we move on and we'll be back in India the next day.

Day for action. We are going on a jeep-safari, others in our guesthouse are headed out to float down the river hoping to see animals. Others on a waking safari, there's plenty to do at Mr.B's Place.

Large parts of the park have burned, or are still burning. This seems to be a yearly occurance to get rid of the undergrowth. This time though it seems like many dead-standing trees also caught fire and are smoldering for days.

Our guide spots tiger tracks. It is a male and they are recent. We stay for a while and observe, but no luck.

One of the viewpoints we linger, hoping to spot wildlife.

Finally we see a rhino. It comes lumbering down a small creek eating the grasses.

The rhino catches our smell and tries to figure it out. Rhinos can be dangerous when they feel threatened. When they charge one should climb a tree. Quick!

We see two more rhino cross this river about 30 minutes apart.

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