Chitwan National Park

Compared to the other major hikes we completed this year, Kilimanjaro and Rinjani, I woke up feeling amazingly refreshed with very little muscle soreness after our Himalayan trek. Our ascents and descents were gentler on the body and generally we walked fewer hours per day than we had on previous treks. I also think sleeping in a real bed helped with recovery. Can you tell that I loved trekking in the Himalayas?!

Last view of the Himalayas as we left Pokhara

Gore arranged for the three of us to take a taxi to the bus station where we would start our journey to Chitwan National Park, near the border of India. We walked past many busses, arriving at what looked like the crappiest bus of the entire lot. To top it off, our seats were in the very back of the bus, where there are 5 seats but really only room for 4 people. Gore was not happy with the arrangement, as he claimed to have booked the bus tickets a week in advance. After some negotiation with a guy in charge, Gore managed to get better seats for us, another perk of having a guide to help us during our trip! This bus had no A/C and had fans instead, and Erik hit his head on ours every time we went over a bump, which was quite often! The bus was stopping constantly to let people on, which confused us because we thought we were on a bus that was going direct to Chitwan National Park. We were being passed by nicer, bigger coach busses that were also going to Chitwan, wondering why we weren't on one of those busses.

Note people sitting in the aisle. Some people road that way for 4+ hours.

The drive to Chitwan was scary at times, as our bus was winding along the edge of cliffs that looked like we would drive off at any point in time! Along the way we passed various villages and towns where people were celebrating Dashain, which we learned is one of the most celebrated festivals on Nepal's calendar. During Dashain, families sacrifice an animal (usually a chicken or goat, as it is illegal to kill a cow in Nepal), and they were doing this in their front yards as we went by on the bus. They also set up giant swings for kids made of bamboo stalks. 

A swing set up just for Dashain

We arrived at the bus stop in Chitwan around 2pm where Dipe (pronounced Deep-Pay and short for Dependra), was there to pick us up to take us to Unique Wild Resort. Our accommodation for the next two nights looked nice, with beautiful landscaping and tons of butterflies. The food was just okay -- meals were set so there were no choices. That evening we went on a "nature walk", where we saw our first rhinoceros (one of the main reasons we decided to visit Chitwan), though the rhino sort of looked dead! We also saw some of the male elephants used for breeding, who were chained up quite tightly, which made us quite sad. Along the river we saw two crocodiles hanging out on the riverbank along with a few colorful birds. We watched the sunset from a restaurant on the river where I indulged in a sunset cocktail. Back at the "resort" we ate dinner and watched some HBO (our first TV of the trip!).

Our room in Chitwan

The grounds at Unique Wild Resort

One of the male elephants used for breeding

Chitwan National Park

Enjoying sunset on the river

The next day we were up early for our elephant safari in Chitwan National Park. Rather than using a vehicle for the safari, the elephants serve this purpose. During our ride we encountered a few deer and had a really close encounter with a rhino. The rhino was in a watering hole and we seemed to startle it, as it perked up once our elephant got close. It was actually a bit scary, as there we were on an elephant having just alerted a rhino who had been peacefully enjoying himself! After he stared us down for a minute or two he seemed to realize that we were not a threat and he went back to enjoying himself. Apparently rhinos are scared of elephants so they will not charge the animals, but there have been several accidents in Chitwan where tourists have been killed by charging rhinos. 

Our view from the top of the elephant

This guy stood up when he heard us coming!

You can get an idea of how close we were to the rhino in this picture.

LOTS of people on the elephant safari. Thank goodness we got there early to avoid the crowds!

When we returned to the starting point for our elephant safari, there were literally hundreds of people there. We were thankful that we had gone early before the madness! We headed back to the resort for breakfast, where we were told that our elephant bathing had been cancelled due to Dashain. Dissappointed, we were hanging out around the resort when Dipe came to alert us that the elephant bathing was on! This turned out to be the most awesome part of our trip to Chitwan. When we arrived there was no one else there except for the elephants and their guides. Before the bath we got to ride an elephant, and she gave us a bath! Erik and I fell off the elephant twice during this process, which would have been pretty amusing to watch. After playing with the elephants, we bathed them using a smooth rock to clean between the skin creases. 

We got a bath before we gave her a bath!

No one around except the guides, their elephants, and us!

She is handing her guide a tip that we placed in her trunk!

The highlight of our Chitwan trip!

She also handed the guide his clothes after the bath was over, ha!

Lunch was followed by another activity, a canoe ride down the river. Along the way we saw numerous crocodiles and a few different types of birds. After the ride we went on a short walk in the forest to look for rhinos, though all we found was rhino tracks. We also visited the mama and baby elephants and learned about how elephants are trained in Nepal, which made us slightly depressed for the elephants. That night we went to a cultural dance show, which would have been good except for the fact that there were a large amount of Chinese tourists there who were talking through the entire program and were holding up their phones to video the show, blocking our view of the dances.

A little too close for comfort? People in our boat had their hands in the water...crazy!!

The boats are made of hollowed out trees from the forest.

Mama and baby elephant

On our last morning in Chitwan, we went bird watching in the National Park and also happened to walk right past a Dashain ceremony where we watched goats and a rooster lose their lives. It was not the most pleasant thing to watch, but I suppose if you are going to eat animals you should know how the sacrifice of animals occurs.

Two other couples who joined in the activities with us, Germans and Chinese

Erik and Dipe with the vehicle we road around in during our stay

Our bus ride to Kathmandu was SO much better than our ride from Pokhara to Chitwan. We were on one of those nice coach busses with working A/C and our bus was only half full. Ironically we stopped for lunch at the same place where Erik and I ate on our way to Pokhara after our car had broken down about 10 days earlier. The bus stopped one other time for a toilet break, and before we knew it we were back in Kathmandu, ready to spend a few days exploring the city.

Our nice coach bus during the lunch stop

The decision to visit Chitwan National Park was a last minute thing, so I had Arjun from Vista Trek arrange everything for us. That made life easy, but it also meant that everything we did was quite "touristy". We later found out from Dipe that our elephant safari was with privately owned elephants and we were only in the "buffer zone" of the park, not actually in the National Park. If we had taken the time to arrange the elephant safari on our own, we could have used the government elephants for the safari, which would have been much less crowded and we may have seen more rhinos. It is important to note that we visited Chitwan at the end of rainy season, which is the hardest time to spot rhinos due to the grasses being very tall, but based on what I had read, I expected that we would see more than just a few rhinos during our trip. If we were to go again, we would hire a guide who is not attached to a resort or to a private company and use him for help in customizing our trip. We would also opt to spend another day there, which would allow us to do a Jeep safari (though again we would be skeptical of choosing a private company for this), allowing us to get deeper into the park and giving us more chances to see rhinos and perhaps even a tiger. On the whole we still had a great experience in Chitwan (especially during the elephant bathing!) and we were happy with our decision to visit the park during our trip to Nepal.

Trekking in the Himalayas!

Deciding which trek to do in the Himalayas was not an easy task. Originally we tossed around the idea of Everest Base Camp, which is about as high as Kilimanjaro. We also talked about doing Annapurna Base Camp or Annapurna Circuit, and for a shorter trek we considered Poon Hill. One thing all of those treks have in common, however, is that they are very popular and therefore very crowded. We wanted a trek where there were fewer people, so that we really felt as if we were walking amongst the world's tallest peaks without hundreds of other tourists along with us for the trek. After a fair amount of searching online and communication via email with trekking guides, we decided on the Mardi Himal trek in the Annapurna region. The trek could be done over a period of 5 to 9 days, and we picked a 6 day route. We decided to use a guide but not a porter, as we wanted to carry our own bags, something we had been unable to do on Kilimanjaro.

About 1.5 hours after we departed Pokhara, our taxi driver decided to do some off-roading on what definitely seemed more like a landslide or waterfall rather than a road. Turns out, because we were starting the trek so late in the day, he was trying to get us as far along the trail by car as he could. We ended up getting dropped off about 10 minutes short of the town Dhampus, where we would begin our trek.

Our driver and guide made some adjustments to the road ahead so that we could pass through!

Unfortunately, once we reached Dhampus, we were suddenly in the middle of a torrential downpour. Luckily there was some shelter at a local teahouse, where we hung out for about an hour before the rain lightened up and we went on our way. We only had about 1.5 hours of trekking to do, but it was nearly 5pm, so we were quickly losing daylight.

Waiting for the storm to stop

The short trek was done in the rain and in the dark, but we made it to Pothana, where Gore (our guide) picked a teahouse where we would have dinner and spend the night. The absolute best thing about trekking in Nepal versus other places is the teahouses. Having a room with a bed is SO much better than sleeping in a tent on the ground after a day of trekking. Some teahouses at lower elevations even have hot showers and Westernized toilets! After a warm shower and a tasty dinner, we enjoyed a good night of sleep in our own single beds (the set up in most teahouses).

Our first night in a teahouse

Fortunately, the rain cleared overnight and we woke up to blue skies and a sweet mountain view out of our window. It was Erik's birthday, and Gore served us breakfast outside so that we could enjoy the view of Annapurna South while we ate brekkie.

View from our bedroom window

Annapurna South

Breakfast with a view

After eating we resumed our trek along a paved path, hiking for just one hour before stopping for a tea break (again, this teahouse trekking thing is pretty good!) in a town called Deurali.

Getting read to head out for Day 2 of trekking

This map shows many of the treks in the Annapurna region and also the peaks in the area.

A glimpse of Annapurna South from Deurali

From there we trekked 4 hours to Forest Camp, our home for the night. That part was mostly through the jungle, where we learned the disadvantage of trekking after rainy season -- leeches. They were everywhere! Leeches are not easy to get off and they are sneaky at finding their way under a sock or hiking boot, so we had to check for them regularly. We also encountered our first wild buffalo that day.

Off the paved path and onto a trail. Life is good!

We noticed many mushrooms along the way. Some are edible and some are poisonous.

Leeches will stick to just about anything!

Buffalo

When we arrived at Forest Camp we met two German guys, our first tourist sighting of the trek! This teahouse was more basic than the first night, but still better than sleeping in a tent. In the evening after dinner, we sat around the fire and chatted. Gore, at my request, had secretly prepared a birthday cake for Erik (impressive considering there was no refrigeration, only solar power, and only a wood burning stove to cook with). We all sang to him before he shared his cake with the group.

There are three teahouses to choose from at Forest Camp

Erik eating traditional Dal Bhat, which means he is using his hands to eat. Most Nepalese people eat Dal Bhat twice a day, both for lunch and for dinner, as it is a cheap and filling dish.

Enjoying dinner together

Birthday boy!

On Day 3 we trekked from Forest Camp to Low Camp, which was supposed to take 3 hours but only took us about 2. There were fewer leeches and it was a really pleasant hike. Low Camp was not as nice as Forest Camp, which made me a little worried about what High Camp was going to be like! There was no cook at Low Camp, so Gore got in the kitchen and made us lunch, our first try of Tibetan bread, which we then had at nearly every meal after that because it was so tasty! We relaxed for about an hour before continuing our trek to High Camp, a 3 hour walk. This part of the trek was also really nice, as we started to get out of the jungle, but it was cloudy so unfortunately we did not have any views of the mountains.

A leech on Erik's hiking stick. Crafty guys!

Relaxing at Low Camp

We arrived at High Camp around 4pm and we were impressed with the facilities. It was a very nice teahouse (particularly for 3500 meters!) and the guy running it, Pradeep, took great pride in making everyone feel welcome. There we found excellent food, a warm fire, great "milk coffee" and eventually, once the clouds cleared, amazing mountain views! We also met our second group of tourists on this trek, ironically a couple from Melbourne. They are also ex-pats, one being Swiss and the other a Brit. That night it was so clear that I witnessed the most spectacular view of the stars I have ever seen.

The mountains finally came out of the clouds!

Machhapuchchhre or "Fish Tail", a sacred mountain, with prayer flags in the foreground.

Even Gore is excited to see the mountains!

Because Fish Tail is sacred, it is one of the peaks that cannot be climbed.

Our next day was dedicated entirely to trekking to Mardi Himal Base Camp. We woke up just before 5am hoping to get an early start, but Gore was not happy with the weather conditions, as it was still a bit cloudy. Because this trekking route is not very popular, the trail is not as clear as the others (treks like Poon Hill and Annuapurna Base Camp are referred to as "highways" by the guides), and I think Gore was worried about getting "lost" in the clouds. At any rate, we started our trek at 6am, a little later than what we had hoped. In our previous trekking experiences, the earlier we left, the better the conditions, as the clouds would likely get worse as the day went on.

A view back towards High Camp during our trek

Our views of the mountains early on were awesome. We also came across sheep, goats, and most excitingly, yaks! During our trek we heard an avalanche in the distance. There were a few harder, steep sections, but overall it was a pretty easy climb. It took us 3 hours to get to the "Upper View Point" which is apparently about 4200 meters high (still 1700 meters lower than Kilimanjaro, so fortunately no altitude sickness on this hike!).

Gore was excited to have his picture taken too!

Amazing views early in the day!

Yaks

Trekking amongst huge peaks with no one else around

We had the trail to ourselves, a welcome change from Kili.

Starting to get deeper into the Annapurnas meant more peaks appeared!

Fish Tail still towering over us, with Mardi Himal Base Camp not too far away.

Gleaming white peaks still poking out from the clouds!

We had a rest and a snack at the view point and the clouds started to close in on us. It was pretty clear that Gore was happy to go back to High Camp at that point, however, we wanted to find Base Camp, which should have been only another hour past the view point. Unfortunately, 2 hours later we were still trekking and had not found Mardi Himal Base Camp. There were no trail markers and we were on some sort of animal trail, so we decided to snap a picture of our stopping point and head back.

The search for Base Camp was not going well at this point!

Our own "Base Camp"

We later learned from Pradeep that someone had apparently moved the sign for Base Camp, and we actually walked right past it on our way from the view point!!! Oh well! Our walk back was done partially in hailing conditions, but luckily we made it back before the heavy hail started. The Germans (from Forest Camp) were there when we arrived, so we played cards, enjoyed the fire, and drank "Mardi Himal tea" with the Germans, the ex-pats, and our new Nepalese friends.

In the morning we said goodbye to High Camp and started our trek down towards Sidhing. We encountered our only other tourists of the trek on the way down, a couple from Israel on their way to High Camp.

High Camp has a pretty amazing location!

Where's Erik?!

Predeep

The trail splits to go back towards Forest Camp OR towards Sidhing

We stopped at Low Camp for lunch, where this time there was a cook. There was also a group of local men who were heading to higher altitude to buy goats for the upcoming Dashain festival. Goats from the mountains are worth quite a bit of money because the meat tastes better, likely due to the quality of grass that they eat. After lunch we continued through the jungle and moss covered trees to Sidhing. We came across a few porters on our way down carrying food to High Camp.

Love this guy!!!

By mid-afternoon we arrived at Pradeep's parent's teahouse, where we would get a shower (albeit cold) and a double bed. It was a lovely place with beautiful landscaping and amazing views of rice fields and of Machhapuchchhre.

Brand new teahouse

Our room for the night

A fun Nepalese snack!

Such a cool-looking mountain!

It's hard to tell in photos, but the rice fields are build on very steep hills!

Our final day of trekking was also relatively easy, down along a wide track. We encountered waterfalls and also landslides, which Gore referred to as "broken road". Our trek took us through some local villages along stone pathways and eventually to Lumre, where we would get a Jeep to the closest town.

An interesting find along the trek.

One of the villages we walked through

We arrived in Lumre around 10:30am and were told we would leave around 11am, but we actually left at noon. There were about 8 of us in the Jeep to start, which we assumed would be it for the trip. However, along the way we stopped and picked up over 20 other people!! People were hanging off the roof and the back, and we were going through water crossings and into massive potholes. It was quite an adventure! Once we reached town, it was hustle and bustle and we were immediately missing our teahouses in the Himalayas.

This Jeep actually carried 30 people inside/on top/hanging on the sides.

I'm amazed by the stonework. Love the hearts!

Hanging out in Lumre

Gore tracked down a taxi for us, which was a 42 year old car! We arrived at the Green Tara Hotel in the afternoon, and Erik and Gore set out for a short trip to some caves while I strolled the streets of Pokhara enjoying the scenery and doing a bit of shopping. That night we invited Gore to join us for dinner at a fantastic pizza place...we were a bit excited to be eating some Westernized food!

Our 42 year old taxi. I wish I had a picture of the control panels up front!

Our home for the night

Our first meal after the hike...Tibetan bread and hard boiled eggs!

Greasy, delicious pizza!

Sunrise view of the Annapurnas from our hotel. A little cloudy for a good picture but still a cool view.

Overall we were extremely happy with our choice of the Mardi Himal trek. It was awesome to get "off the beaten path" in the Himalayas, and despite a bit of rain, we were fortunate enough to get some amazing views of the Annapurnas on several occasions. I don't think Mardi Himal will remain unknown for long, as there are several new teahouses being built along the route. Ten years ago there were no teahouses on Mardi Himal, as it was strictly a camping trek, but much has changed in that amount of time. Even though some teahouses were nicer than others, they still provided shelter where we could walk around, get warm, and not have to wear a hat, gloves, and down jacket to sleep, which was really nice. Trekking in the Himalayas was such a positive experience, and I can only hope that one day we have the chance to visit those mountain peaks again!