Chitwan National Park is one of those places where you will see crazy videos on the internet of rhinos walking inside ATMs or in the streets casually. It is one of the best destinations for people who want to see the Royal Bengal Tiger, the endangered One-Horned Rhinoceros, and many other wild species of birds and animals. Chitwan has actually been the place that inspired the love of the wild within me.
Growing up, I would go with the local kids to catch crabs and fish from the creeks. I would rent bicycles, ride them on highways, and go to places where the local kids would take me to see where rhinos come to drink water. I never saw one back then, only footsteps in the mud, which was probably lucky since we never thought about safety. Things were just different back then when technology wasn't a thing, and kids had a whole different life of adventure that parents never knew about. We would just gang up and tell our parents we were going out to "play." Because everyone knew everyone, and kids normally played by themselves and came back home before the sun set, no one really thought much about it. Looking back now, I wouldn't dare go into the thick forest of Chitwan to see where the rhinos come to drink water. I think ignorance was truly bliss, and I survived to cherish all those memories of the wild.
Now, every time I am in Nepal, I try to go to Chitwan just so I can visit the wild (not to that extreme, because of course SAFETY is always first). I love going to Bishazari Taal as it is free and accessible on a motorbike. It is also relatively separate from the main jungle, and so relatively "safer."
I was exploring the area when my friend started saying, "OUCH! OUCH!" When I asked him what was wrong, he said he felt a strong stinging on his back. I looked around and realized we had walked right into a massive highway of ants. One had climbed up his shirt to bite him, a couple were on my shoes, and right near our feet lay a dead mouse they were stripping clean. They had found an incredible feast, and I think it probably kept their entire colony going for weeks.
0 Comments