My favourite animal is the Tiger. And we spent days, literally, debating which park gave us the best chance of spotting one in its natural habitat in either Nepal or India.
And this debate took us to Bardia in Nepal.
It is only in Nepal that you can do an on foot 'Jungle Walk'. Now in hindsight this is the dumbest thing we've ever done, going on foot into a jungle inhabited by Bengal Tigers, Elephants and Rhino (not to mention Sloth Bears that literally rip your eyes out, but we were assured they are only to be found in the northern parts of the area).
But, my god, this is also one of the most exciting things I've ever done. You take the whole day walking deeper into the jungle and every sound, every twig breaking, every grass movement is breathtaking as you imagine what human killing creature could be lurking nearby.
Our guide, Santa, is a Nepali celebrity for his tiger spotting. There is a photo that Leonardo DiCaprio (allegedly) lays claim to having taken that is most certainly not from his Kodak album. It is of a mother tiger and her 4 cubs by the lake in Bardia. This photo was in fact taken by a Danish couple (in their 50s I'm informed) who wanted to go into Bardia to see birds, and certainly not anything bigger than a bird. Not only did they get this wondreful view of the tigers, but they were also chased down by the mother. The Danish lady fell. Our brave guide Santa beat the ground with his stick and the tiger promptly followed the fleeing Danish man. After an hour of hoping that the man was still alive, they managed to find him again in the jungle and the poor Danish couple went back to the camp never to return again into the wilds.
So I was certain that with Santa as our guide, he'd bring the gift of a tiger (this joke wore thin on him bless him).
We tracked the tiger paw prints in the mud to a place where they scratched their claws on the trees to mark their territory. And this is where I was thrilled to see a tiger turn and run into the long grass. I know for sure it was a tiger because of its long stripy tail. The only disappointment is that this wasn't a long enough encounter for me to get a photo - but I was absolutely thrilled and care not a jot that there isn't photographic evidence of this encounter. I was there, I was metres away and I saw it. Hoo-bloody-rar!
We also saw crocodiles and turtles, millions of deer and lots of varieties of birds and had several monkey encounters - my favourite being the Langur monkeys swinging in the trees above our heads as we walked through the bushes.
I am also very proud of myself for literally walking through 50 spider webs (most containing spiders and many large bugs), being covered in several leeches, passing massive crickets/grasshoppers, ignoring huge hornets buzzing around my head, ants the size of my toes crawling past my feet and so many other creepy crawlies that I can't believe I managed to make it through without passing out. And I went back the next day for more!!!
So excited am I about the tiger spotting that I also forgot to mention our adventurous arrival. I mentioned before that this is monsoon season. So when we arrived at the park and were met by our driver (Santo - I know, you couldn't make this up), the river that a jeep would normally have no trouble getting through had swollen up in the monsoon rain that afternoon and left us stranded on the main road side, with jeep on the park side. So, up rolled our trousers, off came our boots and bags and all, through we went. I've never had to walk through a strong river before (certainly not one that came up up to my thighs) and it was flipping hard work trying not to fall over! Also very nerve-racking when you're carrying your life on your back (passports, money, camera etc). But we made it, and after helping to push start the jeep for them, off we went - welcome to the middle of nowhere :)
On one of our walks, the monsoon rains hit us again - but by this time we were so used to getting soaked (it was the third time in a week, for those of you counting) and our boots were already slightly mouldy, so we really didn't care as much.
An elephant ride into the jungle, accompanied by its calf, almost got our boots wet for an umpteenth time as we crossed yet another river on its back, but this time was so much fun we didn't care (although this was when I went through about 10 of those 50 spider webs!)
Staying in the traditional clay/mud huts was also a highlight for me - primarly because they had a mosquito net on the bed and up until now I've been bitten a total of 67 times so the thought of a foolproof guard against this was thrilling and it worked - I wasn't bitten once in the jungle (maybe it's only non-malaria mozzies that like the taste of me?).
So it's now time to say goodbye to Nepal, its crazy bus journeys and its friendly people, and head into India.
PS: Some members of my family may remember a photo-shoot that my uncle did of my sister and I where we were in his garden and he asked us to 'look like we'd just seen a tiger' - well here is my attempt to recreate that moment in a real jungle:
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