- Er.Sumit Maskey (maskeysumit@gmail.com) Nepal Tiger Trust (NTT) Volunteer
“IRONY”, the exact word that labels – My vision for this short venture & Actions it took me to get started. Regardless the magnificence of this vast Terai arc wilderness, my ideas and financial regulation had a narrower approach towards this unforgettable journey. I wasn’t leaving a single stone unturned to make it the “BEST” yet “ECONOMICAL” trip of my life. My relentless effort to stick & move ahead with this location was turning grey in front of my gang’s unanimous decision. On the other hand, I cannot believe the weight and influence the word “LURE” has, to glide my mates towards my choice of interest. “The Boundary of Budget Restriction”, always been a fearful shadow for any student traveler. Bounded within the financial confinement; I pondered hours & chewed few pencils to plan board and lodge for this trip. Nonetheless, I stood my ground to explore and unravel its hypnotic beauty, the gem of mother Nepal, Chitwan National Park (CNP).
Captivated and elevated by the lengthy list of doings; from Jungle walk, Jeep Safaris, Canoe ride, Relaxation on the bank of Rapti river under the blanket of soothing sunset, to the most gravitating; Overnight Machan (Wooden Tower) stay in midst of the jungle, I began shooting DM to the hotels. My TripAdvisor inbox was flooded with message exchanges with the hotels about the stay & services/activities that they offer. “Not to forget…the maximum possible DISCOUNT in the final bills”. After quite a bargain with several hotel managers, I settled down for one. Finally all sorted, hats off to my endurance. Month turned into weeks, weeks into days, days into the day and finally hours to count in hand.
“The DAY”: Excitement level was blowing off the roof! With a packed bag and cigarette puff inhaled intensely I passed thru that winter fog and made my walk till the bus stop, Jamal. Nothing was exhilarating that instant for us than sipping a hot cup of masala tea in that chilled morning before the driver cranked his machine. Every single mile of that bus journey mattered; the stops along the way, the catchy symphony and mesmerizing view of the sparkling snowmelt rivers, sun beam penetration on lush green canopy of forest hills and the never ending winding road, Incomprehensible! After few hours, we swapped our seats just next to the driver’s, Ram dai (a local from Chitwan, ‘dai’, term for brother in Nepali). His cheerfulness kept us vibrant throughout the ride. As excited as a child after seeing a new toy, we were bombarding him with hundreds of questions; if he ever had face-to-face encounter with tigers, bears and leopards, the reported cases of man-eating tigers of Chitwan and many more. At the end of the day, it was time to say goodbye to our new jolly friend, Ram dai, with a strong promise to see him very soon. On reaching our final stop, our hotel van came to pick us up and we made it to the hotel.
Freshen, later that evening, our nature guide took us for an hour jungle walk close by the hotel. My elation was at its peak. It was a hilarious moment for the observers, one of my arms was over the guide’s (Keshav dai) arm and the other over my girlfriend’s. I wanted to know everything that has been happening in that part of the forest. I saw, felt and smelled the scats left by leopards and rhino along the way. I was explaining my peer about the clues that I perceived from the droppings. Specifically, how the scats can help in distinguishing a leopard from its bigger cousin the tiger, based on the diameter of scat (for example greater than 4 cm diameter is considered to be a tiger scat sample, and the prey it fed on (undigested prey hairs found in scat)). I could feel that sheer delight when I realized my narration was going the right direction noted from the gentle nod & smile on our Keshav dai’s face. Couldn’t sight much that evening except few Spotted deer, Barking deer, Crocodiles and Peacock, nevertheless the ear pleasing melodies of the peacock and ungulates drifted us towards the relaxing wilderness Zion. Welcomed and rewarded by the eternal beauty of nature, we were sunk in the pool of tranquility; sunset view and silhouette of the jungle from the bank of Rapti River and chilled beer in hand. That alluring image has been stamped on my mind. There has not been a single day that I don’t get flashbacks of this treasured picture ever since.
The next day, all of us geared up for the actual jungle trek inside the mighty Chitwan National Park. The day kicked off with the canoe ride in the great Rapti River. Entering thru the cool morning mist, the rising sun across the horizon was magnetic. Cruising through the mini fun filled rapids, we made our way inside the national park. Few minutes’ walk from where our canoe was hooked, we had an ecstatic sighting of the herd of Cheetals (Spotted deer) and two Greater One-horned rhinos* (IUCN declaredStatus: vulnerable) barely 20 feet away from us. That lively instant embarked my thought for a full 3 day’s jungle trek inside this dense wildlife Shangri-La. It was a 2 hours’ plethora of joy along that bushy trail. How can I forget those comical moments of hushing one another to ensure we wouldn’t lose a sighting?
Less than 2000 Greater One- horned rhino live in the wild today where, Chitwan National Park is the home for their 2nd world’s largest population (i.e., around 600, after 1200 in Assam, India). According to the guides, there have been a remarkable effort in stabilizing the rhino counts in CNP from last 2-3 years.
Scene 6. Some Sightings during 2nd day at CNP
Evening that day was the highlight for me: Machan overnight stay. Few hours of muscle stretching after short day trek, preparation began for the jungle sleepover. We 6 along with a nature guide (Krishna dai) and a tower keeper (TK dai) (erstwhile nature guide) were driven to the old wooden tower where we would be spending the rest of our night. We all started gathering firewood before the twilight gave up its closing illuminance. Everything felt like in movies; our guides made a small bon fire, finished a lovely hotel packed dinner and sat beside the fire to hear the venturesome jungle experience from the mouth of the experienced, our guides.
The guides later confessed about their shock to see a group of desperate Nepalese for a Machan overnight stay, as said it was only the foreigner’s cup of tea. By the time we were lost in their words, we could barely see each other in that pitch black night. Defenseless from every angle, in the dense jungle. Our guides comforted and tried their best to allay our fear throughout the night. We could see Cheetals with their glowing eyes few yards away from us. As per the guides, these herbivores would come closer to humans only when they feel threatened from any predators close by. Before the narrators could finish their words, I swiftly picturized that fearful moment in my head,”…hearing an alarm call and us rushing to the tower”. So, paying due attention to the safety issue, we put out the fire and moved up to the second floor of the tower and kept conversation flowing till 2:00 am in the morning.I have been intrigued by deadly stories of the notorious man-eater tigress of CNP, Nangra-pothi. She was responsible for more than 20 human kills in and around CNP. So, essentially, our overnight subjects were about human killings by the tigers, the factors that make these felines a man killer, killing activity correlation to the day timings, seasonal influences and the conditions where humans were pounced/attacked. My perceptions and facts were based on my knowledge and understanding acquired from the research work conducted by my mentor and his team in CNP. Among several of his works, I believe “Bagh Heralu (Tiger guard)” in Chitwan has several explicit information and facts that are comprehensible to a layman. So, I made it as a foundation to share details with my group about the methods to distinguish a tiger or a leopard kills based on popular factors such as; pug marks around the kill site, the kill size, the depth of canine penetration (usually, greater than 5cm for tigers), ways to differentiate pugmarks of a tiger and leopard and more. On top of that, Krishna dai and TK dai accelerated our adrenaline through some insights about Ronaldo, the bull elephant and its havoc in CNP.
The organic, enigmatic yet relaxing night sound of the jungle took us to the whole different dimension. We couldn’t expect more that cool night than sips of whiskey with living jungle sound as our playback track and herd of deer as our life savers. Drinks and wildlife chat went on for hours with the nature guides. The guides were astonished and glad at the same time to see our interest, knowledge and passion for wildlife of Nepal. After few more drinks and hours of talk, we decided to lay down and reserve some energy for the next day. The sudden knock at our door at around 3:30 a.m. stood us up on the floor literally. It was our guides, they were pointing towards the area from where we were getting the persistent alarm calls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t spot the killer in that darkness. The next day, we woke up at 6:00 a.m. by the calm sound of dew drops as if it was raining. I was lucky to have it recorded on my phone. I woke my mate and in the morning dew drop, we lit a cigarette and kept talking about wildlife and possible sightings in specific areas the national park. All of the sudden, our guide came and pointed us towards a camouflaged sighting of the Greater One horned rhino nearly 10m away from our tower. We couldn’t take any camera shots as it was dark, instead surrendered everything to nature and watched the beautiful creature with a glee. It has been more than 2 years since, but till today, I play that signature sound of the dew drops at night and take a deep dive into that magical world.
Scene 8. The Machan and Us
After our return to the hotel, we had an entire day ahead of us. We were booked for 4 hours of jungle safari. By the glimpse we saw the other day; tortured poor mammal getting beaten by the mahout’s bullhook during the course of safari, we were totally against elephant ride as the safari option. “Please no more pain to the innocent gentle giant”. Therefore, we chose a bit costly way to explore the jungle, Jeep safari. Every moment after the jeep wheeled inside the jungle, I felt like I was in a race with time. My mates and I, were pleading if the jeep driver and guide would be generous to extend our safari for an hour. “Sighting” was the new word for us, which we nearly stole from the guide’s mouth. We were making fun and enjoying that word like children. Keeping all of our senses alert, we were looking thru the deep bushes for possible sightings. Our eye’s range of view penetrated the dense forest to its utmost extension. Our ears were begging to hear any alarm calls, or lucky enough, a growl. Cool and wet ambience, vegetation and air as fresh as, our jeep rolled through that narrow stream in the riverine forest. Everything inside the jungle felt so organic and original. After the 4 hours of jeep ride, we were not in the mood to call it a day. We had been already booked for the Tharu Cultural night show later that evening. We still wanted give another go for the jeep safari. However, we were getting short of budget. It took us a while, before 4 of us came to a conclusion. We collected what we were only left with, separating only a margin for our way back home. We talked with the manager and guide to arrange one more jeep safari for us towards Madi, where the recent tiger attack on human was reported. We were in the frame of mind where we would do anything to jump again into that enchanted realm of wilderness not the human performance. More…more…and yes, more jungle…we wished for…and here we go again…
Regardless of not as much of sighting on that 2 hours’ trip it was worth every single penny. We sucked every single hour of this day to remain inside the aura of Chitwan National Park. Getting back to the hotel, without wasting any time, we went out for the blast of the evening; bathing the elephant in the great Rapti followed by the bicycle ride towards the nearby village.
Today, I muse those moments and feel like I lived my fantasy. Later that night, we had a BBQ in the hotel amongst our team including the guide dai (Mr. Krishna, Mr. TK) and assistant manager (Mr. Sitaram) from the hotel. My eyes were hooked to the dark jungles across the mighty Rapti River over the fire flames. I broke down that minute, as I was overwhelmed by everything that Chitwan National Park offered. I was swallowed by my passion for wildlife which had been buried for years.
This trip would remain in our heart forever. No one had guessed that this exhilarating and venturesome 4 days’ trip would later be the memory of our lifetime.
Scene 13. Group photos inside the jungle of CNP
End of this trip, kindled ideas for the next which we did too – The 3 days’ Walk Inside CNP. It had a different approach, a different target and different story to tell. I am out of words to express the sheer delight and euphoria that the trip brought us. Instead, I depicted all the memories in a video compilation of the trip in the link below:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhzrFEpHEY
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW1yMvJXDgQ
And yes, we kept our promise, SAME BUS DRIVER, “RAM DAI” and SAME NATURE GUIDE, “KRISHNA DAI”…
And unbelievable moments: COUNTLESS SIGHTINGS: REMARKBLY SLOTH BEAR, LENGTHY WHOLE DAY WAIT FOR TIGER, MY 3 DAYS’ TREK WITH A PAINFUL SPRAINED ANKLE, THARU HOMESTAYS, ARMY PARTOL & ENQUIRIES, CORE AREA OF CNP AND MORE…
Money matters less in this life when you simply let go and sail your boat in the lake of passion which you’ve dreamt of, for me, WILDLIFE was the loud shout.
I would be dead by now, if I don’t mention it. We are thankful to our beloved lady luck(s) for respecting our space, terms and letting us be who we are during the entire trip.
My association with Nepal Tiger Trust(NTT):
Despite my unconnected professional background, a Civil Engineer (Geotechnical major), I had a passion in wildlife since my childhood. I grew up watching, reading & mimicking any relevancies of big cats and their subjects. Fascinated by big cats, I always kept abreast about them via documentaries, movies, books and research publications. I was desperate for possibilities to somehow intrude in this circle.
My thanks would not suffice the generosity of Dr. Bhim Gurung, whom I consider my mentor in this field to give an amateur this ground to prove himself. I am thankful from heart to Mr. Prakash Shrestha, my cheerful guru, who motivated me and appreciated/respected my ideas related to tiger conservation in Nepal. My sincere thanks to Dr. Gurung and Mr. Shrestha in believing me and embracing me in their team, NTT. As a volunteer in NTT, my involvement has been much in report & proposal preparation assistance, tiger monitoring, planning, awareness & network enhancement. How I got connected to the two mentioned tiger experts has quite a history.