#bengaltigers #chitwannationalpark #safari

Day 2 in Chitwan National Park and it's a mixed bag. We started off with a cruise down a river in a dug out canoe, followed by a visit to an Elephant breeding & training centre. Finally, we capped off the morning with a walking safari through Chitwan.


River Canoe

It was incredibly misty and my first time in a traditional dug out canoe which was great. We didn't see much wildlife and unfortunately, the other people in the canoe were talking a lot which was a little frustrating. It would have been incredibly peaceful to just float down the river in misty silence.


Elephant Breeding & Training Centre

This was a real surprise. I was expecting more of a rehabilitation centre because it's somewhat advertised as such. However, the elephants are chained up and display what I understand to be behaviour of captive animals.

In short, I left very quickly because it certainly didn't feel like a rehabilitation centre. It felt more like a captivity centre where elephants were 'trained'. I would highly recommend avoiding this place!


Walking Safari

So, after the canoe ride and the elephant centre, I was pretty annoyed. It wasn't what I was expecting from the morning.....but then we embarked on a 2 hour walking safari through Chitwan National Park.

It was really good.....even if it felt very unsafe and nerve racking!

Whilst we didn't see much wildlife and unfortunately no Bengal Tigers, it was a unique experience to be walking through areas where you know Bengal Tigers have been. How you ask? We saw multiple tiger tracks and rhino dung.

Would I do it again? Maybe. Does it feel risky? Absolutely. In fact, for most of the walk it felt unnecessarily risky, especially when we were essentially wading through head high grass with zero visibility. It would have been great to have seen a tiger but if I'm honest, if we had seen a tiger we probably wouldn't be here to tell the tale!

0:00 - Intro
0:31 - River Canoe
2:27 - Elephant Breeding & Training Centre
4:30 - Do not come here!
6:40 - Walking Safari in Chitwan National Park
11:11 - Tiger tracks
12:48 - What are we doing here?
14:23 - Stay out of the long grass!
16:45 - Safari guide climbs a tree