Last Autumn I was lucky enough to go to Uganda and visit some of the incredible work done by Edukid. As part of our time their we had the privilege of visiting Murchison Falls and its surrounding safari park. That day we were saw giraffe, buffalo, elephants, Nile crocodile, hippos, leopards, hyenas and even a lion. So I was excited about another opportunity to go wildlife spotting, albeit in a very different environment.
Our Lonely Planet guidebook told us that a good approach to wildlife spotting in Chitwan was to treat it as you would fishing: "Sometimes you'll get lots of bites, others not a nibble. Irrespective, it's all about the thrill of the chase and being out and about in tiger and rhino country!" This was going to be fun.
An hour into the safari and I had remembered why I didn't really like fishing. Not a single bite.
The closest we had come to any wildlife was the tiger footprint our guide had pointed out to us as we got onto our jeep. This was quite a thrill until I realised there were no others to be seen. I had visions of an eager guide carefully drawing the footprint in the sand to fool naive tourists - either that or a one-legged tiger hopping around the National Park. But perhaps I should be less synical and it at least gave me hope we might lay eyes on the incredible creature.
In fact, I was sure on numerous occasions on our four hour journey that I had seen a stripy feline amongst the trees or 8m tall elephant grass. Each time those sightings turned out to be ferns or pieces of wood! It was like doing a 'Where's Wally?' book - except, instead of wearing the easy to spot red and white stripes, the animals were often brown or green. And everything else I could see was brown or green.
After a few hours they took pity on us and dropped us off at a gharial crocodile breeding centre.
Gharial are amongst the strangest looking animals I've seen: huge three or four metre long bodies with a long, slender mouth crammed full of ill fitting teeth. Perfectly evolved for catching fish.
To be fair, the second half of our safari was more successful - we saw more gharial and marsh mugger crocodiles alongside the lakes, an assortment of deer and a big python. Unfortunately, it was not our day to see tigers and rhino though.
That evening, we drowned our sorrows in a lovely restaurant in Sauraha. Steve had a delicious, perfectly cooked steak whilst I opted for the local Thali (a mix if curries and rice). We sat outside next to a fire pit and watched the sun go down over the beautiful gardens.
The next day, Saturday, was a bit of a wash out. We had planned a canoe trip down the crocodile infested river, followed by a jungle walk, but steady rain meant that both were cancelled.
We admitted defeat - we weren't going to set eyes upon the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger. This time, at least.
As I sat watching downfall creating patterns on our hotel window, I'm sure I saw a cat saunter past dodging the raindrops. That almost counts, doesn't it?!
Well if it was a Bengal cat that would count!!
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