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Chitwan National Park visit
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Hello guys, I would like to post about my recent Chitwan trip. I was looking for a suitable section and I made one, if not it may be transferred to another suitable section. Opinions on animal behavours stated here are mostly provided by nature guides of Chitwan.
I travelled to Chitwan on march this month, stayed at Sauraha 3 nights 4 days- a little town right on the border with Chitwan national park, in-fact a river separates this town with a national park on the opposite side and the town is full of choice resorts and tourist activities. We took the picture by mobile and digital cameras so pictures are not very good ,just to show what me and my wife clicked. Day1: Booked a canoe ride observing riverine and acquatic ecosystem on the buffer zone area; which are forests and rivers managed by the community. The river was absolutely full of Marsh Mugger crocs no less than 20 of them. Some showing only their backs, others were on full view on land.  *This image is copyright of its original author [i]  *This image is copyright of its original author [/i]  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author ...also smallish rock python was seen curled in cane thickets hanging just above the river surface.  *This image is copyright of its original author No Gharials on sight and I was thinking if Muggers were responsible for eliminating Gharials, but the nature guide told that this season the Gharials had moved off into another channel as they prefer greater current. We disembarked and walked for about 10 minutes on land to observe the elephant breeding centre full of female domestic elephants. Turned out, the elephant breeding centre unwillingly attracts other wildlife too. Nearby we saw a little herd of spotted deer and then a wild boar sow a and a piglet came in search of any left over food in the elephant stable. They moved from one stable to another . Myna birds, peacock and red jungle fowl were also a regular visitors, they were busy searching out elephant dungs.  *This image is copyright of its original author Solitary wild elephant bulls who don't have control over a wild herd are known to frequent this area in search of females to mate with and we were in luck as a wild bull named 'Dhurbe' or Ronaldo (the Brazilain one- due to it's bulk and speed) came from a distance with no fear of humans- There were atleast 50 people (visitors) there. This bull is famous in the area and has said to kill 20 people but being a rare wild animal and generally minding it's own business, the government don’t want to shoot it down –and I feel very grateful to the government and local people. The bull went from checking all the females one by one. A wild elephant in the background sowly lumbers towards the breeding centre  *This image is copyright of its original author Same elephant bull checks every female in the stable, guide yells at the tourists not to get too close  *This image is copyright of its original author [i]Some of these calves are sired by wild elephant bull coming from the national park forest, they may have mixed genes of central indian and nepalese elephant  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author [/i]Day2: Rained very heavily last night and i awoke to loudest thunder at night like a bomb had went off. Monsoon normally starts from June but sporadic pre-monsoon showers are common from March onwards. Had booked jungle walking inside the national park this day for an added thrill. A morning wake up call brought a news that rhino had wandered from the bush, after some time we got into the area, there were some tourists and a herder boy was gesturing. Sure enough a lone rhino had wandered off from a bush and forest guard were chasing it off. It made for a great sighting without venturing into the park.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author After breakfast our canoe was ready to cross the river. weather looked fine today. A big croc, bigger than we saw yesterday was out on a bank basking on the national park side. We got into the canoe and approached it to get a good photo. It did not move just rolled it's eyes as we passed close. We disembarked from a canoe to the other side and then began continuing on foot.  *This image is copyright of its original author Now we were inside a national park and no weapons were allowed. Two guides, senior one in front and another behind is compulsory and they carry only a stick but a sturdy one. The guided passed information on potentially dangerous wildlife and we proceeded, lots of animal tracks- rhinos passing, slipping and rolling mud, trampled grass, lots of gaur footprints – one was absolutely huge but i missed taking a photo of it, there were deer tracks allover. Rhesus monkeys were very common in the border area of the park and up on trees scurrying everywhere, spotted deer were seen, some in the herd and some stags. About an hour not seeing any big animals and just continuously walking, the guides spotted two dozing rhinos quite far 100ft away. A female Hog deer that was hiding was alerted and it fled .First we thought it was rhino mother with a calf but infact were adult male and a female. Guide made some rhino like puffing noise, males ran away snorting while female just kept standing lazily.  *This image is copyright of its original author We left them and entered a real grassland with no trees for some distance, guide told to be extra cautious, for if we stumbled upon a rhino now there was no escape at all. No animals on sight for some time, then just ahead on the path a fine black wildboar stood at us very close looking and giving us differnt postures like a model.... and we all laughed. It hesitantly leaped and made a splash and went into the grass thickets. Further on and we discovered a carcass. The guide told that the boar must have been attracted by the carcass hence it was reluctant to go away. Another long walk without any event, a rickety looking tower was lying on the ground smashed by wild elephant, another similar tower was in the distance and we walked upto the area. The ladder was a vertical one which meant we had to haul ourselves like a rock climb-not a staircase type. I did not bother to carry my bag and left it on the base. This was a great regret. From above, the view was nice- there was short green grasses and tall brown grass further away. After a brief moment a black head appeared, it was a wild buffalo- absolutely stunning. This is for a reason- wild water buffalo has just been translocated from Koshi reserve 3 months ago, so these are the seed for the future. A female appeared in a full view on to the green grass the upper body was black but the back was hairless and ash grey, then a male followed making some grunts as it walked. I felt pretty amazed looking at them. They noticed us but did not care too much then they gestured each other and all of a sudden the made chased the female pretty aggressively and bolted off into the long grass, was pretty surreal, I was seeing them and thinking that a whole herd would one day cover the Chitwan grassland.  *This image is copyright of its original author Some wild water buffaloes were also taken from the zoo of Kathmandu, i took this pic some time ago, the bull (below) is now enjoying his life in chitwan. Also this is diff. subspecies to that of Assam, critically endangered with more contrasting black and whites.  *This image is copyright of its original author Then, from the tall grass, some three brown ones of different sizes poked out their head, they never came into full view and before long slinked into the grass. We descended the tower and I regret not having taken a video, they were so close and a great activity as well. Then there was a river crossing with crocs basking on the banks, 5 gharials were also seen. The guides assured that big crocs were not here and that we could cross from the shallow stretch.  *This image is copyright of its original author Then there was not much to see for the rest of the day, but some very eventful encounter was a rhino creating a road block ahead, a noise from behind the bush (guide saying rhino)made us scurry and dashed off to the base of a tree and another rhino sleeping infront while the front guide had no clue at all while I had to yell. it all gave me a headache –real pain I mean  on a hot humid day. With most animals covered ,we were too intent on getting away in one piece really, especially the rhinos kept bumping at us in a very unlikely places; inside a forest and tangled vegetation.Day3: Decided to go for 5 hrs. Jeep drive as it takes you into the deeper parts of the national park and traverses nearly all type of terrain and environment. However halfway into the ride and forest and grassland was just empty there was no great wildlife viewing at all. The expanse of grassland was amazing looks good for the future prospects when Chitwan aquires swamp deer, Blackbuck and wildbuffaloes.  *This image is copyright of its original author I could tell that, Wilboars and chitals were undoubtedly the most common animals in the park and some sightings of hog deer and barking deer. Bird life was great, with a raptor taking a fish –tunred out to be a black coot on a death grip, two flying pecock males, whistling ducks, purple and grey herons, pied hornbill, openbilled and adjutant storks etc. also saw a python sunning itself on the swamp. Then the jeep took a 25 minutes break at a crocodile breeding centre inside the park. Some 50 or more Gharials of every size were there, the healthy ones will all be released in the river. It was good to see these creatures close up.  *This image is copyright of its original author Then a returning drive was not much fruitful either but after some four hours the guide stopped and pointed to a gaur very very far away. It would have been a complete safari if the gaur was in full view but all I could say it really was a gaur was a fact that through a binocular it's tail kept swishing constantly-a rhino won't do that at all, and there was no buffaloes in this part. A single animal meant likely a bull, what a sight that would have been. Then saw a Sambar stag (the first and the last one) juvenile- judging by it's nilgai like single long antler, which dashed off, then a long queue of jeep had discoverd a sloth bear, we were at the back end of a line and had to wait quite a long. Then saw a rhino-a battle scarred individual with wounds on his back side and the 5 hrs ride came to an end.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Spotted deer doe and a fawn- showing absolutely no fear  *This image is copyright of its original author Day4: took elephant back safari for an hour inside a community forest area, saw an awesome sight of a mother and a very small calf bathing.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author some spotted deer and a peacock were seen together. it was a great time but now it was time to leave Chitwan. And I am missing it already…!!!  
Wow what a wonderful experience
 One in lifetime moments .You have created the thread in right section. So no problem with it. Is it you with the Gaur Head in the image ?? I think a tiger sighting would have added more thrill and excitement in your tour, but I know tiger sighting in tall grassland is very very rare sighting. Thank you very much @Jimmy for such an wonderful post and sharing your visit with WildFact community members 
Awesome experience and description, how have the tiger sightings been this year?
  (03-27-2017, 07:42 PM)Jimmy Wrote: Hello guys, I would like to post about my recent Chitwan trip. I was looking for a suitable section and I made one, if not it may be transferred to another suitable section. Opinions on animal behavours stated here are mostly provided by nature guides of Chitwan. @Jimmy Thanks a lot for sharing good pictures and good information, it must have been a super experience (03-28-2017, 04:59 AM)Pckts Wrote:(03-28-2017, 04:49 AM)Roflcopters Wrote: Looks like a fun trip, i cant wait for mine! Tfs Im thinking of going mid november for a month but i haven't quite planned out which park yet, I guess i'll wait until October to see where most of the sightings are and plan my trip accordingly. really hoping to go to Tadoba, Kanha and Bandhavgarh. let's see how it works out. are you still going in May?
@Ngala yes, that croc was really a huge and a superb one, @sanjay Yes that's me lol, yup tiger sighting would have been absolutely great but honestly it happens only by accident and i had no hope, all i wanted to see was gaur and buffalo the most in a full view. Of course there will be a guaranteed rhino sighting and so, i deliberately told the guide i wanted to visit wild water buffalo relocation site and whatever will be encounter on the way i'll take it. yes u are right maybe due to high grass and their secretive nature. @Pckts we saw lot of fresh tiger footprints in the morning on the jungle walk right up to the boundry and river's edge but tiger sightings seems to be a rare. We went on a grass burning season and yet the grass were so high. Did not heard from any other visitors either. I know some photographers who are filming specifically for tigers but they keep the location a secret. Visitors are unlikely to see a tiger honestly. Bardia is much favored for tiger sighting with most visitors seeing them. . @Roflcopters @epaiva yes, thankyou, fortunately we saw most of them..
(03-28-2017, 06:30 AM)Roflcopters Wrote:Yup, I leave in little over a month!! I'm doing the same thing but replacing Bandhavgarh with pench since time is a factor for me.(03-28-2017, 04:59 AM)Pckts Wrote:(03-28-2017, 04:49 AM)Roflcopters Wrote: Looks like a fun trip, i cant wait for mine! Tfs  (03-31-2017, 11:16 AM)YWolverine Wrote:(03-27-2017, 10:30 PM)Pckts Wrote: Awesome experience and description, how have the tiger sightings been this year? For sure, I was just curious.
Pcts, if you allow me I would give you some practical advise concerning your future trip. Month of May is culmination of Indian summer and the temperatures in this time of year in Indian plains are around 42-45 C, its gonna be really hot. But tiger reserves you choose to visit fortunately are situated in semi-mountainous arias so there will be a bit cooler there. Research which of those reserves are situated in higher elevation and stay longer in this park which has highest elevation from sea level in order to fill yourself more comfortable. Probably you know from climatology that with every 100 meters up temperature fall with 1 degree per Celsius. Tadoba is situated at 200-300 m. elevation, Pench - 400-650 and Kanha - 600-900 m. up sea level. So the temperatures in Kanha will be coolest. Stay longer in Kanha! If in the Indian plains temperatures are gonna be 43 C, in Kanha are gonna be with 7-8 degrees cooler - probably around 35-36 C. In Tadoba probably will be too hot, in Pench - Ok, in the middle.
That's what Englishmen always did during the British Rule - they had "winter" capital in the plains and "summer" capitals in the mountains like Darjiling and Shimla where entire imperial stuff moved during summer months. Luckily for you Kanha national park is situated in the mountains and should have a bit cooler climate.
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