Canoeing, Jungle Walk and A Visit to Elephant Breeding Center at Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Canoeing, Jungle Walk and A Visit to Elephant Breeding Center at Chitwan National Park, Nepal

I am ready to leave Nepal, but before I do so, I needed to do two quick stop over to complete my trip. So from Pokhara, I took an early morning six hours bus ride to the town of Sauraha, to spend time with elephants and maybe spot a rhino at Chitwan National Park.

A World Heritage Site, Chitwan National Park or formerly known as the Royal Chitwan National Park is the first national park in Nepal, covering an estimated area of 360 square mile and known home of rare species such as One Horned Rhinoceros (Indian Rhino), Royal Bengal Tiger and Gharial Crocodile.

Usually, visiting the national park requires buying a package of 3 days-2 nights stay from any travel agents in either Kathmandu or Pokhara. The program includes- bus fee, hotel accommodation, bad food and various activities accompanied by a licensed Safari guide which includes canoeing, elephant ride, jungle walks and cultural program.

The price usually ranges between 80 to 100 USD, obviously depending on how much commission the travel agency is planning to take from you, so I suggest to shop around first and bargain hard.

It feels like my hand was tied since everyone was advising that going there alone and arranging everything by my self is proven to be more expensive, I have no choice but to go for the package.

Arriving at the resort in the afternoon together with other tourists, we were greeted by the lodge owner and directed us to our individual rooms.

After an hour, we met our Safari guide. The rest of the afternoon was spent for a walk in the village of traditional houses made of clay, passing by elephants crossing the lake while making our way to the recommended spot along the banks for a perfect sunset view.

The following day after breakfast, we are set for a full day activity starting with canoeing and jungle walk.
I guess there are some visitors who chooses to schedule the activity in opposite timings, as there lot of tourists doing elephant back safari, what would be our afternoon activity.

It was a cold morning for boat ride, the entire area was covered in fog, making the lake appear more mystical than it usually does. Our mission according to our safari guide, is to spot a crocodile and enjoy the different bird species residing at the national park.

Everyone took the challenge of spotting a crocodile to heart, so just imagine the collective grasp when we happen to be canoeing beside a huge croc.

Instead of returning us back to the boat docks, our guide decided that to completely submerged ourselves to this jungle adventure, we must start midway inside the jungle and made our way back on foot to the lodge, thus the start of the so called “jungle walk” activity.

Prior starting our walk, our guide on a very serious tone gathered the group for a briefing on the do’s and don’t in the jungle. Rule number one is not to create too much noise and if you encounter a tiger, don’t run.
I honestly don’t know what to do in case there is really a tiger, I have zero survival skills and on situation like this all I could think of is “I should pay more attention to Bear Grylls’ Man Vs. Wild”.

Good that I decided to wear hiking shoes, since it is not a walk in the park as I imagine it would be instead a real deal jungle walk. We did not spot any tiger or rhinos except their footprints, though we were lucky to spot several deer quietly feeding. There is a beauty on seeing the deer among the golden bush mixed with a peek of morning gleam.

From the jungle, we made our way to the exit and towards the Elephant Breeding Center.

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I always love elephants, they are huge yet so cute and their face is like smiling all the time.
What could be more beautiful than seeing a baby and mother elephant?


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I asked our safari guide why the elephants are chained and it seems that most of them wanted to be freed and just go back to the jungle. He told me that the elephants are not chain for the whole day instead they are only sheltered for a few hours while the government approved caretakers living on the same compound were having their lunch. In fact, these elephants are very much well-taken care of, there are even two to three personnel assigned per one elephant and after their appointed care taker lunch break, they will release the elephant into the wild.

I truly, truly hope it is true.

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Canoeing, Jungle Walk and A Visit to Elephant Breeding Center at Chitwan National Park, Nepal,

Hilltop Hidden Treasure Town of Bandipur, Tanahun, Nepal

Sensing that I am more adapted to the local transport system, I opted to board a public bus, with the objective of saving money and visit one of the places in Nepal described by some guide book as a true treasure hidden somewhere up in the mountains, none other than the town of Bandipur.

If you hire a taxi from Pokhara to Bandipur for a day trip, the usual charge is around 4,000 Rupees, but if you brave the many stops and head-banging bumpy ride of local bus, it will only costs you 360 rupees for round trip fare. To choose which bus can be quite confusing, so I am particularly thankful to a Nepalese gentleman (owner of one of the hotel in Pokhara Lakeside) who directed me the correct bus that I needed to take.

From Pokhara it will be a two hours ride to the town of Dumre, from the main road of Dumre another mini bus ride is needed to go uphill and reach the mountain top village. With very limited ride going up and down the 1030m elevated town of Bandipur, the bus will not move until every space is filled up.

Upon reaching the final bust stop and stepping outside the mini bus, I was immediately amazed on how something so architecturally beautifully built is hidden atop the mountain. The mixture of tall-old buildings, red bricks, narrow alleys and the surrounding scenery of mountains and farm fields is something so familiar and yet completely new, as if I have seen and walked similar alleyways before but then again, they are mostly places that do not require to go up to such elevation.

I am not sure how involve is the government on the preservation or the development of Bandipur, but praises has to be given to the residence for maintaining the cultural atmosphere of the village.

There is very little practical information available about Bandipur, last I checked there is only one hotel advertised over the internet and the price is not budget travel friendly even. But the truth is, there are a lot of small inns that can accommodate visitors, so I was actually disappointed somehow that I wasn't able to spend at least a night at this town.

Bandipur is a complete community originating from Newari culture. They have pharmacy, banks, library, shops, postal service and most importantly schools- all these existing over a façade of a century old neighborhood.

I stopped by at the school located beside a temple. Like the other schools around Nepal, both the school teachers and students are welcoming to any visitors.

It is said that people of Bandipur lives longer than the rest of Nepal. I’m not sure what is their secret but looking at them always moving and doing something, maybe that’s the reason. But then again, this is something that is quite obvious in this country, everyone is moving and even women are helping on chores deem as man's task.

There were only few tourists who want to experience this hilltop town, which actually added to its over-all charm- though it graciously let the outside world in but still only few dare to go up to the mountains and experience the one of a kind Bandipur.

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Hilltop Hidden Treasure Town of Bandipur, Nepal, Tanahun,