Defying Description…Disabled Newlife Center (DNC) Trip To Chitwan National Park – Part Two

DNC Trip To Chitwan- Part 2

The warm, late afternoon sun gave a golden tint to the surroundings on the banks of the lazy Narayani River, where three or four canoes sat ready to cross to the Island where we would spend the next two days.

The kids that were able ambled down the banks and Rotaractors gently carried those who could not walk, carefully placing them into their canoe. Overnight bags, crutches and wheelchairs all went into the boats. The boatmen quickly pushed off. The children yelled with excitement and waved frantically as the boats drifted off with the slow current. The boatmen use a long pole to deftly push their boats across the shallow river on a semi-circular path to the landing on the other side, taking three-five minutes to make the crossing. Reversing the procedure, all kids and stuff were taken out of the boats and with the volunteers assisting made their way down the beautiful jungle path to the lodge.

Butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors danced in the low foliage as we wound our way to the lodge. It was about a fifteen-minute walk from canoe to the lodge and as we strolled we took a deep breath and smelled the ‘green’ that surrounded us after that smelly, hot, dusty bus-ride. The looks of joy and wonderment to be found on each child’s face was instantly worth all of the time and trouble it took to arrange for this remarkable event.

Arriving at the lodge there was a central gathering area with benches where we all sat down and had a welcome soft-drink. Then we broke the kids and volunteers down into three groups- Group Crocodile, Group Rhino, Group Tiger! Each group was assigned rooms and then they were off to rest a bit, freshen up and return for dinner. The adults were told that they would take their elephant ride right away, to allow for all of the children to have theirs the following day. Also, that way we would know what was required to get the children safely on-board their elephant’s back.

The rooms at the Island Jungle Resort are not fancy, but neat and simple. There isn’t any air-conditioning, just the breezes coming off of the river. And you don’t need any ‘sound-machines’ or alarms to lull you to sleep/wake you up because the sounds of the jungle do that naturally! But to the children, these simple rooms were quite luxurious compared to their regular accommodations in Kathmandu.

As the children rested, the adults walked down the trail to the elephant safari. There they waited- four, very large elephants standing like huge, brown UPS trucks with elephant-trainers on top. Each one carefully backed up to a small tower about 15 steps up where we stood, then we clambered on board in groups of 4-5 per elephant and lumbered off through the jungle. If you’ve never ridden an elephant before, it’s a bit like being on a boat, quickly rocking back and forth on the waves as the elephant’s feet move swiftly through the jungle and over/under tree-trunks and branches. It was so much fun! The elephant I was on decided to take a detour from the main group and careened off down a very small path. I don’t think he realized that there was a group of ‘green’ tourists atop of him and that we were being beaten and thrashed by various branches, leaves and bugs (or maybe he did?)! Eventually, our elephant met up with the others and we worked our way through the jungle. We heard the low whistle of one of our guides….other guides also whistled. As all of the elephants came to a stop, we watched quietly as two rhinos stood before us munching on grasses and perking-up their heads and ears to watch us. We were told not to alarm or startle the rhinos as they could charge. For my part, I was frantically (but oh-so quietly) trying to put a new memory card into my camera without dropping the one with all of my past, priceless photographs on it! I knew for sure that if I dropped it off of our elephant, in the midst of two rhinos, I’d never recover it! It never fails, does it? You always run out of memory (or film, or video-tape) on these things right when you need it the most!!!

Well, we spent a few minutes with our friendly rhinos, then headed back to the lodge. Our trip via elephant was about an hour and it is something I will always remember, and that our kids would never forget when they got their chance the next day.

We returned to the lodge and it was time for dinner. We all sat together, communally at large tables and the typical Nepali food was served buffet-style. Those that could stand, stood in the lines, those that couldn’t waited for their food to be brought by others. It was so nice to see the older, more-able children helping the younger children and children who couldn’t stand up to get their food. This is the ethic we encourage and love to see from our kids! Plus, Shanti, Anjan and the other volunteers stepped in to make sure no one’s plate was empty, even for a second! Shanti wandered around with full plates of rice, vegetables and chicken, endlessly spooning it off on to this kid’s plate and that kid’s plate. I began to wonder if there would be enough food in the lodge to feed these kids- even the little ones ate prodigious amounts of food! This was a special treat for all of them, and the quality and availability of food was superb! Special thanks go to Sabitri and Ranjeeta who were also invaluable helpers on this trip!

After dinner, we had a nature slide show by a park naturalist who went over many of the various animals and habitats located within the park. After that, we trundled all of our kids in their various groups- Crocodile, Tiger and Rhino off to their cabins and off to sleep, to dream of things to come…

Elephant rides, canoe-trips on the river and swimming with the elephants to come in day two of our trip….stay tuned!

-Rob.

P.S. Thank you to DNC friend- Sunil Puri who did some of the photographs for this story!