Wildlife Catalunya: Nepal: Bardia National Park (Part II)

After our exciting jungle safari we needed some time to chill and catch up with some work, although at Rhino Lodge Bardia, each and every day was different and we always had something interesting to see or do. Every morning we would wake up early and go for a nice walk through the village and down to the river, where we would see lots of nice birds and the last groups of Spotted Deer, which would later disappear back into the dense jungle, not reappearing until dusk each day.

Young Spotted Deer, Bardia

A young Indian Bullfrog we saw by the river one morning

We never knew what we were going to see on our walks. This is the biggest snail I've ever seen and is an introduced species - Giant African Land Snail.

In the middle of the day, as we were there to volunteer, we did our work and again at around 4 or 5pm we would go for another walk or a cycle through the beautiful and peaceful villages of the area. Writing this account some days later, I feel like our time in Bardia was my favourite traveling experience of my entire life, because of the service and kindness of all in Rhino Lodge Bardia, the incredible wildlife of the area and the beautiful villages and people. I say this with no hesistation - if you are reading this and plan to visit Nepal, go to Bardia and stay at Rhino Lodge. You will not regret it and you definitely will not forget it.

One of the relaxing huts in the gardens of Rhino Lodge Bardia.

Now back to the story. As I was saying, even days spent at the lodge had numerous unexpected amazing moments. As the river was just so serene and full of wildlife we went a lot, sometimes alone and sometimes with Dharma or Sita, or both. Two days after the safari we went to the river with both Dharma and Sita - who if I haven't already mentioned are both kind & helpful as well as really really knowledgeable about the area, its people and the wildlife to be found there.

We were just enjoying the cooler evening temperatures, looking for whatever we could see - birds, butterflies, deer, etc when Sita, suddenly exclaimed "dolphin!", excitedly. This was such an unexpected moment for us both - we knew exactly what he meant by "dolphin" - it was a Ganges River Dolphin - which is an extremely endangered, and very difficult to see, freshwater dolphin found in Nepal, India & Bangladesh.

We immediately ran the few metres to Sita and waited for what seemed like minutes, but was actually seconds, for it to resurface. Wow! It was great - another interesting mammal to enjoy. At first we only saw it barely break the surface with just the blowhole, but after some time we eventually saw it stick its characteristic long beak out of the water, and I even managed a photo.

The characteristic long beak of the rare Ganges River Dolphin, Bardia

For three days this dolphin performed for us and blew us away. Then one day we saw an unfamiliar shape sitting distantly upriver on a sandbank. It was a crocodile! And a big one at that. We excitedly went upriver to a point where we had much better views and we could see that it was a Marsh Mugger - quite a big one alright - definitely no swimming for us in the river now. From this day on we never again saw the dolphin and we wonder if the dolphin and mugger had a negative interaction, if they avoid each other in general or if it was just a coincidence. The mugger continued on and off throughout the trip and we often admired it on our many evening walks.

The resident Marsh Mugger in strong evening backlight, Bardia

The Marsh Mugger in better morning light, Bardia

A different captive Marsh Mugger, photographed in the local breeding centre, where individuals are raised and released into the wild.

Alba admiring the Mugger one morning as she was doing some yoga by the river.

Walking through the villages was such a pleasure. Everyone was sincerely friendly. Everyone smiled and wanted to say hello, children would stop and ask you to take their photo, even the dogs were friendly! There were no tourist traps here, no inflated prices, and no harassment to buy anything. A smile or a hello here was genuine and unlike many other places it wasn't the first insincere step into tricking you into buying some junk product at an inflated price. Unfortunately we have seen this behaviour all too much in the bigger cities in Asia and elsewhere and it has perhaps made me cynical but Bardia isn't like that.

Alba with some friendly local kids at Bardia. They asked us to take this photo!

One of the many friendly dogs we met on our daily cycles. This pup was rather cute!

Some bikes weren't the easiest to use. The saddle was broken on this so we took turns using it, sitting over the back wheel.

One of the many elephant watch-out towers, guarding the rice crops.

A local field with a hay pile used to feed the livestock.

A typical traditional house seen throughout the village.

Some domestic buffalo - a very common animal in rural Nepal

A local lady netting for fish in the river.

One of my favourite stray dogs. This dog was very nervous of us at first but we would always rub it and we eventually gained its trust. Every time we met it out and about it would come sprinting to us with excitement just like this.

Here is the same dog, play-fighting with one of his buddies, by the river.

Going slightly off topic for just a second; when in Kathmandu, at the beginning of our trip we met with a a Women's NGO, run by a Catalan man named Toni Aguilar. He is a friend of a friend from back home in Catalunya, and we met with him to see and understand a local NGO. What he has done here is amazing and he helps women from all over Kathmandu. More to the point he even gave us a bag of 30 toothbrushes, each packed with a mini toothpaste and he told us to give it to children who needed it, where ever we met them. What a kind man he was. As Bardia has some very poor families but everyone was so happy and kind, we knew that this was the place to give these toothbrush packs out. The look of joy on their faces at such a small gift was priceless and made us both smile in turn.

Here I am with Toni, eating a lovely buffalo yogurt. Our toothbrushes are in the blue bag. This is the dining hall where they feed up to 30 girls each day.

As well as this we brought with us 70 pencils as well as lots of chippers and rubbers. We made a visit to a small government-run school where the children are rather poor and gave them each a pencil. It's a really small gift but they were so appreciative and we were happy to give our small token to the village that gave us so much.

Things like this make you stop and take a look at yourself. Sometimes I complain about such trivial things and when I see how happy kids are here just being gifted with a toothbrush or a pencil it makes me ashamed of myself, thinking about those moments when I moan about poor Wi-Fi signal or needing a new camera lens.

In essence, travel like this opens yours eyes and broadens your mind and makes you realise what you truly have back home. At home we are kings and queens, even if we don't have the latest car or latest iPhone. We are extremely lucky and need to remember that always. It's not my place to preach to others but I personally have certainly learned and gained from this and will try to value and appreciate what I have all the more, going forward.

Having done the jungle walk and after spending some time relaxing and catching up with some computer work it was time to do a day long jungle jeep safari. This is totally different as you don't have to be worried about meeting a wild animal face to face, in that you are protected (mostly) within your vehicle, you don't sweat anywhere near as much but you make more noise and can scare the animals more. You cover a lot more ground though so they both have their pros and cons.

Ready to go!

We went through the same process with the paperwork and entered the same gates as we did when doing the walking safari, only we didn't have to cross the river in the canoe, we went straight in, following another road with the jeep. After the recent successful jungle walk we both realised how packed full of life the jungle was and we were excited and eager to begin again. We had only driven in about 10 minutes when Sita suddenly shouted "Tiger". This was the moment we had been waiting for. I was amazed he picked this animal up at such a distance with the naked eye - evidence of his sharp eyes and years of experience.

Checking the road ahead to see if it is passable after recent rains - just before our Leopard sighting.

We all lifted our binoculars and to our amazement it was a very large male Leopard - a species even less commonly seen than Tiger, here in Bardia. Based on the size of this animal and the distance at which he picked it up it was understandable why he first thought it was a Tiger. We had some really nice binocular views and even got some poor shots but unfortunately it then slipped into the long grass, and despite waiting some time we never saw it again. But we were incredibly fortunate with this sighting and it was a very welcome one at that.

This was the first view of it staring right at us.

Here it begins to turn and slowly walk to cover

If you are wondering how we sexed it as a male, take a closer look here.

We continued onward into the jungle in our ongoing search for the elusive Bengal Tiger. The jungles of Bardia are teeming with life, from 3m tall termite mounds - natures answer to solar powered air conditioning, incredible birds and weird and wonderful invertebrates. Throughout the drive we were treated to amazing views of Common Langurs, and Spotted Deer. We also added a new reptile to our list - Bengal Monitor. This wasn't our first monitor, having seen the impressively large Water Monitors of Thailand, but its always nice to see a new species. This species is much smaller and seemingly more agile. The first good views we had of one was in a hole 8 foot up a tree.

A beautiful Common Langur

A family group of Common Langurs

A Bengal Monitor with an incoming Mosquito

There are many towering termite mounds like this throughout the jungle

A rather dodgy looking Caterpillar.

An unidentified Katydid

A male Spotted Deer - a very common species in Bardia.

A mightily impressive Stork-billed Kingfisher

We checked several river crossings and drinking/bathing points for Tiger as well as keeping a keen eye and ear out throughout the trip, but unfortunately it was not to be. Nevermind! We have seen so much in the jungles of Bardia as we were in great hands with Rhino Lodge Bardia. Tigers are just difficult at this time of year. Don't let that put you off a visit though as we have seen almost all the other big targets and more.

Despite not seeing any tigers there, the last two river watch-points were very enjoyable. At the first we had our lunch of samosas, bananas and traditional Nepalese doughnuts and enjoyed incredible river views from the shade of the jungle, and at the second the guides picked some very tangy & tasty local fruits which we feasted on for some ten minutes!

Our much needed lunch for the day

Our guides preparing the lunch on some local leaves - very handy.

The samosas here in Nepal are to die for!

The name of this fruit evades me but it is delicious!

Tangy and refreshing!

On our return back to the lodge we had a frustrating moment. As we were driving through the trails, relaxing on the open deck of the safari jeep, suddenly a strong and unfamiliar odor hit us - it was Tiger pee, and very fresh Tiger pee - it was overpowering. We could also make out fresh tracks. Was it nearby? We stopped the engine and waited. We heard some deer alarming from an area behind the scent so we quickly drove there and waited in silence once again and... nothing. The king of the jungle had been close yet slipped right past us. We came close like this so many times but never crossed paths. For me this just adds to the mystery and magnificence of this animal. When I do see one day it will be a magical moment. Another time. Anyway, it would have been a pity to see everything in one go, wouldn't it? Now we have a reason to return!

After spending two weeks at Rhino Lodge, we felt our work was done. We had experienced so much so it was time to move to our next location, but first the guides had one last thing they wanted to show us - a local Tharu community - the ethnic group which settled in Bardia several centuries before and persisted through the malarial period, before its eradication in the 1950s & 60s.

We went by jeep some 15 minutes to a much more rural part and stopped in a small community with traditional style houses and lots of farm animals. We stopped at one house in particular; a very long house. I wondered if it was some kind of industrial rice mill but was really surprised to learn that it was the house belonging to a family of 56! We were told that large families residing together like this was common in Tharu communities. In the house were family groups belong to several siblings as well as grandparents, etc. We were given a tour of the house and it was fascinating to see how they made things work with such simple yet effective methods. Almost everything inside was handmade in their own unique way - it was really nice!

A Tharu house with lots of goats.

I couln't fit this house of 56, in the frame, but you get an idea of its scale.

Here is a closer view of the same house

Inside the house, there were lots of food and other items hanging from the ceiling, here some bunches of garlic.

All of these vats are made from mud to store rice and to separate the different rooms in the house.

Some rooms sleep 10 or more people but this room was reserved for just one - the (great)grandfather of the house

Another view of the same room. The horse figure is for religious purposes and is used to pray to.

A hindu shrine, which is used by several members of the community

Alba & Sita with a young Tharu kid

The same kid sitting on a traditional Tharu seat/bed.

This guy was fond of the camera. I was trying to photograph the grinder but he photo-bombed me!

More items stored, hanging from the ceiling

Outside we went to a smaller building which appeared to be the kitchen and prep' area. I guess it makes sense to have a specially designated building for this when you are cooking for 56 people, several times a day. There were no mod'-cons inside, just a fire with clay towers used to house the various pots. On one clay stove, the lady was boiling milk which she was using to prepare a big batch of curd, which could later be sold. In the prep' area she was peeling potatoes, which are a key ingredient in many meals here in Nepal. They were most likely going to be used as one of the sides in a traditional Dal Bhat.

Part of the large family sitting outside on a traditional Tharu bed/couch

The grandfather of the family

Some more of their animals


It's gotta be a tough life for a sheep in this heat!

One of the women prepares the curd in their traditional cooking area.

Elsewhere in the village we saw this woman fishing with traditional gear.

So after two weeks well spent in Bardia it was time to move on! We decided to go to Pokhara to see what that's all about, and to possibly do some trekking. A bus was kindly organised for us by Rhino Lodge Bardia and at 4pm we gathered our belongings to get in the jeep and go. But first we were called to the dining area. Here everyone was gathered to say goodbye and in traditional style they gave us a Tika (the red dot Hindus wear on their forehead) and a Khata, which is a light scarf. Both of these are given to wish you good luck on your journey. It was a really nice touch, and this was our second time receiving these gifts after being presented with them at our first stay in Kathmandu.

From here we went to Ambasa bus stand where we bought direct tickets to Pokhara for 1750 NPR. Sita kindly waited with us here until our bus arrived. This was to be a 15 hour bus journey, but more about that later.