Photos of our Fabulous Adventure
So sweet, I had a long sleep in today (7:45am). So nice to have a day to relax and not bolt out at the wee hours of the morning. Seems that everyone is enjoying a leisure day and we all meet at breakfast around the same time.
Most of us relax on the deck with our coffee until it is time for the Elephant Feeding & Bathing – so excited for this. We walk a short distance on the river and there are the four female elephant that belong to the Barahi Jungle Lodge, along with their mahouts (trainers). Two of them are 50 years old, one is a teenager of 16 and one little gal of 5 years. They are beautiful!
They are within a foot or two of us while Gobinda gives us elephant facts and the difference between the Asian and African elephants. The elephants patiently wait (well some not so patiently 😜) for Gobinda to stop and for us to make their little ‘momos’ out of rice, protein & grass. They were so excited when we started to feed them, especially the 5 & 16 year olds. They are huge beasts, and yet so gentle. We were all in heaven.
Ok, time for the bathing. Cathy is the only brave soul that gets up on the largest elephant – she had to use a metal ladder to get up on her back. As the elephant walked in to the river, she sprayed large amounts of water from her trunk all over her back and subsequently Cathy too. There were lots of squeals and giggles coming from her. Lois and Val went in to the river with the other three elephants and it was hilarious to see them roll on to their sides so that the ladies could scrub and massage them. What a fabulous experience, even just to watch.
It’s time to bring them in, and thankfully Cathy’s elephant kneeled down so she could slide off rather than climb down the dreaded ladder! Val was in absolute glory and, along with calling the elephants in, we had to call her in as well. 😂
Wet and happy we head back for some sun, swimming, lunch and relaxing time. At 4:00pm we regrouped and Gobinda walked us to the local Tharu village where we met several villagers, their goats, chickens, ducks and dogs and witnessed their rural way of life. A family of five were using small kukuri knives to cut the ripened rice and piling it neatly to dry.
As we are meandering through the village we see a van in the distance that looks very much like our van, and as it gets closer Prem waves to us. Hilarious, he isn’t due until tomorrow morning at 7:00am! He tells me he is staying at a local lodge close to ours. Likely decided better to drive the hour from Bharatpur tonight than at 5am.
The last house on the street invited us in to their humble home, as they referred to it, and shared a glass of rakshi (a homemade rice wine) with us. Everyone was so kind and it was a humbling experience to see how well and happy they are, with so little. Gobinda is of the Tharu tribe and he tells us that their religion is nature, and they live in harmony with nature. It really shows.
Back to our Eco Lodge and a wee rest before we meet for dinner. I head down early and sit in the Tiger’s Den lounge. Shortly I am joined by Margaret & Caryl, and then one by one Gobinda brings the group to the lounge. He has decided he will join us for dinner tonight which is awesome.
We are now ready to go in for dinner and Gobinda says we are going for a very short walk first before heading in for dinner (later Caryl confesses that she whispered to her Mom, “let’s head back to the lounge, I don’t want to go for a walk”). We walk past the reception and down the walk a very short ways and enter into a small path in the bush. As we slowly walk in, slightly confused as to our destination, lit lanterns glow through the forest and a private dining area appears. OMG, it was magical – like walking into a fairy forest. Gobinda giggles and is thrilled that his surprise worked. We are having a specialty ‘Bush Dinner’ for our group – absolutely first class!
First we are seated at small tables and served hors d’oeuvres and drinks and chat under the stars. Then we are invited to the lovely set dining table and are served a full course dinner. We are so full from the hors d’oeuvres we can barely finishing our meals. What a wonderful, wonderful finale to our time here.