Back To Bardia National Park
I didn’t stay in Chitwan National Park for too long I was intent on doing some more photography in Bardia National Park with Wild Trak Adventure. (www.wildtrakadventure.com) John, Chris and myself were hoping to do some photo traps in a high traffic area where we found Tiger, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Crab Eating Mongoose, and Leopard Cats among others but that goal was squashed due to lack of battery power. That was not enough to stop us from exploring the Babai River area for a second time. There are no tourists what so ever and we camp in the jungle in hammocks.
Permits to camp are not cheap and a guide is always present from the park. We got a good one this time, someone john had worked with before who has something like twenty years experience in the park. This time around we didn’t walk in to our specific site but drove all the way on a jeep trail so we could have more time in a specific area. In both parks, Chitwan and Bardia, the elephant herds were said to have headed for the foothills. Apparently they do that right before the monsoon season.
We were permitted to drive to one of the park stations with the understanding that if the elephants destroyed the jeep it was on us. The park would not be liable for any damages. We walked the last few miles with a knee-high river crossing to another station where elephants had been reported and very close to our site. The temperature hung around 44 C. It was hot and the river crossing was refreshing but then its back to sweating. We found Tiger and elephant tracks on the far riverbank and cut through the forest to the station where we met the Captain who recognized us all and gave us tea and biscuits and a short conversation. He was happy to see us and liked our spirit. I think he was more interested in the hammocks than anything else. He walked with us and helped set up camp. When all was done he and our guide returned to the station where they all sleep and left us to the animals.
There were a few Swamp Deer, Spotted Deer, and Black Faced Languor hanging around and we all went quiet in our camouflaged camp and watched the night come on. Walking around in the riverbed tells the tale of what creatures are in the area and I think there were fewer tracks than last time but you never really know what’s coming in the night.
The next morning the captain and our guide returned and said some elephants could be seen near the station and we should pack for a morning walk. We had a quick tea and packed cameras and water and headed back to the station. We only had three nights and two of the days were getting in and out of the park so sightings were taken with certain urgency. Very close to the station we could see a couple elephants at the edge of a clearing. We watched for a while as more elephants appeared but couldn’t get very good photos so we decided to intercept them at the river where they’d be in the open. We worked our way to the river listening to the elephants trumpet in the distance and found a spot where we could watch both sides of the forest they were grazing in. While waiting we found an abandon Peacock nest and no elephants showed. Eventually we headed back to the station and down to our camp for lunch.
We had some exploring to do up some different draws and streams. There were lots of Tiger tracks and deer tracks. There was a well-worn trail that I thought was a game trail until we spoke with the people at the station. They explained that they use the particular trail as a short cut to another station. Small pools of water gather periodically where a Tiger could soak and escape the heat. The night was also rather quiet except for a Tiger roaring several times in the distance. That was awesome while you are sleeping in a hammock in the middle of the jungle with a thin piece of nylon between you and fate.
The captain and guide showed up the following morning and told us that a Tiger had made a recent kill near the station and would most likely return to it. We changed plans and decided to go back to the station where we parked the car because there was a viewing tower and a vast expansive river and grasslands. We set out and moved quickly down the short cuts we had learned in the area until we reached the river we had to cross. The crossing wasn’t difficult but when we reached the other side and looked up a large bull elephant was walking down the jeep trail right at us. We four were standing in the shallow of the river and surrounded by white round rocks with no escape. We immediately changed course and moved off to one side and let the bull get to the water. He raised his trunk smelling the air with us on it. He turned and we backed up even further but still had the elephant decided to charge it could easily been a fatal situation.
The elephant moved on into the river and showered suspiciously watching us as he threw water over himself periodically turning in our direction then moving on. That was close. We carried on to the tower and set up camp off away from the tower. When we got up to the nearby station for a water refill they told us there was a herd of thirty elephants in the neighborhood and urged us all to sleep in the tower. We anxiously drove the jeep through the jungle during the hot hours of the afternoon looking for tracks and signs of the herd and return for evening animal activity.
I do have to mention at least once that the jeep was great and comfortable but with all the rough roads wires would pop loose periodically and we’d have a bottle of water and stare into the engine compartment waiting until one of us noticed a wire off it’s connection mount. The true problem with this was that the jeep had been rewired leaving snarls of cut wires with no purpose and easily confused with live wires. The other really fun part was the elephants had past through and knocked down trees across the jeep trail. Periodically the trees were bigger than six people can move including the guide, so we hacked at them with a machete. It didn’t take long.
The tower proved to be a great choice for the night. When we returned and parked the jeep at the local station the commander again urged us to stay in the tower. At sunset a small herd of 8 elephants including 2 or 3 young ones walked out into the edge of the clearing and we watched from the tower hoping they would come close. They seemed suspicious and hung to the edge of the trees until the young ones went passed and crossed the river below us. Two large males stood at the back of the herd and watched for a following Tiger. Where we saw elephant tracks we also found a fresh set of Tiger tracks on top of the elephant tracks.
Samba and Spotted Deer came to the river and drank while others crossed and disappeared in the underbrush. We relaxed the night away and again a Tiger called out in the night. We were 5 miles from where we were last night and with the recent kill we figured we were in no danger.
We packed and scooted out the next morning. I still had a couple days before I had to go to Katmandu so we were planning on going to the town of Tikapur the next day and just take a look around for the Gangetic dolphin. Never a dull moment.
