Today has been incredible, this is the kind of day that made me want to come travelling in the first place. We woke up this morning in our hotel room, with the most beautiful view out of the balcony, before heading down to breakfast. The first thing on our itinerary was canoeing with the crocodiles. In a beautiful wooden boat carved from the trunks of some of Nepalis oldest trees, we sailed down the river amoung the flowers and the Kingfishers, which darted in and out of the water in sudden flashes of Electric Blue.
Once we had arrived on the bank, we took a walk through the wood, learning all about the native plants, their medicinal qualities and their flavours. We came across termite mounds, giant creepers spiralling around great tree trunks, and my favourite: the don't touch me plant. This plant had big beautiful green leaves which fanned out in the sun, but when we touched it, it shied away from us and curled back in upon itself, like something from Avatar.
After our Forrest walk, we went to the elephant breeding park, a national conservation site which aims to increase the population of this once endangered species. Here we saw mothers and their young babies being fed. Later, we took part in Elephant bath time, where we all piled into the river. As they lay down in the water, we sat on their backs so that we could scrub behind their ears, and they sprayed us with water from their massive trunks.
After such an amazing experience of being so close to these magnificent creatures, we headed into the Nepali jungle, on a safari to see these animals in their own wild habitat. We went all through the tall long grass, keeping our eyes peeled for the array of life surrounding us. First we saw wild spotted deer, with great horns and fluffy tails, which were followed by a family of Boars. And as we got deeper into the heart of the jungle, we saw a mother rhino and her baby cooling off in the mid day heat.
Having come back to the hotel, eaten some traditional Nepalese food (Dhal Bart) and had a cold shower, we are absolutely shattered, but we could not be happier. It's the kind of ache that you get when you have done something really worth while, and today went above and beyond anything I expected from this amazing country.
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