You’ve got to feel sorry for the Nepalese in some respects. They live in a spectacular country but lots of mountains means lots of water flowing really fast. The consequences of this are felt mostly by the roads. Landslides and washouts make the roads seem like they’ve been built upside down. Imagine under the jagged rocks and potholes are progressively finer layers of gravel underlain by a smooth layer or bitumen. I’ve only encountered rougher driving terrain underground and in the bush back-blocks of North Queensland and neither of those were designated national highways like the road between Kathmandu and Chitwan. In fact neither of those examples were designated as roads. Notwithstanding the conditions, the driving is like a demolition derby going in both directions round the track but miraculously, in five hours of driving we didn’t see one accident.
The number of buses was inversely proportional to the state of the road and scooters carrying whole families were everywhere. It must be quite daunting to be riding down a steep hill on a wet potholed road with the wife and two kids hanging on for dear life to you and each other and be confronted by two buses next to each other coming straight at you. To make matters worse, there are grand canyon like escarpments feet away on both sides – one going straight up and one going straight down. But the rider’s thinking it’s nothing I haven’t handled before and at least I’m wearing the family helmet.
An entirely smoother mode of transport was experienced later in the afternoon on the East Rapti River as the CB and I and our two travel companions, a guide and two oarsmen crossed to the National Park on the other side for a bit of a safari. The guide helpfully pointed out a crocodile sliding into the river just before he and the oarsmen and the safari Jeep driver who was waiting 50 metres away, on the bank, had to jump into the water to push our grounded boat the remaining way to the shore. Local knowledge I guess.
Rhinos, monkeys, crocodiles and deer were the extent of our safari viewing if you don’t count the army. I think their reason for being there was more to do with poaching and less to do with the proximity of the Indian border. The tigers and elephants remained in hiding although we did see their recent footprints.
Occasionally on our travels the CB and I have encountered hidden gems where you least expect them. One was the Sultana Royal Golf Hotel outside Ouarzazate in Morocco. Incidentally, I am yet to locate the golf course. However it is home away from home for celebrities filming at the movie studios nearby (think Game of Thrones and Gladiator). When we were there, there were only two other guests. The Barahi Jungle Lodge is another of these, here adjacent to the Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal. It’s the feel, the vibe, the je ne sait quoi (that’s French, for the uninitiated). I felt like Richard the Lionhart returning from the crusades, such was our welcome and treatment thereafter. Another keeper.