Veronika Wild

I am embarrassed about this picture now - these days people come to see animals acting naturally in the wild, rather than exploiting them in some way - By now I had seen most of the major ecosystems in Nepal except the jungle. On the advice of Ramesh my host at Pokkhara, I now pay a visit to the Chitwan National Park also located in the southern lowlands of the Terai. The region is rich in wildlife and home to many endangered species including the Royal Bengal Tiger, Sloth Bears, Leopards, Sambar and Spotted Deer and around 450 species of birds. Two young elephants attest to the success of the Government Breeding program. This year there were 28 pregnancies of which 8 ended in stillbirths. The only problem was that many of these pregnancies were due to wild elephants breaking in and not the local stock. When these elephants are two years old they will be trained to transport tourists around the park. There are many things to do here, including rides in dug out canoes for the masochist...