Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 1 | Page 28

I was sitting just
here, taking a rest.
When I looked up,
there was a tiger
just in front of me,
staring straight at
me.

“It is so easy to see tigers at Bardiya,”Mohan told me.
On my first walk in the jungle with him, he pointed
to a junction of paths and said“I was sitting just here,
taking a rest. When I looked up, there was a tiger
just in front of me, staring straight at me.” He then
proceeded to tell me that the worst thing you could
do is to turn and run, but that the safest option was
to stare at the tiger, and stay still or just slowly back
off. “They don’t usually attack humans,” he said. Of
coursetherearealwaysthefewrogues,theman-eaters
who invade a village and attack people. But this is
usually because they are old, sick or injured and can’t
gettheirfoodanyotherway.Thusreassured,Istarted
to walk with more confidence.

Walking with Santa the day after seeing the tiger, he
held his finger to his lips and froze, pointing to along
a narrow break in the trees that led to a track. There, a
procession of maybe nine or ten elephants, including
babies were striding in single file. My heart in my
mouth, we moved back quietly, hoping we were far
enough not to attract their attention. Back by the river,
we saw a dozen or so women, rushing away as fast as
they could. They had been illegally‘poaching’timber
and were running for their lives.
Tiger Tops Karnali Lodge is set beside the national
park, and guests typically take elephant safaris to go
to see the range of wildlife that Bardiya has to offer.
Domesticated elephants are a delight to be with.They
can be trained up to the age of about two and Tiger
Tops Karnali has eight or so elephants. Part of the

© RMT

I didn’t see a tiger on that visit, but Mohan said “I
can almost guarantee, if you come back in late April
or May, when it’s hot, and if you have the patience to
sit by the river, you will see a tiger.”Sure enough, on a
return visit in late April, I was rewarded by a sighting.
From under the very same tree where Jakob and his
friends had seen the tigress and her cubs, I watched
the male tiger for over an hour, sitting in the water,
cooling off.

“But you have to be very careful of the wild elephants
and rhinos.” Of all the animals, the elephant is
probably the most fearsome, as it’s so strong and fast.
They can be a serious menace in the villages, where
they do untold damage to property and kill anyone
that dares stand in their way.

Wildelephantonthe prowl(Photo:MarianneHeredge)

28

January 2012 - Issue 1