Friday, April 11, 2008
22 March 2008
An hour later trumpeting elephants woke me up and I thought maybe they caught the smell of a tiger. I went back to sleep and dreamed that I sat up in bed and watched three tigers (a mom and two nearly grown cubs) pad silently by in the moonlight. Then I dreamed that people had come to fix our toilet because I heard a bunch of banging and some kind of sawing noise. That turned out to be our neighbor, banging on the wall to try to scare away the unidentified animal that was chewing on our roof.
Nights in the jungle aren't necessarily peaceful.
In the morning we had a bird walk. We saw a bunch of neat jungle birds. My favorite was the paradise flycatcher, a little white bird with a long, curly tail and a black crested head. I think I got some good pictures of one with my film camera. I'll have to wait and see.
On our bird walk we saw the rhino counters heading out. The resort uses female elephants to tote us around, but the rhino counter pachyderms were males. Unlike African elephants, only the male Asian elephants have tusks. Here's one of the beautiful boys.
After the bird walk we had breakfast and then another elephant ride into the jungle. The morning was already getting hot so I didn't figure we'd see a whole lot. We saw some monkeys and "Red Junglefowl" (aka wild chickens), but that was about it. Still, riding elephants is really neat. The best part is hearing them rumbling to each other. It feels like a little earthquake.
In the afternoon we went on a nature walk with a guide and a tracker. We nearly got trampled by an angry rhino. Here he is:
Why are we so close to the rhino? Well, our guides spotted him through the trees laying in a mud puddle taking a little nap. The wallow was right next to the trail we were on so trying to sneak by the dozing rhino would've been a bad idea. Our guide had us wait farther down the trail while the two of them went to wake the rhino up and chase him away. They warned us that they knew this rhino and he'd chased people before. When we heard the rhino crashing around in the bushes everyone in our group started running except for me and the girl who scaled monkey-like up a nearby tree. I was waiting to see if the guides were going to come running down the trail before I took off. One of our guides soon came back and the group returned when they realized the rhino wasn't breathing down their necks. They'd managed to wake him, but he wasn't going anywhere. The rhino knew a bunch of unarmed people (our guides did have big sticks) were no match for him. I wouldn't back down if I were a rhino either.
Our guides called for the elephants. Not on cell phones or radios, they just hollered. Soon there were answering yells (like Marco Polo) and a couple elephants arrived, laden with tourists. They faced the rhino and feeling safer next to the elephants, we happily snapped away on our cameras. The rhino, meanwhile, was evaluating the situation. When he put his head down, I have to admit, I got worried. I wondered if it would be better to run or hide behind an elephant. If I hid behind an elephant would I possibly be smashed or stepped on? How would the elephants react to a charging rhino? Thankfully, a third elephant showed up. Only then, did the rhino decide to back down. He backed away into the jungle and we were safe.
