DAY 218 (Wednesday 07 March 2012)

Today we left camp at 0500 hrs and managed to get out of the valley with ease and as it was HOLI DAY here in NEPAL we were not even covered in powdered paint which apparently is tradition here.  We arrived at MACHAN at 1030 hrs which was good as our first itinerary of the day was lunch at 1300hrs, we were greeted by a porter who took our bags from the car and led us to the garden where we were welcomed with a refreshing drink of lemon squash (it was well received), we were then briefed on what we would be doing that first afternoon.  After our briefing we went to the room to settle in before lunch, so it was a quick freshen up and then headed down to the water hole to see if we could see any animals. 

Our Accommodation

In the distance at the watering hole you could see a Rhino that was heading our way, it looked like he was going to come down to the watering hole, but when he reached the track he headed back up and away from us.  There was also a crocodile that was known as a MARSH MUGGER, they have a tendency to come away from the water during the evening and hunt deer.

Marsh Mugger Crocodile

After we had lunch we went to the crocodile sanctuary before heading out on the Jeep Safari, it was a lot of bumping around the jungle, but it was good to see the different animals that were out an about in the afternoon, even if some of them were hiding in the shade.  There was one place that we stopped to have a look because we could see in the river a Rhino, all you could see was his horn, ears and eyes, it was funny to as the Rhino kept blowing bubbles in the water.

Rhinoceros

After the jeep safari we then were put into a boat that was actually quite low in the water especially when it had plenty of people in it and in this case there were 8 people including the oars man.

The boat

It was such a relaxing time just riding down the river watching all the different birds at the side of the bank and also watching the beautiful sun set.  I could quite happily have just done that all of the time.

Evening Sunset on the River Ride

When we got back to MACHAN we had some time before our evening meal which was to be a BBQ consisting of pork and chicken, but before the BBQ we had a cultural dance that was put on by the local farmers.

Local Farmers Dance

There were 4 dances in total that they did and each one told of a story, but the forth dance all of us were invited to get up and join them, it was fun to do.  After the dance that is when our BBQ dinner was to be served and to be honest, it wasn’t long after that that Charlie and me headed off to bed as we had been up since 0400 hrs that day and we have to be up at 0600 hrs for our Elephant Safari Ride.

So far so good.