Now that I've conquered yak-riding, I thought I would give elephant-riding a go...So this past weekend, 2 other volunteers and I made the 3-hour journey down from the hills to Siliguri, where we then transferred to the vehicles that would be taking us the 5 hours to Jaldhapara National Park, located southeast from Darjeeling and at only 61 meters in altitude, very hot on the plains of India as it is now summer here too. The heat is unique here...it is definitely hot, but the humidity, combined with the dust and pollution, leaves a sticky feeling to the skin that is an experience in itself. I felt like we finally arrived in India, not only because of the heat, but also with the drive through towns where bicycles, rickshaws, autorickshaws, trucks, cars, cows, goats, dogs, and pedestrians all jockey for space on the roads, then passing by endless fields, and seeing people bathing in the rivers we passed. Seeing cows not only in those fields, but also wandering errantly through the streets of the towns we went through, I had the thought..."Only in India!" Our group was composed of the three of us, then 4 nurses who all went to school together in London, and a retired anesthesiologist with his wife from Calcutta. We stopped for lunch along the way, then another stop at Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, where we spent a hot half an hour sweating at the top of an observation tower, not really seeing anything, but completely soaked by the time we came back to the vehicles. After a flat tire along the way, we arrived at Jaldhapara Park, pulling up to the Hollong Forest Tourist Lodge after a 15-minute drive down a gravel road, deep into the jungle of the park. Our room was very nice, with a Western-toilet and a shower that looked oh-so-inviting! One of the leftover influences from the British that I've come to expect here is afternoon tea, which was lovely after a long drive. Surprisingly, a hot beverage actually helps to cool you down. Dinner was great, and the shower helped to make me feel human again. The mosquito nets brought Africa memories rushing back, and having been at elevation and cool weather for the past 2 weeks, reminded me why I was taking malaria prophylaxis. I fell asleep to the chirping of the geckos adorning our walls, and the call of wild animals that sounded like they were just outside our window! Now, we had booked at this particular lodge for the sole reason that you are guaranteed an elephant ride the next morning. That's right...an elephant ride!! So at 6 the next morning (early because it's cooler and there's a better chance of seeing the animals that are still waking up and not moving very fast), we climbed the stairs to the elevated platform, where a line of elephants was waiting for us, saddled up and with a "driver" sitting on the back of each one's neck, armed with a gun, a machete, and a hooked spear attached to a rope...didn't want to really think about the purpose of these as we lumbered off into the jungle! Each elephant took 4 people, so we climbed on, 2 to a side with our backs to the other person and our legs hanging down on the elephant's side. My elephant was a new mother, so her baby stuck right by us the whole time...it was soooo cute! I don't think it stopped eating the whole trip, pulling down branches and uprooting grass like there was no tomorrow...it was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for this little guy! Now, the elephant is a large animal, and was pretty good about judging it's own way through thick brush and under overhanging branches, but was not so good in judging the space needed for 4 people riding atop its back through the same thick brush and under hanging branches! Needless to say, my flip-flop came off at one point, going through a mess of branches, and probably the highlight of the whole trip for me was the driver turning the elephant around, giving her a command, then watching her pick up my flip-flop with her trunk, pass it over her head to the driver, who then handed it back to me!!! So amazing!! OK, so I've ridden a horse before, albeit a long time ago, and I've recently ridden a yak, but riding an elephant is a task that requires a certain style...the rhythm of an elephant's gait causes any passengers on its back, despite being on the saddle with an iron bar holding you in, to have the sensation of almost falling off with every step! So the whole ride through the jungle, we saw a couple of monkeys, and then we passed a watering hole where there was a one-horned rhinocerous, which they call a unicorn rhinocerous, the park being home to 50 of these animals whose numbers have been decimated recently by poachers, just chilling out in the water, watching us as we strolled by. We also saw a good number of birds, including peacocks, and then as we were headed back to the lodge, our driver pointed out a rotting tree to which we sidled up alongside, only to see the largest python curled up, thankfully sleeping, in the base of this hollowed out tree...it must have just eaten the biggest meal ever, since the diameter of it was just immense!! I was grateful when we started moving again, and shortly thereafter reached the platform and "disembarked." Absolutely incredible and the ride of a lifetime!
After breakfast we loaded into the vehicles to head back to Siliguri, making a couple of stops along the way, which helped to break up the 5-hour drive. We first stopped at a leopard refuge center, and took a short ride through their pen in an enclosed vehicle (imagine it getting even hotter than previously described), not even going a minute into the journey before we saw our first leopard, sauntering right down the path towards us! That one was followed by 2 more, who then broke off and headed into the jungle. We also saw one just hanging out in the shade, and he was probably the largest, his eyes the color of amber, just staring intently at us as we stopped not 15 feet from him! There were also some Bengal tigers that we were not able to get close enough to really see, they had just been rescued from a circus that had not treated them very well.
We made it back to Siliguri just fine and early to boot, which was good since it's a 3-hour drive from there to Darjeeling. Had no trouble finding a shared taxi, but things did not go so well, from the flat tire just outside of Siliguri that probably was the result of having 15 people in a 10-seat vehicle, but was fixed after a half hour. We were on our way again, but not for long, when the transmission blew and our vehicle became dead on a very steep hill...good thing for the emergency break! After getting some of our money back, we started walking, having another 2 hours (driving) to go, and it would soon be dark. We were able to get in touch with our volunteer coordinator and with her many contacts, she was able to arrange a taxi for us, which had to come from Darjeeling down to get us, but we had to meet it at a certain point and ended up having a nice stroll uphill about 10 km...actually felt good after sitting for so long in a jeep. Long story short, everything that could have wrong did on the trip back to Darjeeling, but it was well worth it and we ended up back at the hostel around 10 last night...having been up since 4:30 in the morning to ride elephants, we were quite exhausted! Can't quite believe I'm starting my 3rd week here, time is really flying!!
We made it back to Siliguri just fine and early to boot, which was good since it's a 3-hour drive from there to Darjeeling. Had no trouble finding a shared taxi, but things did not go so well, from the flat tire just outside of Siliguri that probably was the result of having 15 people in a 10-seat vehicle, but was fixed after a half hour. We were on our way again, but not for long, when the transmission blew and our vehicle became dead on a very steep hill...good thing for the emergency break! After getting some of our money back, we started walking, having another 2 hours (driving) to go, and it would soon be dark. We were able to get in touch with our volunteer coordinator and with her many contacts, she was able to arrange a taxi for us, which had to come from Darjeeling down to get us, but we had to meet it at a certain point and ended up having a nice stroll uphill about 10 km...actually felt good after sitting for so long in a jeep. Long story short, everything that could have wrong did on the trip back to Darjeeling, but it was well worth it and we ended up back at the hostel around 10 last night...having been up since 4:30 in the morning to ride elephants, we were quite exhausted! Can't quite believe I'm starting my 3rd week here, time is really flying!!
