We met a few people and all decided to get access permits and hire our two mandatory guides together for a safari style day trip into the park. Although all was explained to us before setting out, some details were missing so I asked what kind of safety measures they provided if we were to meet any dangerous animals and they assured us their guides were trained to deal with all emergencies within the animals territory. Before leaving they told us to wear boots and when Bishnu, our guide, saw Emmet limping from a bad leg he asked him if he is still able to run if needed. I thought typical adventure package... scare tactic jokes to make things more fun and with that seven of us headed off into the jungle and grasslands for the day.
We first floated downstream for an hour in a little boat carved from one hollowed out tree trunk. We saw a big spiky crocodile swim right under our tiny boat and then we saw another one hanging out on the riverside right next to us. Then we got out of the boat and set off walking. I saw lots of colourful birds. Then our guide who was more like a wildlife tracker found a deer skin and carcus way up in a tree that we walked under, he told us it was probably a leopard's left overs. I'm thinking to myself; pretty weird that we are walking around here and our two guides are equipped with nothing but a bamboo stick each. After pushing some second thoughts to the back of my mind, we venture on deeper into the jungle. Next, Bishnu sees tiger claw scrapes in a tree and some gigantic tiger paw prints and some fresh dung. I start to get a bit worried for our safety since we are at least three hours walk through thick jungle to get anywhere.
At a calmer point in the day, in high heat (when all the animals find shade and rest) we stop for our pack lunch and sit in the jungle at an open patch of grass and trees. Towards the end of lunch, the guide hears a noise...jumps up, looks through binoculars but before he could focus two gigantic rhinos come thundering out from the high grasses nearby and charge so fast towards us. They were so fast and so enormous. We jumped up, dropped everything and sprinted in the direction of our guides, who were gone so fast ahead of all of us. They had jumped down into a big hole where a tree had uprooted so we followed and jumped down the hole too, where we hid and kept totally quiet. It was pretty freaky. I saw the two fighting Rhinos in full view thundering in our direction, they looked like some powerful creatures from the Lord of the Rings. Their bodies looked like they were made from tough leather or solid plating, their hind legs showed bumpy leathery skin at the back, they were light grey and were so alien to me that it seemed like a realtime computer generated visual to me. The whole half minute or so seemed completely unreal. Thankfully the rhinos poor sight and hearing saved us and soon they were gone.
When they left we went back to where we had lunch and they had flattened everything. The guides were high on adrenalin and totally terrified! Then the real wake up call happened for all of us, as we all realized that we were exposed in the territory of some serious animals. We were shaken with fear and it was far too obvious that our guides were too. Then we headed back slowly in complete silence while all kept watch out for Rhino, Bengal Tigers, and Leopards. I am so relieved we didn't encounter anymore animals. Two guys that are staying in our place told us they had a face off with a tiger for about 20 mins and had to stay still and stare and hope that the tiger would back off. When signing up for it we didn't really believe we would come so close to getting squashed by a wild animal. I thought we'd be up on lookout towers for a lot of the time, watching and waiting from a safe place! Maybe it was naive of me but all safaris I've heard of include jeeps and tranquilizers!
Its a good story but the day was very scary. Feeling tense and fearful for a full non-stop ten hour jungle walk is not good for the stress levels. I slept well last night!
I remember our guide straight after was more worried about if we got a photo, than if everyone survived! Rhino in picture is not actual Rhino we encountered: Photos were not a priority at the time!
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