Strike in the Terai

The strike only affected travel between Kathmandu and the Terai.  No vehicles could travel the road without threat of violence.  If I hadn't planned my trip so tightly, I would have been just fine with another day in the jungle.  I had so many things left unfinished in Kathmandu.  I was also very worried about the hassle of rescheduling my flights and about my husband having to arrange more child care in my absence.

But, there was nothing I could do.  So, we just made the best of our extra day.

In the morning, Smiley offered us an extra walk in the jungle to see if we could find rhino.

He sent a young man ahead of us to make sure the path was safe.  There is no telling what could be watching us from behind that tall grass.

He climbed trees, trying to find rhino for us.

We saw some men fishing.

They hadn't seen any rhino.

We waded across the river.  I apparently committed a faux pas by wearing my shoes around my neck.  Causing the locals to laugh.  Criminals are made to wear shoes around their neck as a public chastisement in Nepal .

We ran into a buffalo herder.

He hadn't seen any rhinos since yesterday.

But it was another beautiful walk.

Past interesting fields.

 I had to give up on the rhino photo this trip.  Perhaps next time.

Hunters in the Jungle

Maruni Sanctuary Lodge

I'm glad they are not hanging real animal heads a la 'Hemingway.'

"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter. You will meet them doing various things with resolve, but their interest rarely holds because after the other thing ordinary life is as flat as the taste of wine when the taste buds have been burned off your tongue." (from 'On the Blue Water' in Esquire, April 1936) - Hemingway


OKALI  DOKALI!
What a scary thought.


I like to hunt with my binnies, binoculars.