Our drive that afternoon, to Chitwan National Park is thankfully on much straighter, roads. Now that we are out of the mountains and driving from West to East, closer to India, there are no drop offs to contend with. This however, seems to encourage Binud to drive even faster and we arrive in Chitwan feeling pleased to be alive but suffering from adrenal exhaustion.
Chitwan is another very hot place and there are only two other couples staying at the Jungle Wildlife Camp.
Thankfully within half an hour of arriving it pours with rain and then a freak hailstorm. The kids are so excited by the peach stone size hail that they dash around in their clothes and collect them in cups. The temperature drops by about ten degrees which is just as well as there seems to be a complete electricity block out here and without a fan, let alone AC, we might just expire. We suck on hail stones and watch the river from the verandah.
We have booked a safari Jeep for the whole day through the park for the next full day. Considering the heat and the presence of wild animals, this is really the only option.
At breakfast we see a Mugger Crocodile, of the people eating variety as opposed to the fish eating Gharial.
Crossing the same river on a tiny canoe, half an hour later, we keep a close eye on another similar crocodile sitting on a nearby bank.
There is a very disheartening solution to a potential crocodile attack; the guides carry a stick. Luckily it is a short trip!
Because we have left by 6.30am, the temperature is cool and as we set off in the Jeep, we kid ourselves that the whole day will be a shady cool hiatus from the weather of the last couple of days.
For quite some time, we drive through the forest where we spot deer and some beautiful birds. The big draw card is whether we will see one of the 126 tigers who are resident in the forest. It is very likely that we will see the endangered Rhino as they number about 600 and tend to hang out in water holes at this time of year.
Once we are out on the grassy planes of the park, (where the temperature hikes up considerably) we see our first wild rhino hiding in the grass, followed by the mysterious heavy breathing of a sloth bear. We have no idea what a sloth bear looks like but it certainly has some nasal issues. We cut the engine and peer expectantly into the long moving grass which is over 2 metres high.
After some time, it seems that the bear has moved away so we continue on. The discovery of a tiger print is exciting as the path is muddy from last night’s rain.
We have some fantastic ‘feel good’ family moments where we look at the kids and see the absolute joy on their faces and try to put aside the price of the day which has exceeded our daily budget by about $300. Nepal is not as cheap as we were hoping, but there are some experiences that we can’t miss. Granted there may be a number of experiences that we miss further down the track when our activities budget (let’s just pretend that we actually have one) runs out!
Anyway, back to the feel good moments, we see in total, 19 rhinos, deer, monkeys, birds, squirrels, a tiger print, a Gharial Crocodile nursery and at the very end of the day, as we are consoling ourselves that tigers are only spotted about seven times a year, we see movement in the grass, and smell the aroma of a sloth bear. We come to a dead stand still and listen as it roots around in the dirt, banging the dirt with it’s paws, unearthing a termite mound. It pops out onto the path and it’s actually a bear, not the sloth that we were expecting. Apparently more people are injured in the park from Sloth Bear attacks than anything else, which sounded a little silly before, but now that we have seen the size of the Sloth Bear, we can understand.
Rhinos have such interesting folds. This one is also missing it’s horn which apparently the birds peck away at. 
We take the canoe trip back over the river, only to find a Rhino standing in the river outside our hotel. Number 20 of the day, followed by an Elephant bath and another spectacular lightening and hail storm.
A giant cockroach and a spider in our room, finish our wildlife experience for the day. I think I prefer a sloth bear. The night is hot and without power so we decide to return early to Kathmandu the next day where the temperature will be slightly cooler due to the altitude.
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