Home from the jungle!

A safari has always been on my wish-list of things to do, and I can now cross that off!!! The past few days were some of the most incredible moments of my life. As you can see by the countless elephant pictures, that was my favorite aspect :) Also a favorite was the cultural program we saw, but the pictures don't do any justice. We saw a performance of traditional dances of the Tharu tribe (from the Chitwan area). The boys were amazing! They used long sticks which were swung around like batons, hit each others' sticks from front and behind, all to this incredible music that came from two instruments - mini tambourines and a drum. I kept thinking of all the head injuries I would cause by attempting the dances. But, my chance came at the end when the audience was asked to dance onstage. Both Adelaide and I danced and had an absolute blast (without the sticks!!!)! I can't describe the feeling of dancing around with these incredibly talented boys, trying to immitate their every move, and actually succeeding!

So back to the elephants....we went on an elephant ride thru the jungle (and the river) and saw all kinds of wildlife - rhinos, deer, peacocks, crocodiles, and of course lots of spiders and bugs! When we passed another group, I couldn't stop laughing when a guy asked if I had any grey poupon!

As much fun as the elephant ride was, it paled in comparison to our experience earlier that day....bathing with the elephants! Most of my pictures are from that time, and I'm so glad our guide was our photographer. It was really scary at first, to be riding bareback on an elephant, and then to have the elephant wade into the river. The elephant trainer (called a mahout) stood on the back end and started shouting commands. All of a sudden the elephant filled his trunk with water and aimed over his head, right in our faces!!!! After a few sprays we were loving it and felt more comfortable. But then the elephant rolled over in the water and we fell off laughing. Other people were on elephants as well, so we all took turns laughing at each other trying to stay on. I must say that despite being on the largest of the elephants, Adelaide and I did the best job of staying on! When the elephant was laying in the water we would help with scrubbing and massaging. It was amazing to look in their eyes, such thick eyelashes!!! Back on we would go, and get sprayed over and over again - so much fun!!! After looking at pictures, we realized that at one point, we were riding the elephant without the mahout, bareback by ourselves!!! Either he was amazed by our talent, or simply trusted the elephant :) Elephant bathing was by far the most terrifying and exhilarating experience of my trip so far!