Talk about your nail biter. Rebecca and her boyfriend Sammy were scheduled to fly Chicago-Doha-Kathmandu, arriving 2 AM today, Tuesday. (Rebecca was at the American Diabetes Association meeting.) Our flight to the Chitwan National Park was scheduled to leave Kathmandu at 10:15 AM. Plan was, they would come to the hotel, catch a few Zs and we’d all head out for two days in the jungle at Chitwan. Safari, Elephants, Canoe Ride, more Safari.

Problem was, their flight to Doha was late and the connection to Kathmandu was on time so they missed the flight. No problem, they could hang out in the Qatar lounge, get a shower, some food, some Zs. Not a bad way to spend 8 hours. Second problem: their flight got to Kathmandu OK but then circled again and again, probably due to weather in the area. Finally they landed. Jeff met the plane, discussed the situation with the Buddha Air folks (diplomatic relations may need a few days to heal) and at the last minute, onto the transfer bus they came. All’s well and we’re all ten of us in Chitwan at the Taj Safari resort.

This Taj hotel is part of the Taj group, which is largely owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur, India, where we visited just last week.

The resort is magnificent. Individual cabana-style cabins complete with outside shower and an individual front-porch infinity pool. Our unit overlooks the Rapti River where crocodiles will appear in the late afternoon. There’s a rather flimsy looking wire fence between us and the river to keep the rhinos where they belong.

Lunch was a four-course sit down affair – soup, fish, chicken noodles, rice, vegetables in a curry sauce and a bunch of stuff I enjoyed but can’t remember.

The big event today was a 4 PM safari by jeep. Our naturalist gave us a thirty-minute slide presentation of what we might see. The big deal here is the tiger. One with two cubs has been spotted recently in front of the lodge but they are rare. Rhinoceroses are more common. Spotted deer are just about everywhere. But of course there are no guarantees.

In the end, we did see lots of spotted deer. We saw a peacock and several other birds, including a red headed ibis, similar in shape to the ibis we see every day in Florida. We saw the head of a crocodile floating in the Ripta Rive. And, at the very end of our journey, sure enough, we found a rhino and her baby. Quite a thrill.

Dinner tonight was outside and included entertainment by a troupe of dancers from the local community. I didn’t follow all of the explanation but the gist of it seems that the local tribe, the Tharu people, dance these dances to keep their culture alive. Some seemed to be stylized war dances. The grand finale had us all up dancing a variety of moves, all to the beat of drummers and a chorus of women singers chanting who-knows-what. The dancing was inserted between an elaborate appetizer course (multiple items served individually) and the main course that had something to do with chicken and a lot of other items served with little illumination. But it tasted good and will hold us to breakfast.

Breakfast will be served in the jungle. We report for another round of safari tomorrow at 7:30 AM