Article Elephants in Chitwan

The elephant safari is usually done on the second day of your stay in Chitwan (first day) early in the morning. Off-road vehicles take tourists to the elephant gathering place, where the individual crews are divided.

If you already have some experience with riding an elephant, for example from Thailand, you will find that it is significantly less comfortable here. In Thailand, it is customary to „drive“ a mahout and two tourists sit behind it. There are four of them. It's much more uncomfortable and in addition two are looking back.

After a while, you will find that without the elephant, you would be practically lost here. Most of the terrain here is impassable for humans – mudflats, streams, bushes. In addition, there is a high reed through which you would not otherwise see anything. However, the elephant rides like a tank and goes through everything without any problems.

But don't count on seeing a lot of game here on an elephant ride, like on a savannah safari in Africa. On the one hand, the park is very large and wild elephants move more in the mountains at its southern end, and on the other hand, thanks to the terrain, it is relatively difficult to see game here, unless you are lucky to see a rhino. Most often you will see local deer. It is not uncommon to come across the carcass of an animal torn apart by a tiger.

After about an hour's drive, you will return by car to Sauraha and head to the river, where there is regular bathing of elephants.

If you have a little courage, you can also arrange a shared bath with elephants. For a small contribution of a mahout, you can climb an elephant's back and he will really thoroughly sneeze you with a trunk.

You can still enjoy the elephants here. Mostly in the early evening, after a safari on the river, they go to an elephant farm. Only baby elephants have the privilege of running freely here and you can pet or scratch them. Adult elephants are chained for safety reasons.

Even elephants, like all wild animals, are instinctively afraid of fire. That's why they've been burning piles of grass here since they were little so they can get used to it and eventually not startle during a safari. The second reason for burning grass is the wonder that repels intrusive insects.