| Biswo |
Posted
on 27-Mar-01 02:14 PM
This posting is from our reknowned editor Suman Pradhan who
disappoints me in this article.:(Pleas see the following comment)
taken from kantipuronline.com
After years of sitting at a desk in front of a computer, it's funny how you lose your sense of surrounding. The
world beyond the tinted glass windows appear misty and distant, so attached to the job you are. And when, under
those circumstances, you happen to chance upon a brochure touting pristine forests and teeming wildlife, you can
be forgiven for thinking that if heaven did exist, then it must be somewhere in that jungle.
And so it was this past week when just such a brochure got me itchy on the feet. After years of being glued to a
desk and computer, I had forgotten how life outside of the confines of the office looked like. In short, it was
time to take a vacation. And last week, with a couple of friends in tow, I decided to do my bit to boost
domestic tourism - we ventured out of the capital to Sauraha on the edges of the Royal Chitwan National Park.
Many of you who've been there probably have marveled at the pristine forest, the idyllic river that separates
tourist huts from the dense chaar kose jhaadi, the occasional roar of the Royal Bengal Tiger or the thud thud of
a one-horned rhinoceros. No such luck for us. But before we get to that, here's what we though to Sauraha
itself.
The place brims with the ubiquitous bar and restaurant, the loud western music - even rap and reggae, seemingly
in the middle of nowhere - blaring from countless speakers. There's the usual "today's special" menu propped up
near the entrance of every restaurant worth the name, and the tourist-class khadi shirts and shorts hanging from
almost every shop.
If you made the bus trip from Kathmandu fast asleep, you could be forgiven for thinking that you've come not to
some forest but to the heart of Thamel, the hip and cheap tourist neighbourhood of Kathmandu.
And then there is the scenery, or what passes for it. Maybe for Sauraha, we were the wrong sort of the domestic
tourist, the one who's come from the plains of Nepal where a thousand Saurahas bloom. "See how beautiful the
river is," pointed a friend from the hills, casually dipping his feet in the muddy river water. It was obvious
he had never swum in a river or crossed a creek with pants rolled up to the knees. "Look at the sunset over the
forests, nice eh?"
Yeah sure, but plains people encounter such rivers and such sunsets almost everyday everywhere in the Terai.
They've seen that and that and that and that. Several times.
Come to think of it, maybe a tiger sighting or a rhinoceros charge would have turned the vacation around for us.
But again, dream on. You must be extremely lucky to be grouped in the miniscule fraction of tourists who
actually get to see a tiger, or see a rhino charge.
But in the end, the problem is not with Sauraha but with tourists like us. Maybe we should have hit the Everest
trail. Now, wouldn't that be a novelty?
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 27-Mar-01 02:30 PM
When working and touring around Sauraha, which was my favorite
hang out, I have found a few people complaining that they were
ripped off, because they didn't see rhino, or tiger.That their
vaccation was disappointment etc etc. I am surprised Suman is
one of those people who thought a sight of Rhino could have
saved the whole show!
To tell a truth:if you want to see rhino,please don't go to
Sauraha. Go to zoo in Jawalakhel. Sauraha is not zoo, sauraha is
the home of these wild animals. We are just an intruder. We need
to love them. We need to respect their choice. We should know
that Sauraha is a home of 932 sq km jungle, where animals are free
to roam. If you are lucky, you can see them. Otherwise, nobody
guarantee that you will see them their.Again, it is their home,
nobody else is boss, we can't chase the animals, we can't follow
them in the jungle. All a tourist does is pays 200 Rupees an hour
elephant ride and gets into the jungle for a few hours a day. Richer ones are allowed to go to 'governed' camping inside the
park. I am so sad Suman is not among those people who think that
they were merely unlucky visitor in the jungle.
In Sauraha, it is true that most of the visitors are likely to
catch a glimpse of rhino, because they come to swamp of Rapti
river in the evening.Suman so dislikes muddy river, he probably
didn't venture to go out there, and also ridiculed his other
KTM friends for marvelling at the muddy river. The sunset in
Sauraha is different and more beautiful than the sunset from
Tandi, and I used to be so mesmerized by the sunset that I used
to go there in the evening everyday from my house (7 km far
from the sunset place).
While I don't like western music there, I don't see anything wrong
with 'today's special ' pop up menu either. That is sheerly for
convenience of tourists. Suman should note that Sauraha was
totally different even when we were in highschool. That Sauraha
is in the phase of transition now. It will probably be improved.
The first sign: The big hotels inside the park are being removed.
Some of those hotels are reportedly owned by royal families, but
still they are being removed. It shows determination of the people working there in the park. We should commend them for what they
are doing,and what they have done.
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