Category Archives: Photography

The following morning was Thursday and Jack had encouraged some of us to get up at the crack of dawn to head up river and look for evidence of Rajim following the sighting made by Jack’s bird group. As the main group was planning to take the elephants for a bathe in the river later that morning after a late breakfast, this seemed like a good plan. Tessa and I therefore agreed to join Jack, Susanna, David D-W and Captain Sarah and Bhim was assigned to guide us.

Tessa’s log: Earthdate 19 April 2012

Temperatures: 06:00  24°C    14:00  38°C    19:00  31°C

06:30 Bhim, Jack, Tessa, David DW, Susannah, Sarah A, Sarah L – walk up river to try to find Rajim´s footprints and/or dung from yesterday. Footprints (20” = were found on other side of the river (by dint of wading across), but no dung.

The lure of camaraderie

I admit at this point that the idea of a long walk before breakfast would usually have been a difficult sell for me. However, I found that getting up was a lot easier in Nepal than at home. The attraction of waking up in a tent to the sounds of the forest and the warmth of the sun always made it easy to hop out of bed and embrace the world.

There was, of course, the added attraction of this particular group of individuals. How could I not be persuaded to join them? Jack was a lovable rogue, Sarah easily admirable and always good for a laugh, and of course Tessa, my best and most trustworthy buddy. Being generally quiet, yet surrounded by an air of growing contentment, Susannah remained deeply intriguing, and David D-W could draw images that looked like photographs using a pencil! My heart rose at the mere memory of his abilities and he carried himself with such charm. I was already a huge fan. Although his wife will be pleased to know that I was reserving my own natural flirtiness for both Jack and Sarah.

There is definitely something intoxicating about sharing such an emotionally explosive, extreme adventure with a relatively small group of people. In my opinion the bonds formed during a ‘work hard/play hard’ scenario of such intensity are some of the most cherished. These relationships may not last beyond the trip but at the time the people you find yourself waking with, walking with and working with, seem like the most fascinating you’ve ever met. Those who were strangers until you met at the hotel, quickly become like family. Which is just as well as you occasionally find yourself trusting them with your health, safety and well-being.

Placed in this type of situation I would be described as ‘gregarious’ and ‘transparent’. Which is a nice way of saying ‘gobby’ and a little flirtatious. My mother describes me as a social butterfly and my father hangs his head when forced to remember my antics as a young woman. When it comes to life, the universe and absolutely everything, my husband and sons know there is very little I’m not willing to talk about squarely, openly and in-depth.

This approach to life can appear somewhat brash to some. To others it can be anything from amusing to down-right embarrassing. Peter, a true gent from a generation expected to be seen and not heard, quietly revelled in the novelty of it. To young Jack and Sarah it was an invitation to be as open and honest in return. And herein lies the real benefit to transparency. The more open you are, the more other people will reveal of themselves to you. Under these circumstances certain types of people will reciprocate with bright-eyed joy in the freedom of it and there begins what will feel like a meeting of minds. Mutual appreciation will ultimately turn into mutual attraction. Pheromones go crazy. Chemistry flies. Married women find themselves having to have serious talks with themselves on a regular basis. Trust me, I’m an expert. Luckily it is this bit I like best. The really naughty stuff seems unnecessary in comparison. This is what is known as ‘love of the chase’. It saves many of us from being truly bad. Sadly however it does not prevent us from making complete and total idiots of ourselves occasionally… but that was all still to come.

So, when asked if I might join a walk along the river with some of my most precious new friends I jumped at the chance. I wanted to spend as much time with these people as I could. And I guess I was also a little interested in finding elephant footprints and even dung too.

Competitive by nature

We took a jeep as far as we could before going on foot, through the head-high grasses along the bank and down to the water. As a group we followed Bhim along the river’s edge. The pebbles under our feet threatening to twist our ankles with every step and the further we went the larger and looser they became.

We soon reached the area where Jack’s team had spotted the bull elephant the day before. We scouted around for some time but found nothing of interest. The terrain on this side of the river was not conducive to footprints and there were no signs of any elephant droppings. All we found was some rhino dung that looked at least a few weeks old.

Bhim suggested that the other side of the river would be a better bet and, leaving us sitting in the morning sun on the pebble beach, he began to wade across.

The river was fairly wide and the water rose to thigh height at its deepest. Bhim used his walking stick to keep his feet from being swept out from under him as he forded the middle section which ran fast. We all watched him as he crossed, shielding our eyes from the sun with our hands so we could keep up with his progress.

With time to contemplate, I gave myself another layer of suncream whilst listening to the quite conversations going on around me. Jack and Tessa had already begun to discuss the possibilities of their following in Bhim’s footsteps across the river. Captain Sarah and Susannah were chatting with David about life at home.

It wasn’t too long before Bhim had crossed the river. He was clearly used to carrying out such feats. Within minutes of him reaching the other side he had scouted the far bank and was yelling across at us that he had found both footprints and dung. That was all the incentive Jack and Tessa needed. They were off!

Tessa simply waded into the water in her shoes which were designed specifically for being able to do just that. Jack had to take his boots off, string them together and hang them round his neck. This set him several metres behind Tessa from the outset but his competitive streak was in full play and they were both clearly aiming to reach the other side first.

Sarah and I agreed that there was more than a little part in both of us that wished someone would fall in. I had my video camera at the ready. Sadly however they both reached the other side without incident and disappeared into the greenery beyond.

Behind the curtain

They were gone for some time. I began to worry about the time. We were going to be late back to camp. It also occurred to me as we all sat looking across the river that we were rather exposed. I turned and sat watching the forest behind us instead, just in case. Time ticked on. The conversation between my companions evolved. David was sharing details of his life. His story was deeply personal and deeply moving. Although he talked directly to Susannah, both Sarah and I listened intently.

It can be shocking to peek behind the curtain of someone else’s life. When we first meet someone we learn of the most obvious things about them first and can fall into making assumptions about their lifestyle. We tend to imagine others’ lives as more glamorous than our own. We fabricate truths that must then stand up and be tested when the facts are revealed. Occasionally we are not too far from the truth but this is rare. More often than not, real life is nothing like our imaginings. And sometimes reality stops us short and we gasp and watch our preconceptions crumble to dust. In these moments we learn. We learn to appreciate the person baring themselves to us. And we learn to appreciate our own existence. Mine at least can seem sheltered and cushy when compared to the harsh experiences life has seen fit to throw at others.

David is an artist. I had looked up his website and seen a book of his work following our first meeting during the briefing day in January. He is, in my opinion, quite brilliant at what he does. Not only is he is an artist but an explorer too! I had therefore, instantly fabricated my perception of his lifestyle around those facts and assumed a fair amount of glitz.

That morning, on the beach, David described his daily reality. It was so far removed from anything I had imagined that my entire perception of him underwent a dramatic shift. I had admired his work before. Now I admired him as a human being.

Late home again

Eventually Bhim, Jack and Tessa reappeared from the brush and used sign language to let us know they would walk back along their side of the river and cross over where it was narrower. So we set off over the pebbles to meet them.

We were not as late back to camp as I had expected to be. But we were late enough to get an earful from the Colonel. On the plus side, Jack and Tessa’s excursion had won them some clear footprint data and several dung samples to add to our growing collection.

Lesson no. 29: When left waiting on a river bank in tiger territory, don’t forget to look behind you

Photo by Duncan Sharp

After our exciting sighting (what a lovely phrase) of the herd on Wednesday morning, we spent a very hot few hours back at camp while the sun was at its height. At around 14:00 the temperature rose to 38 degrees in the shade.

Tessa’s log: Earthdate 18 April 2012

Temperatures: 06:00  24°C     14:00  38°C    19:00  32°C

15:30:

• Waterholes group – Sarah A, Sarah L, Tony, John E, Mandy, Barry, David DW, Susannah
• Fishing – Rajan, Carolina, Cathy, Peter
• Birding – Bhim, Jack, Villa, David R
• Survey – Duncan, Siv, Graham, Tessa

The waterholes group saw One-tusk.

Survey group found the herd again, which was rather close to the road we were on. The matriarch got quite excitable, but eventually moved off. Bhim Gaj then appeared following them.

The fishing group saw Gangetic dolphins again – probably 2 of them.

Some of the birding group saw Rajim.

The beauty of small things

Over lunch we discussed what each of us would most like to do that afternoon and were split into the most appropriate groups as a result. While Carolina and Cathy decided to take the opportunity to join the fishing group and go for a swim in the river, Jack initiated the idea of taking a group bird watching and, while he took Bhim as a guide, he took on the role of group leader as part of his leadership training. Tessa elected to go out with the survey group.

I elected to tour the watering holes again because I hoped the heat would draw a lot of animals to drink. As it turned out, the largest living thing we were to see throughout most of that afternoon were insects, although I did spend a few intrigued moments poking at a dead boar that lay in the muddy waters of one hole. It was odd to see such a meaty carcass simply lying about, although I suspect it didn’t last long following our visit.

As there was nothing larger to distract me, I was able to focus on the rather stunning insect life. In Bardia insects tend not to appear shy, but instead suggest adjectives such as ‘flouncy’ and ‘in your face’. Butterflies are many, varied and beautiful. Dragonflies buzz about in crazy bright coats of Ferrari red and iridescent blues and greens. Beatles are either madly bright in colour, skittering around the forest floor like animated hundreds and thousands on acid, or ominously black and massive, buzzing through the forest at chest height like enormous airborne tanks.

It made me realise how easy it is to become pre-occupied with the larger mammals and forget about the tiny lifeforms that were all around us, all the time. It is too easy to reduce these creatures to the footnote that requires you to pack heavy-duty insect repellant.

Caterpillars would find their way onto our hats and shirts and into every piece of equipment we possessed. The air was full of long-legged, brightly coloured beasts that would flit past, land on a leaf and either disappear into the background as it shut its wings or loom hugely in front of our eyes as we strolled along, daring the birds to try eating it despite the fact that it’s colours screamed ‘poisonous’!

Every tree in the forest is host to insects of some sort. There are the vicious fire ants that would get people hopping and yelping in their houdas if our elephants took us through any elephant-height fruit bushes. Or the snazzy shield beatles that wandered up and down the tree trunks, their backs sporting the most incredible designer patterns.

In addition to the glorious host of bugs that flew around the forests, some of the most exciting insects were those found around camp and which I had only ever come across on wildlife programs before this. Exotic beasts such as praying mantis, hornets and scorpions had my full attention.

One lunchtime, Siv and Duncan arrived at the mess lodge brandishing a photograph of a large, black scorpion they’d found sitting outside the entrance to their tent. I had to fight back almost as much jealousy at not having seen this spectacle myself as I had when I’d heard about the tiger being spotted. I was however hugely gratified to be rewarded a visit by a stunning, pale green praying mantis the next evening. It landed on the mat right outside tent no.9. I remember looking at the little alien-like thing in all its perfection and finding it odd that it looked exactly like photographs of itself. Even in reality, this spectacular creature was almost too weird to be believed.

Throughout the expeditoin Susannah spent tireless hours putting together a butterfly list, while Jack tried multiple times to set up successful insect traps to catch further nocturnal specimens. These traps became more and more extravegent, eventually becoming a bed sheet suspended in mid air and lit up using a collection of UV insect lights taken from each of our tents. Unfortunately none of his initial efforts worked well at all and his most successful trap attracted two enormous brown mantis which then spent the evening eating every other creature that dared to land. None of us could work out why Jack’s methods failed, but it was a lot of fun watching him try.

The excitement of massive things

Following many hours traipsing from waterhole to waterhole, we found ourselves on our way home in the jeep. The evening light was just beginning to fade and the temperature had dropped to a more reasonable 32 degrees.

Once again, those of us sitting in the back stopped chatting abruptly as our jeep squealed to a halt and the guide pointed into the depths of the high brush we had just driven past.

There stood an elephant, watching us.

It was the bull with one tusk. He stood alone in the brush chewing grass and watching us from about 15 meters away. We all grabbed our videos and cameras and started filming him. Through my camcorder lens I watched as he contemplated the situation for a few moments. Suddenly, without any warning, he was charging us. Hari yelled at the driver to go. The jeep jolted forward. We were all knocked back into our seats. I kept the camcorder running as we were bounced about wildly in the back of the jeep staring at the massive elephant running headlong at us. This time, he really meant it and there was a moment when my thoughts turned to the scene in the movie, Jurassic Park, when the ground shakes as the T Rex bears down on the tiny landrover.

Lucky for us the jeep engine had been kept running. Lucky for us we had stopped beyond the elephant. And lucky for us, once it got going, the jeep was faster than the elephant. Not more than fifty meters on, One Tusk decided we weren’t worth the effort and slowed to a halt. We too stopped. But this time at a much greater distance away.

We waited and watched until he crossed the road behind us. This gave us the shots we needed, from shoulder to ground, to get his height measurements.

When we got back to camp we were to find our elephant sighting was to be trumped once again by the survey group. They had seen the entire herd, with Bhim Gaj, crossing the road as they made their way home. The birding group had also seen a lone bull from a distance, later identified as Rajim, and the fishing group had yet another sighting of Gangetic dolphin.

Tony had been with us for the charge of One Tusk and stood in the mess lodge, video camera in hand, ready to share the footage with his wife. While she had spotted the brown hump of a dolphin as it surfaced briefly in the river, Cathy had yet to see an elephant.

“I don’t believe it,” announced Cathy in wild frustration. “I missed the elephants again. All I got to see was the bloody dolphin.”

“Don’t you dare!” said Tessa in dangerously dark tones. “Have you any idea how many people would give their left arm to see a Gangetic dolphin. Do you realise how rare they are? Don’t you dare complain about having seen one. You should count yourself as lucky.”

The whole mess lodge went quiet as Tessa gave Cathy an unequivical ticking off. Cathy sat in stunned silence for about three seconds before turning to Carolina, who sat next to her.

“Well that’s a bit of a cheek!” she declared. “Who gave her the right to talk to me like that? Perhaps if she’d missed every elephant sighting to date she’d understand. We are here to see the elephants after all.”

There was an awkward hush as Tessa kept glaring at Cathy and Cathy, her back turned squarely away, muttered to those sitting next to her.

“Calm,” I said to Tessa. “Sit down. It’s not worth it.”

Tessa sat. If she had been an elephant her ears would still have been flapping slightly.

“Mmmmmmm….” she said in tones of slatey grey.

“Tell me about your sighting,” I asked in a blatant attempt to switch the focus.

Tessa’s face immediately lit up.

“You should have seen it,” she said in delight. “There was a tiny baby and it fell into the ditch at the side of the road and couldn’t get out. We watched it as it worked out how to escape. It was ridiculously cute.”

If I were wicked, I might have believed that Tessa may have been speaking a little bit louder than usual. Perhaps just loud enough to ensure that Cathy could overhear everything she said. But luckily no one rose to the bait.

The spat was over. We all went back to our dinners.

The next day, Tessa apologised to Cathy and the air was cleared. But it also helped that Cathy was very careful never to grumble about having spotted dolphin again. In fact, she was less grumbly about her daily experiences altogether from that point onwards. She did, however, make Tony promise never to go out without her. They were to share whichever experiences they were lucky enough, or unlucky enough, to live through from then on.

Thankfully Cathy did eventually get to see both lone elephants and a herd.

Lesson no. 28: appreciate the Gangetic dolphin or risk the wrath of Tessa