Bardia National Park.

Quoted in the Lonely Planet as one of the most likely places on earth that you will see Tigers in the wild I thought I'd visit. And, boy did I come mightily, frustratingly close.

A long bus journey west of Butwal took me into the park. The first thing I noticed about the park are the increased road blocks and police checks to search vehicles for any poached parts of beasts. On arrival I decided to stay for two days, day one would be spent trying to spot Gangetic Dolphin in the Karnali River and then on to a Black Buck breading area.

The dolphin spotting provided no results unfortunately. The river was very murky after a previous storm, and there was no sign of leaping or blowing. Black Buck, once widespread through out South Asia, suffered many years of hunting and habitat loss and are now classed as Near Threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The breading site is an excellent place to watch Black Bucks close at hand, and very enjoyable it was watching them fight, leap and run.

Day two was spent on a long jungle walk where hopefully I'd spot tigers. The day started promisingly when over the river my guide and I could hear many warning calls from Spotted Deer. A clear sign of a big cat. But the calls soon wained as whatever was scaring the deer departed for a deeper part of the jungle. As the heat of the day increased, animal activity decreased. However as the afternoon cooled, thirsty beasts started to emerge from the jungle to drink. From our vantage point we could see many deer, monkeys and Wild Boar come out to drink. After an hour or so two female rhinos came for a wallow, one doing a roly poly in the river. And I will never forget the site of a 4 ton rhino gracefully and playfully rolling about in the river! These were soon joined by a big male who also wallowed but did not roll.

As this was happening from the other side of the river the panicked warning calls of many monkeys started. This could only signal one thing - tiger! The calls went on and on, at a distance of perhaps 500 - 600m. The cat was definitely there. However unfortunately he/she decided not to come to the river and drink, and remained hidden in the jungle. Frustratingly close!

I enjoy jungle walks. Standing a few 10s of meters from a wild Rhino or some other beast with nothing but foliage and river in between is a very exciting experience. There is a very real threat that they could charge. So silence and slow deliberate movements are a must. For safety I was given a 3cm by 1.5m bamboo pole to beat any marauding animal with. Quite what a rhino, tiger, wild elephant or any other large jungle resident would make of my stick is hard to fathom. But I was never far from my piece of given security.