Tiger before my eyes: An unexpected encounter in Bardia

I heard the driver say tiger, but he said it like he had seen a jackal. He didn’t slow down or go faster.

Wisps of mist rose like incense smoke from the meditatively slow river. Across it, the jungle was still in a deep slumber. We waded barefoot, halfway up to the knees, stepping easily from a village into Bardia National Park, the largest protected area in Nepal’s lowlands.

Tulasi, the veteran jungle guide who was my chaperon for the day, did not take the crossing lightly. “We are now in a jungle,” he began as soon as I had put my shoes back on. His tone was ceremonious, like a teacher ushering in a new pupil at a gurukul, the Vedic school in which students lived with teachers in a forest hermitage. “There are tigers and rhinos and elephants here. It’s rare, but if we run into any of them, there are certain ways to protect ourselves. If it’s a tiger, never turn your back on it; stand tall and stare into its eyes, then walk backward, one step at a time. If a rhino charges you, hit it on its nose with a stick. There is only one way to escape an elephant: climbing a tree—a tall tree.”

Tulasi then handed me a four-foot-long staff, as though it was a rifle. I looked around. We were on a jeep track that bisected a grassland. The nearest trees were several hundred meters away, and they were all sal hardwoods, straight as Roman columns, their first limbs some thirty feet from the ground.

I processed the survival tips and our surrounding topography, and in my head, Tulasi’s spiel condensed to: Each man for himself when under attack from a wild animal.

After the statutory pep talk, Tulasi turned onto a trail that passed through grass ten feet tall. I kept picturing a rhino or a tiger charging us around a corner. I tightened my grip on the stave Tulasi had given me. Of course, by then Tulasi was in tiger-showing mode, an avatar that guides in Bardia assume when in the jungle. In that mode, their desire to find a tiger is second only to a tiger seeking a partner during mating season.

As I walked behind the old-timer, I wondered what I had done to give him the impression that I was desperate to see a tiger. One of my happiest childhood memories is being in sal forests, to which my uncle and cousins occasionally took me when they went hunting. Those days of combing dappled jungles for quarry ceased abruptly when Maoist guerillas moved into the wilderness. But now, the rebellion over, I wanted to be among the ancient sals again. I harbored a faint hope of seeing a tiger, but it was never the reason for my coming to Bardia.

Places to stay

Thakurdwara, the village at the doorstep of the Bardia National Park, is one of the fastest growing areas in terms of hotels and guesthouses. You will be spoiled for choices there. Here are some recommendations:

Tharu Home Resort

As the name suggests, this place is built and decorated to resemble a traditional Tharu home, complete with finger-painted animal figurines on the facades of huts. It combines the traditional and the modern to provide a comfortable stay in the midst of nature. The place is solar powered, so guests don’t plunge into darkness with Thakurdwara’s frequent power outages. Rooms start at 1000 rupees a night.

Attractions: a pier extending into the canal in front of the hotel makes an idyllic spot to unwind at the end of a sapping day in the jungle. The Tharu cuisine here is delicious.

Contact: 9848022906 (Mohan Chaudhary); www.tharuhomeresort.com

Bardia Eco Lodge

In terms of leaving carbon footprints, a stay at this place is like gliding over the ground. This lodge takes environment-friendly practice to new heights. They even have compost toilets! Not that they have only given thought to being green. Their rooms are minimalist delights, with traditional Tharu décor. Even if you don’t stay there, their dining hall is worth a visit for their collection of Tharu household articles.

Attractions: secluded location, situated along a river. The bar on the first floor of their dining hall has a wonderful view of the river, where sometimes animals come to drink.

Contact: 9848237634 (Madhu Tharu); www.bardiaecolodge.com

Anjali Dolphin Resort

The name is almost an attempt to camouflage the exquisite taste of the owner of this resort. Everything – from straw mats to the bed sheets to the dustbins – in the small cottages here are designed and woven by Tharu craftsmen. The walls and floors are adobe, done like the interiors of Tharu houses. There is nothing traditional about the bathrooms, whose fittings would rival any luxury hotels of Kathmandu. The resort is owned by a Frenchman, and he lets it be known through his dining room, which is decorated beautifully, down to the plates with Maithali paintings and custom-made cutlery.