The will to explore; an inner cry to be free, far from the modern civilized world; the sudden spotting of a sloth bear; the roar of a tiger; the camouflaged movement of a leopard; a princely elephant ride? Yes I was on an expedition to the animal kingdom, the Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal - the most popular destination for tourists wanting to have a good experience of the region’s wildlife.

With over 50 species of mammals, 55 species of amphibians and reptiles and over 500 species of birds the Royal Chitwan National Park is spread over an area of 932sq.km and is one of Asia’s richest and most spectacular wildlife sanctuaries.

There are numerous ways to reach Chitwan- a five-hour drive from Kathmandu or the easiest - a 20-minute flight to a place called Bharatpur, which has an airfield not an airstrip! I decided to fly.

The Gaida Wildlife Camp staff – the place where I had booked myself, was waiting to receive me. This is located in the North Central area of the park and boasts of having a luxury lodge as well as an outdoor Jungle Camp. The lodge overlooks the Dungre River and the bungalows are built in a semi circle around the central dining restaurant known as Golghar. There are thirty twin-sharing bungalows with attached baths. Solar power supplies all the energy required. A well stocked bar helps you to relax after the day’s activities and on a clear day the majestic Himalayan range can be seen from here. The activities offered include a Jungle Safari on elephant back, nature walks, dugout canoe excursion, jungle drive, observation from tree top blinds, cultural tours, slide presentations and exploratory trips, according to the schedule of stay.

After a sumptuous lunch and an hour’s basking in the sun we headed for the Jungle Camp in a dugout canoe made from the durable “Chaap” tree abundantly found in the Shivalik ranges.

The canoe excursion was followed by a twenty-minute jungle trail through dense forest. We were escorted by an expert naturalist who spoke fluent English and who suddenly stopped us during the trail to further educate us about the wild animals and their deceptive movements. “Look!” he said pointing to a footprint in the loose soil with the help of a stick, “these are tiger paw prints; a tiger has five toes just like a human foot and a triangular pad”. After digesting the gripping information we all marched ahead in pin drop silence. “Look, look,” Ram spoke again pointing to our left and this time we spotted a hog deer. A hog deer runs with its head bent downwards just like a pig. Our jungle trail finally led us to an open path from where we were transported to the camp in a jeep. The jungle Camp was located amidst the “Saal” forests, 8 km from the lodge and had 12 spacious Safari tents, providing accommodation in a wilderness environment.

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