Wild, wild Chitwan National Park is the antidete to the mountain country’s glacial peaks. It’s a land of spots and stripes and big feet.
In Chitwan National Park, in the lowlands of southern Nepal, in slanting morning light, a tiger emerged from long grass and stepped onto the dry dust of a dirt track. A female of larger than average size, about 2ft to the shoulder and 5ft from the nose to the base of the tail. The gold of her coat a tongue of flame against the rising sun. Unhurried, at ease, she lay down. She savoured the satisfying flatness and smoothness of the road, twisting her hips slightly, the better to feel the coolness of the earth against her body. Through amber eyes she peered, in the indifferent manner of all felines, down the length of the road that stretched before her. Her tail swatted the ground idly, raising fine puffs of dust. After a while, she rose, lightly powdered on one side, walked a short distance along the road before stepping once more into the long grass and vanishing completely.
I arrived too late to see any of this. Possibly minutes, possibly only moments. In any case when I got there the tiger was gone. But nor was the scene entirely a figment of my imagination. It was pieced together from a certain amount of evidence—along with a good deal of assistance from my guide, Shambhu Mahato, for whom reading the subtle signs of a tiger’s movement through the Chitwan jungle is apparently no more complicated than reading a text message on his mobile phone.
Denne historien er fra August - September 2018-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveller India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August - September 2018-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveller India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
THE 2024 HOT LIST
Our pick of the best new hotels in the world
SHOPPING IN ABU DHABI
From a barbershop café to Emirati gems, home-grown brands offer a fresh counterpoint to the UAE capital's glitzy malls and designer labels.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
No place delights in retelling its own tale quite like the city of angels. Now, a wave of chefs, hoteliers, and entrepreneurs is remixing the classics to usher in a new golden age.
LOVE & TRAVEL - DECOUPLING
Ona long trip through Spain, Sophie Yun Mancini bids a tender goodbye to an old love
LOVE & TRAVEL - REFLECTIONS
For writer and translator Sara Rai, Banaras has her heart and is everywhere all at once. On a trip to Palermo, she wraps her way around the two cities in one breathless sentence
LOVE & TRAVEL - DEPARTURES
Chef Manu Chandra looks back on a time that brought home the power of love and travel
LOVE & TRAVEL - SUMMER
Travelling in a wheelchair, author Jarred McGinnis makes the most of a chance solo parenting trip
LOVE & TRAVEL - PERFUME
Author Divrina Dhingra distils the varied fragrances of the many places she has called home
CARNIVOROUS IN COIMBATORE
A Texan vegetarian fell for Kongunadu cooking, quail and all.
WHERE TO STAY - THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL USA
An eclectic palette and worldly flourishes fill this 19thcentury mansion turned hotel in New York.