We live on the second floor of a tall building in the middle of the village of Bacchauli. We are five minutes walk from Hotel Parkside, which is the centre of operations for The Green Society Nepal. We have the most wonderful views across the village and the terai, the flat, fertile floodplain which is green and lush, on one side, and the jungle and forest trees of the Chitwan National Park on the other side.
From our balcony at the back of the house we look down on a garden that has recently been renovated and planted with chilli bushes. Dotted around are hibiscus bushes with beautiful bright red flowers that are in contrast to the green grass. A mango tree is growing right beneath us and the fruit seems to ripen and swell before our very eyes. We have to watch out for the local young boys who would steal the fruit given half a chance. The garden is bounded by some very tall trees in which noisy birds congregate, and beyond that is a small banana plantation in the grounds of a hotel, where bright green parakeets flock and settle on the broad stems.
Looking beyond our garden, one can see the hattisars (elephant stables) of some of the hotels. All day the elephants come and go, carrying tourists to the jungle for their safaris. Sometimes they roar and bellow in a frightening way. Beyond them, the flat terai stretches away into the distance, and one sees rice paddy fields, small clusters of mud and thatch houses, larger houses and hotels. In the far distance, when the weather is clear, one can see the low foothills that mark the edge of the terai, and when the atmosphere has been cleared after a thunderstorm, one can even see the breathtaking views of the high Himalayas to the North, rising thousands of feet into the sky, covered in snow all year round. Usually the high humidity, cloud haze and dust pollution prevent one from seeing even the foothills on most days.
From the front balcony of our flat, one looks down on the busy main road through the village, bounded by houses and shops. Looking over their roofs, one can see the tall forest trees, some as high as 80 or 90 feet, that grow at the edge of the Chitwan National Park. There is a cleared buffer zone between the village and the forest, where villagers are allowed to gather fodder for their animals and fallen timber for fuel, and early each morning files of people are to be seen marching across this land, heavy loads on their heads. Goats graze in this common land but are herded back to the village every evening. Sometimes a wild male elephant will emerge from the forest, aiming to get close to the large Hattisar where the government-owned tame elephants are kept, hoping to mate with one of them (the tame elephants are all female). When this happens, the park keepers light a fire where the smoke will deter the elephant from coming any closer. Sometimes the wild elephant only wants to have a mud shower, throwing earth scooped up by its trunk on its back, thereby keeping cool – it will wallow in its earth hole for hours then return to the forest in the evening.
At night, when there is a power cut, you can look up into the sky and see a wonderful display of stars, unspoilt by any light pollution. You can hear the village going to bed, people calling out, laughing and joking, or arguing. I feel there is nowhere else I’d like to be.
C. Tim Taylor 2014