If you’ve never heard the sound of a pair of male rhinoceroses in rut in the jungle 100 meters away, have no fear – you’ll recognize it instantly.
Either you’ll instinctively know that the sharp wock that suddenly pricks your ears isn’t in fact a giant lumberjack cutting down a kapok tree, or or an elephant knocking down a sal tree — or your guide, a small man who until that point displayed a laconic manner, will frantically motion for you and the eight Swiss septuagenarians behind you to “Run! Run NOW!”
Most disconcerting of all, he’ll then pass you as you attempt a sluggish U-turn on the narrow trail.
You can’t really blame him, though. After 15 years as a guide in Royal Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal, he was never attacked by one of the 400 or so rhinos in the park – never, that is, until 18 months ago when one of the brawny beasts, interrupted during the delicate period of rutting upon which you too have stumbled, tossed him 20 feet into the air.
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July 10, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Never made it to that part of Nepal when I was there many years ago. Makes me think about precivilization and knowing each morning that certain sounds could very well mean your imminent doom, the finality of it all as a cougar or massive man-eating lizard takes you down for their lunch. Rhinos are vegetarians, right?
July 11, 2007 at 6:18 am
Yes, but they’re ornery