Sauraha, first day

Woke early,approx 6am. Had to sleep under the mosquito net as the aircon wasn't switched on. Went and had breakfast, much hotter here than Kathmandu. Planned to go ans see the elephants bathing today. We sat at the bankside and watched as the elephants came down to the river.There were approx 8 elephants in total. The mahouts(handlers)are always talking to them and shouting instuctions.
The elephants love the water, they suck up loads in their trunk and spray themselves with it. They lie down in the river and the mahout scrubs their skin with a stone,this gets rid of insects and dirt.
One elephant lifted his mahout up by his trunk and he just calmly walked up onto his back.
Lots of tourists bathe with the elephants, they climb on their backs and the elephant gives them a shower!!!!
Thing elephants use this river as a toilet!! Local kids also swim in it and women were doing their washing.
A big tourist attraction abnd they were falling over thmselves to bathe in this river. One mouthful of that water and I reckon it is straight to hospital!
Visited Sweet Memories restaurant, Krishna and Radna are the owners. They moved from Pokhara to Sauraha a few years ago. Sue sponsors Ashbin, a really bright 11 year old. His English is really good. he goes to boarding school and stays with his grandparents. He only comes home to Mum and Dad on Saturdays. School is open here 6 days a week.
Krishna has had a plot of land bought for him and he hopes one day to build a hotel here.It will cost approx 400 Pounds Sterling to get the earth to raise the land so building can start.When a Nepali only earns approx 3 Pounds per day it becomes a huge problem to find the money.

Walked back to Rhino Lodge, met Kashav and Ramsharam for lunch and discussed plans for the next few days. A full programme with visits to villages, safari and canoe trip. All in 3 days!!!!
Chilled listening to my ipod in my room, got ready for dinner and went to Sweet Memories. Radna cooked chicken curry, rice and chips, washed down with a cold Gorkha beer! Doesn't get any better than that.
Ashbin(their son)also joined us and practised his English. A really bright kid and the family are keen for him to continue his education. Sue has made her commitment to assist with payment and she was very impressed with his progress since her visit last year.
Their niece is living with them, establishing a beauty parlour next door. They have also taken in a 14 year old girl who was being exploited by her family. They feed and house her and are training her to cook so she can either help them or work somewhere else as she will have learnt the skills needed.
Krishna would not accept payment for dinner, so arrangements were made to take them to K.C's one night before we leave.
Walked back and met Kashav at his shop.
He was telling us about the time a rogue leopard was in the village. It was approx 3 months ago. Villagers noticed that stray dogs were disappearing for no reason. As the leopard became hungrier it started to come into the village and it actually chased a few villagers and tourists. Villagers say it was not hunting but scared and was trying to frighten people away!
The villagers then chased and cornered it in the grounds of our hotel! They brought in 12 elephants to trap it and set fires to stop it from escaping. In fear, the leopard tried to leap over an elephant, no mean feat as they are 8 feet plus tall!
It then ran in between the legs of one elephant and attacked a Dutch lady who worked on the Women's project and was taking photos.
It bit her on the neck and arms.
Kashav jumped on the leopard's back and started to punch it!!!
It kicked him off using one of it's back legs and the rest of the villagers beat it to death. A sad end to a majestic creature, but lives were at risk.
It seems that it was a young male that was outcast from it's family, probably lost a power struggle with another male.
He then told us about the time he found 2 pythons living in his house. They were so big that one fell through the ceiling!
After all that excitment I finally went to bed.