NEPAL (V): Sauraha-Lalitpur (Patan Durbar Sq.)

From our hotel accommodation in the Thamel neighborhood (Kathmandu) we travel to Sauraha, at a distance of 165 km. by bumpy roads, constant curves and a chaotic and incomprehensibly safe traffic. The average speed of the trip did not exceed 40 km / h, but it was worth investing those almost five hours (including a half-hour half-hour self-service lunch) to travel the distance just for having had the experience of witnessing how to group the rural population along the circulatory routes, how it lives in shanties, in harmony with other animal species, with the minimum and necessary to subsist with dignity and apparently conform.
All kinds of animals in the middle of the road, dogs, sacred cows, chickens, lying down or circulating among cars, all alive. How much contrast!

Sauraha is a town located within the Chitwan National Park along the Rapti River, a small residential and commercial center with rural dissemination, full of shops, lights and colors. The five Nepalese elements are aerated at all corners. At night it seems Christmas, all the houses are dressed with intermittent colors. It is full of grocery stores, books, local souvenirs, cultural activities venues, restaurants and complexes of lodges or bungalows oriented to the tourism of the Park.

The Park is the oldest in Nepal, was declared in 1973 and is a World Heritage Site by Unesco. It is located in the lowlands of Nepal, in the subtropical Terai region, between the rivers Narayani (Gandaki) and Rapti, to the north, and the river Reu and the Indian border, to the south.
There live recorded 68 species of mammals, 544 of birds, 56 of herpetofauna and 126 of fish.
The notoriety and the merit of the Park lies in the protection of the Indian rhinoceros, the bengal tiger and the gharial crocodile.

Here we are going to develop three activities and share them in wikiloc, not because of the technical layout itself or because of the difficulty, but because of the enormous biodiversity value of the Chitwan National Park.

The three activities are:

- A canoe ride on the Rapti River (http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12019528), motivated by the sighting of the gavial crocodile successfully for us in the adventure.
- A walk through the jungle (http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12087083) to a point of bird sighting.
- An elephant ride through the jungle, motivated by the sighting of the rhino. Some peeked through the branches, they seemed to suck, but none clear before the eyes.

The journey that concerns us corresponds to the return to Kathmandu. Specifically, departure from the Tiger Camp, along the Rapti River, in Sauraha, and arrival at Patan Durbar Square (Lalitpur), a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Lalitpur or Patan is one of the oldest Buddhist cities in the world (3rd century BC). Its Durbar square supposes an architectural exaltation. Do not forget to visit the Golden Temple (Golden Temple) in one of the surrounding streets, as well as all the jewels of the Newarian architecture of the square.

If you travel to Nepal, do not return without visiting Chitwan.
I hope you like it.
GOOD WAY !!!


*** RELATED ROUTES:
- NEPAL (II): Canoeing trip - Rapti River (Chitwan National Park) http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12019528
- NEPAL (III): Jungle trek (Chitwan National Park) http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12087083
- NEPAL (IV): Rhino watching elephant safari (Chitwan National Park)
http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12095246

*** OTHER ITINERARIES IN NEPAL:
- NEPAL (I): Trekking Khumbu-Cho la-Gokyo (Sagarmatha National Park)
http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=15349413


*** TRAFFIC CONDITIONS:
- Transport vehicle: Toyota Hiace 15 passengers.
- Sense of circulation in Nepal: Anglo-Saxon.
- Type of roads: paved road and dirt road.
- State of the road: poor condition.
- Vehicle intensity: high.
- Signaling: very scarce.
- Climatology: favorable.
- Works: cleaning gutters.
- Other incidents: general state of shortages of hydrocarbons and gas. Agglomeration of trucks next to the dry jets invading the road.
- Other risks: run over of people and animals that circulate out of town by roads without shoulder. In addition, the road passes through many settlements, which have all kinds of services and activities at the foot of the road.
Obsolete and very precarious vehicle park.
Acoustic pollution by systematic and constant use of the horn to warn other vehicles of their own presence.
- Miscelanea: more than half the route, 90 kms., They run along the Trishuli River, very active in rafting routes, which gives the route a showy appearance.


*** GPS TECHNICAL DATA:

Name: Chitwan-Kathmandu car

Start Time: 11/19/2015 10:44

End Time: 11/19/2015 15:37

Distance covered: 165 km (04:52)

Time in motion: 04:11

Average speed: 33.9 km / h

Vel. in Mov .: 39.4 km / h

Maximum speed: 70.7 km / h

Minimum Height: 183 m

Maximum Height: 1488 m

Altitude Gain: 3274 m

Altitude Loss: -2241 m