Mountain women’s close encounter with 2 rhinos! (From South Wales Guardian)
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Mountain women’s close encounter with 2 rhinos!
10:40am Sunday 24th June 2012 in Ammanford news
HIMALAYAN TREK: Cath Lovatt and Anneka Batkin are pictured with senior Rotary vice-president Richard Hughes (left) and president David Owen.
A PAIR of Llandeilo adventurers have been regaling the town’s Rotarians with tales of their 30-day visit to Nepal last year.
Cath Lovatt, a retired nurse and former sub-postmistress of Cwmdu, and Llandeilo vet Anneka Batkin were the Llandeilo club’s guest speakers.
Having arrived in Kathmandu, they then embarked on a ten-day trek with oxen in the Himalayas, where they visited the Peace Museum and Gurkha Museum at Pokhara and the International Mountain Museum.
Staying in tea houses, the equivalent of bed and breakfasts, they found the Nepalese people exceptionally friendly and generous.
On leaving the Himalayas, Cath and Anneka travelled to the border with India via the notorious Sedata Highway, a track road with wild drivers, few passing places and sheer drops to the valleys below.
A 140-kilometre trip saw them arrive in the town of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
The next stop was the Chitwan National Park, established in 1973 by the Nepalese government to protect the Indian rhino.
Staying at the Tiger Residency, the ladies went to explore on foot that night and had a close encounter with two male rhinos chasing feral dogs.
Later, travelling more safely by elephant, they encountered more rhino, plus crocodiles, wild boar and spotted deer – but no tigers.
A visit to an elephant breeding centre and a trip to an area of 1,000 lakes in the rainy season brought their trip nearly to an end.
After numerous questions from Rotarians and their guests the vote of thanks was delivered by senior vice-president Richard Hughes.
