The final stops on our road trip were Lumbini and Chitwan. Lumbini is where Buddha was born and Chitwan National Park has various safaris for spotting animals. As with our other stops, the travel between these areas was absolutely terrible due to road conditions, but once we got there they were fascinating visits.
Lumbini
Buddha was born around 566 BCE near Lumbini. The story goes that his mother, Maya Devi, was travelling between palaces and stopped for a swim in a pond. After she got out of the pond she gave birth to Buddha. The exact spot was marked in the 3rd century BCE by Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya Empire. Over time the area was abandoned then rediscovered by archeologists in the 18th century.
The Maya Devi Temple, in the picture below, shelters the ruins of the ancient temple that marked the location of the birth of Buddha. We are sure the pond looked different 2500 years ago.
In the 1970s a 1km by 2km piece of land, including the Maya Devi temple, was set aside for Buddhist communities from around the world to build temples commemorating the birth of Buddha. There are around 15 temples, some still under construction. It was interesting to wander through them. Some were simple and others were massive and intricate. Typical for Nepal, the dusty, dirt roads and paths that connected all the temples was a maze of confusion with no map. We were determined to see all the temples and walked for hours in the heat.
The interiors were just as impressive.
Archeology Tour Around Lumbini
We hired a guide and he drove us around for half a day to tour some of the archeological sites near Lumbini associated with Buddha, including the palace where he grew up.
The drive itself was interesting since we got to see some very rural areas and people going about their daily lives.
Chitwan National Park
Chitwan National Park is on the border with India and has a variety of interesting animals that live in the tropical rainforest. We saw rhinoceros, crocodiles, monkeys, elephants, a variety of deer, birds, and a venomous snake (fortunately from a distance).
Our first adventure took us in a dugout canoe ride down the river. They don’t seem very stable and everyone was worried about swimming with the crocs.
Then we went on an all day hiking tour through the jungle. We had a guides front and back carrying bamboo sticks in case we came across an animal that was too close. They also explained to us what to do if an elephant, rhino, leopard, or bear crossed our path, but fortunately that did not happen.
We also took a couple jeep tours around the park and saw a variety of animals as well.
We tried taking pictures of the animals, but really needed a camera with a telephoto lens to get decent image quality. Overall it was a fun experience. We later met a Nepali, who lives near the park, who said we got about as good of an animal viewing experience as is possible.
On to the next Adventure
From Chitwan we flew to Kathmandu to avoid another excruciating drive. Then it was prep time for our Mt Everest Base Camp trek!!
So cool to read about your adventures! Did you see any tigers? On Google Maps it says Chitwan NP has Royal Bengal tigers, and it looks like there’s a tiger reserve next door too (Valmiki Nagar tiger reserve). Good luck on the Everest base camp trek! Stay safe…
Unfortunately we did not see tigers. Apparently they stay away from people and are hard to find. Thanks!
Wow – I love these off-the-beaten-track places you’re visiting!
These towns have tourists from Nepal and India. Next most represented would be Germans and French. We did not meet anyone from the US on this leg of the trip.
Great Photos! – and the dugout canoe does look a bit unstable, would have been spooky to me, with large crocs around, wonderful to see you two on this adventure, thank you for taking us along