One night with the Tharu

Chitwan is famous for rhinos. The real reason I keep going back is a homestay dinner in a Tharu village on the park's edge.

The Tharu have lived in the Terai for centuries. They were one of the few groups historically immune to malaria, which is why they were the only people who could settle the dense lowland forests when everyone else was driven to higher ground. Their villages along Chitwan's border are mud-walled, fire-warmed, and beautiful.

On every Chitwan trip we include one night at a Tharu homestay. The host family cooks dhindo — a stiff buckwheat porridge — and a fish curry made with mustard greens. After dinner, the kids do a stick dance in the courtyard, which I admit can sound touristy on paper. It isn't. The dance is a real harvest tradition, the kids are giggling, the parents are watching, and there are no buses parked outside.

The next morning, we're up at 4:30 for a canoe ride down the Rapti. If you're lucky, a one-horned rhino is washing on the bank. If you're not, you still get the river in mist, gharial crocodiles on the sandbanks, and the slow understanding that the wildlife was always going to be a bonus.