Welcome to Anna’s Diary

At the moment, I am sitting on a veranda; the cicadas and some birds are singing. I know the mugger crocodile is there because I saw it this morning. Splashing before diving into the water. It is not a mother crocodile as I first thought, but a mugger. Someone who is eating another crocodile’s prey.

The moon is very sharp and shaped like a bowed machete. I spotted the Big Dipper (the plough) – not horizontal as it usually is, but vertical. There are some mosquitoes, not biting me since I have mosquito repellent. The malaria has hit hard many centuries ago, but people have survived. Our guide thought it was due to drinking rice wine, but I doubt it.

I have had a fun day. A boat filled with tourists: me and people from Germany. I totally had to trust them since we were in the same boat. The gunwale was almost taking in water. We were all very still since we saw the crocodiles enjoying the sun.

The afternoon was a safari looking for tigers and other animals. I came here to see the rhinos, and I was very happy about that.

There were at least seven of them. I saw the paw of a tiger, and I told the guide I was very happy about that. That is what I do when I go for walks with Molly. We always see something like the paw prints of a deer or an elk. Then I know that they are close and shy.

I think the tiger saw us, but we didn´t see the tiger today.

Stay safe 🐾

Today I travelled five hours to the Chitwan National Park, where the rhinos, elephants, tigers, leopards, and birds are. We passed the flood, and it was dark due to the mud. People are missing, and there are people waiting for phone calls that never come again.

I am a lifelong member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and I am very happy to learn that people work to preserve the wildlife in Nepal. Snakes are captured in the villages and carried back to the jungle again. The little rhinos are protected from the tigers till they grow up. And so on.

There are so many activities during the daytime, so I am totally exhausted in the evenings. No time for reading because I need to write my memories from the day. Instead, I have learnt a lot from the local people.

Tonight I am sleeping very close to a river where we spotted crocodiles earlier. I do hear birds and the cicadas, wishing that I had this sound every evening. It is so peaceful. Getting up early to meet the sunrise again.

A big festival is beginning in Nepal. Unfortunately, a river has flooded and swept away houses and bridges. Please see BBC News:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck86zppejjw3o

I feel so sorry about this. I got this as a little present, and it feels like I am participating in traditions. People are very friendly.

My deepest thoughts and prayers for Nepal in this dual festival-flood moment 🙏

I woke up very early to see the Annapurna Himalaya. I sure am lucky because the other day was cloudy, so you couldn´t see anything.

A beautiful day. Professor Thapa has a nephew in Pokhara, and I met him today. We made an excursion to a Pagoda on a hill. Swedish mountains are hills. Mountains are those with snow on top.

The Pagoda felt so close, but there were many steps to walk before reaching the Pagoda.

I will write more later, and I would just like to add some memories and write more a little later.