The good,the bad and the ugly

Let's start with the good. The gentle kind elephant. This town is overrun with elephants. They saunter down the main road, pop out of side streets. Last night one took a shortcut through our hotel. Through the front gate,down the central path and past our room without stirring a flower. We visited the elephant breeding centre where the mothers and babies were housed. There was twin boys and some very cute 7 month olds. I struggle a bit with the concept of wild animals being used as work horses but they do seem very well cared for. We spend another couple of hours down by the river watching the elephants being washed. They obviously love it. They flop in to the river and lay almost fully submerged with their trunk, like a periscope,coming up for air.
The bad has to be the prehistoric crocodile. We go for a canoe ride along a jungle fringed river. There's about 12 of us in a single canoe and a driver who poles us gondola style down past deep pools and shallow rapids. The first crocodile we see is not the friendly fish eating sort but the short nosed one they call the mugger because it eats anything. It swims along side then disappears, thankfully reappearring on the opposite bank. The next one we see is quietly basking on the bank in the sun. It's huge but we're in the river and it's on land, I think that's safe.
The ugly has to go to the star of chitwan the rhino. We have an early morning elephant safari. Each elephant carries its mahout and 4 people in a box like saddle strapped to its back. I feel like one of the maharajas of old out hunting rhino. I quickly get used to the sideways sway rocking motion, almost like being on a boat and enjoy the early morning forest. Shouts of delight and sure enough we have our prey a huge bull rhino. He's ringed by elephants but still acts like we don't exist and continues on eating. We get so close I can see an ugly gash down one shoulder which the mahout says he got from fighting other rhino. After the successful hunt we contentedly plod back through the forest, green trees above and dark undergrowth below. Very cool.
I couldn't decide what photo to put in. The elephant, the crocodile or the rhino. But I think the prize has to go to the really rather beautiful rhino.