So, our reserved vehicle picked us up seven in the morning. Our first turn was left, about 14km southwest along a dirt/gravel road from Mahendra highway to book an elephant/ride for tomorrow. We had to come back the same road, which killed about an hour time. Back to the highway, as we passed through Bardia National Park, we saw many wild animals from the park including white haired monkeys, dear, more monkeys and a group of crocodile sun bathing by the Babai river. Everytime we spotted one, I would ask the driver to stop. He wouldnt however, saying we are not allowed to, for they were many check points in between and he seemed scared. We continued our highway journey and stopped at Chisapani- Karnali bridge for lunch. Our driver knew where to stop by, meaning the food was amazing, very local yet delicious. We further continued to the west, Mahendranagar being our destination for the day. Mahendranagar is the most westerly border. Well, that was our aim, to reach the end. Mahendranagar is 5km east of the Indian border and 700km west of Kathmandu. We also passed through Shuklaphanta National Park.
Our driver recommended Chandani-Dodhara, also Rajya aunty, which is 12km away from Mahendranagar. We were a bit lost as there were too many roads and when we asked for direction, we were told we were on the right track. We could have asked for a shorter route instead. Chandani Dodhara bridge, also known as Mahakali bridge is a suspension bridge over Mahakali river. It is in Kanchanpur district of Mahakali state, far western region of Nepal. It's a pedestrian suspension bridge over Mahakali river. However, we saw many motor bikes passed by and those horn blowing motorist (quite in hurry look like) were certainly annoying to pedestrians on the narrow bridge. The bridge is about 1496m in length, the longest suspension bridge of Nepal and links Nepalese living in Dodhara-Chandani of Kanchanpur district.
It was pretty windy and it started to rain as we escalated to the bridge. We went for samosa tea immediately after a short walk on the bridge. All fuelled up and we were ready to head back. We knew we had a long way to come back. Bahunpur, Bardia is where we had to come back to, Rajya aunty's ex-student Yamkala's place. It was almost 8pm in the rain and dark of course when we reached her place and we were very much welcomed with her local 'murghi ko jhol' (as she says) and dal bhat.
