The smell of a rhino's breath

Being in the Nepalese jungle (Chitwan) was a lot of fun and quite an authentic adventure. We had a very successful safari on elephant back and saw 2 rhinos (tourists the day before were not as lucky and did not see any). We also saw lots of langur monkeys, wild boar, crocodiles and other local animals. After travelling down the river in a dugout canoe, we hiked by foot through the jungle and saw the claw marks of a tiger carved into a tree (but no tiger - thank goodness).

Close to the end of our jungle hike (by foot), just when I thought we were out of danger, our guide (who had a big sloth bear scar on his face from a previous encounter) freaked out and yelled, "get back, get back"! He had heard the sound of rhinos chewing - which meant they were close by. My heart was racing - adrenalin pumping. As soon as he determined they were far enough away for us to pass, we tip toed by and that's when I was hit by a wall of odour - it was the smell of the rhinos' breath (produced when they are chewing). The stench nearly knocked me over. I was happy to end that part of our adventure, a little too close to danger for for my comfort level!