Rhinos and Crocodiles and Elephants, OH MY!

Question: How did Matt and Jen celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary?
Answer: A) Helping an elephant take a bath in the river, B) Taking a canoe trip down that same river, and spotting two different types of crocodile-like animals bathing in the sunlight, C) Taking a jungle walk and climbing a tree in order to get a better view of/avoid a nearby rhinoceros, D) Enjoying a candlelight dinner by the river, E) All of the above
Yup, you guessed it! E) All of the above!
Question # 2: How did Matt ring in his 33rd Birthday?
Answer: A) Taking an afternoon swim in the river, B) Getting picked up by an elephant taxi and carted off on a two hour jungle trek, C) Spotting monkeys, rhinos, deer, and several strange birds from the top of the elephant, D) Getting dropped off by the elephant at watchtower in the middle of the jungle, E) Spending the night in the watchtower, F) enjoying dinner by the light of the moon and to the sounds of the wild boar and peacocks settling in for the night. G) All of the above
OK, this is an easy test. All of the above, again!
So where was all this craziness happening, you ask? In Nepal, of course, where pretty much anything is possible as far as I can tell. After a few relaxing days in Pokhara, we headed to the Royal Chitwan National Park, a 5 hour bus ride. We settled in to our bungalow on the river and quickly met Krishna, the hotel manager. He arranged all kinds of fun adventures for us- all of which are described above. In four days we took two baths with the elephants, went on two jungle safaris- one by canoe/foot, and one on elephant back, and spent one night in the middle of it all. It was fantastic. We saw more wildlife than I have ever seen in my life- and more trained elephants, too.
The elephant bath may have been the best gig of all. Basically, around 11am every morning we would wander out to the river and wait for the trainers to bring their elephants down to the river for a bath. Not too long after getting into the river, the trainer would invite us on to help him bathe his elephant. We crawled onto the elephants from a high platform (some of then are 10 feet tall!), and then into the river we'd go! The elephant would stick his trunk in the water and then bring it all the way up, spraying you and the trainer- and himself, too! So, I guess we all took a bath together. Then sometimes the elephant would dip down into the water onto his knees..which is a LONG way down! It was pretty challenging to stay on the beast, and often we'd end up in the water next to the elephant. No problem , though, the trainer would hoist you back on and you'd be good to go again! I never had so much fun! The elephants are gentle and wonderful animals. It is easy to forget how strong and powerful they are! (But not easy to forget how gigantic they are!!!)
On one of the days, we took a walk through the village to the Elephant Breeding Center. We saw a momma elephant who had four-month old twins. Apparently, twin elephants are very rare and this particular set was one of only three in the world right now. It was really entertaining to watch the babies try to imitate their mom when eating- they didn't quite have the trunk logistics down yet!
If you ever come to Nepal, don't miss this National Park. It was a definite highlight to our trip so far!