Chitwan National Park

Chitwan

I took a taxi from the Lotus Inn to the Pokhara bus station to get on an express bus to Chitwan National Park around 8 am. By noon we had passed Mugeling and were headed up the windy road toward Katmandu. As soon as I recognized this I got up and showed my ticket to the bus driver’s co-pilot and they had a quick conversation. In the end the bus pulled over and the driver flagged down a van heading back through Mugeling and turn off for Chitwan. Two teenage boys popped out of the front seat and I climbed in next to the driver and the boys got back in. There were 12 people in the back of the van and 4 in the front seat. Of course I got the stick shift and the drive well below me so I had no room but was heading in the right direction. For three hours I sat in the most uncomfortable position I could imagine. The driver drove me to the Chitwan and the turn off for the town of Sauraha  at one of the gates for the National Park and waved good-bye.

A couple of young men approached me with a placard of their hotel. I usually move away from this but when I asked how much and they responded 400 rupiah and I took a second look. I asked how close they were to the Chitwan National Park entrance and they said within walking distance. They gave me a lift to Rhinoland Hotel where I met the owner/operator and his staff. www.hotelrhinoland.com.  (ph. # +977-56-680339) contact@hortelrhinoland.com. Hotel Rhinoland boasts budget traveler prices for room and board in Sauraha, Chitwan, Nepal. They have rooms ranging from 500 rupiah to 300/night. I took a 400 rupiah/night on the second floor overlooking a cornfield and a rice field. Lately wild elephants have been coming into the rice fields and eating the newly planted rice. The elephants cross over the river and enter the village every year at this time just like the cicadas singing to the monsoon season to bring rain. At around mid-night the dogs start barking and sure enough the village comes alive with commotion. My room was nice with a double bed and a single and my own bathroom with a shared balcony. Hotel Rhinoland is the cheapest I’ve stayed yet in Nepal. The food and beverage prices are low and the quality is good.

I arranged a full day walk in Chitwan with two guides, one from the park and one from the hotel. Unfortunately this is where the costs come in. Park permits are not cheap and you are paying the salary for two guides. But you are going to see some amazing things and the government set this system up so there is no way around it without going to jail or paying a larger than life fine. The permit costs 1700 rupiah and can only be used in the park one day but allows you free access to the community jungle the next day. The community forest is where the locals go to gather firewood, herbs and plants and all the animals are in both the national park and in the community forest so if you want to rent a bike or walk in and have a look around, it’s available. There are a couple towers in the community forest as well and sleeping in the tower can be arranged. The jungle at night is an acoustic dream.

I ate by 630 am and headed for the park entrance with the permits and paystubs. Once we all got together we hopped in a dugout canoe with a standing tiller man at the stern. We walk down the middle of the boat and took a seat. I could see a Gavial up stream sitting in the sun with his mouth open cooling off. The tiller man poked at the riverbed and angled the boat out into the slow moving current and poled us across the park boundary and off we went into the forest and jungle.

This is still the hot season so when you are out in the middle of a grassland stretch of jeep trail there is no relief from the intense heat and direct sun, two 1.5 liter bottles of water are minimum to carry in and always remember to carry out what you carry in, there are no garbage cans in the jungle.

There are roofed viewing towers where you can take a break and look for wildlife. These towers are usually at the border between forest and grasslands and also near a military or ranger station. The grasses that the rhinos and elephants eat can grow to 3 meters tall and hard to see passed so the towers give you a bit of a viewing advantage being approximately 10-15 meters on the top floor.

With a river to our left and grasslands to our right we were walking along when we heard a commotion between the riverbank and our path. We stopped and waited then came the rapid cracking of sticks and thrashing branches. We backed up and watched a Rhino steam out of the forest and cross our path right where we were standing not a minute before. No pictures on that one, it was too quick and I’m slow.

We were going to take a break at the next tower but when got there one of the guides climbed up with Binoculars and spied around he saw a rhino in a big shallow pond. We changed plans and went to check him out. As we arrived the guide was adding rhino count and ended at four. All I saw from afar was a couple pieces of wood or logs but as I got closer I realized these logs had ears. The nose sticks out of the water, the eyes underwater, the ears pulling 360s and zooming in on us. The heads rose out of the water as if on cue.

This was a good time for the guide to explain a few details about running from a Rhinoceros. Start running and then drop your bag. The thinking is that the rhino will have something of you to focus on and may stop. That’s comforting.

The rhinos weren’t overly interested but we were definitely interrupting a peaceful gathering between one male and three females. They did get out of the water a ways before we moved on into a new direction. We walked down some dry leaf trails through the forest and came out near a two-tier tower and hung out waiting for some sloth bear activity. We had seen many destroyed termite hills. They are really cool and some of the big ones stand about 2 meters. The Sloth Bear tares into the base of these hills and digs for the nest and eggs just under ground.  

Cicadas sing in vast waves through the canopy over head. Black faced Languor lunge from tree limb to tree barking warnings. The sun sparkles through the leaves. The air is thick and I’m soaking with sweat. What a beautiful day to be in the jungle.

The following day I took a half-day jeep trek starting at 1 pm. Again it’s hot and we cross over the river in the boat and there’s a small group of jeep trucks and our driver sitting in the shade waiting for us. Obviously the problem is that a jeep makes a lot of noise and many animals know enough to move away from the roads. But on the odd chance that the animal doesn’t hear or preoccupied you might get up close.

There were lots of Spotted Deer and some Sambar Deer, Hog Deer, and Barking Deer close to the road. We got lucky with a young male wild boar that just didn’t think much of us and continued browsing the ground.

At the far end of the drive we pulled into a Gavial Breeding Center and that was interesting for a couple reasons. Being an endangered species itself the success rate for reintroduction of Gavial into the park is low. What interested me was yeah, go ahead and hatch them but put them in the river little so they do the natural thing from the start. I don’t know the fish count numbers or anything but it’s possible they aren’t sustainable without fish numbers going up. A chain reaction is underway with the population of people growing in the villages and local fishing practices helping to deplete the fish numbers. I’ve heard stories of poisoning rivers for fishing purposes, even the Gangetic dolphin falls victim of poisoning and that is a sad state of affairs.

We hoped back in the truck and drove on out into the jungle heat. Our guide spoke with a pair of elephant riders coming back from the forest and a days work and pointed off roughly in the direction we were going and the guide smiled and thanked him. There were two Rhinos doing battle in a field not too far away. In turn the guide told the driver and off we went.

The two Rhinos had separated and were looking at each other from 50 meters. As we arrived we pulled up to a safe distance and turned of the engine. One Rhino was maybe 20 meters away and started eating but kept an eye on his opponent. He actually came closer to us to about 10 meters and that was a little unnerving but great for photos.

We drove on into a Sal forest and out the other side near another grassland and on the edge in the shade was a large Bison. This is a big mean animal and best to keep a lot of distance.

We had a good day with the critters and headed back to the river before sun down. As we got there a mother, baby, and father Rhino came to the riverbank from the community forest side. From the border of the park and community forest I could see 2 Elephant, 3 Rhino, a Garial, and countless fish and birds.

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Pokhara, Nepal

Pokhara

The bus ride from Bardia to Pokhara was a 12-hour day ending in Pokhara just at 9 pm. All the shops were pulling down their metal doors and locking up for the night. A couple of friends in various parts of the world had suggested a great place to stay called the Hotel Lotus Inn run by Mr. Ganesh Thapa and his family. Wonderful people. Rooms are reasonable 700-1000 Rupee/night. If you are planning to stay along time or more than a week the upstairs rooms have a kitchenette so you can really bring down your costs by cooking for yourself and half the fun is going to the market. From the roof you can see K-2 reaching for the sky along with much of the mountain range supporting it. 

I was trying to get to a music festival but due to trekking I missed it. I had also planned to spend some time here writing and clearing the desk. I finished ‘The Women of Cho’ and it is now at the editor. Soon we design the cover and I do have a fun idea for that. Lets see if the boys behind the cover can pull it off.

My mornings were all about writing or heading out to Katmandu, Dahding and writing about it. After a good day in front of the computer screen I took a late afternoon walk down along the lakeshore. It’s a very picturesque place with the lake and high mountains in the background. The temperature is right too. The elevation is a little deceiving because Pokhara isn’t very high in the mountains but feels like it because of the backdrop.

With further exploration I found a stack of live music venues along the main Lakeview Road. To name a couple where I listened to music; Club Amsterdam, Busy Bee’s, oxygen, One Love. At One Love I listened to a really refreshing band called, ‘Funk Nomads’. Part of the way through a set the police came in and took the amplifier. They didn’t ask any questions they just walked up the stairs, crossed the room to the band equipment and unplugged the band. Most of the other venues play pretty much rock and roll with a few contemporary songs drifting in ever so slowly.

When I first arrived there were prayer candles at the base of huge trees in the road islands offering prayers for the earthquake victims and their families. Kids try to sell you a candle for way too much money when you can turn around and get it for 10 rupee at the little shops lining the street. They are greedy little buggers but I’ve noticed that all over Nepal. If you are western the price automatically goes up and they don’t have a price in mind. When they say a price and you know better, you laugh and put your money back in your pocket and head for the door. They will stop you and shout out another price. I usually keep going and try 20 feet down the street; eventually you reach the local price.

Like the myths and Greek legends say about the Lotus eaters and the flower itself, 19 days past so quickly I all of a sudden woke up and had to leave or I wouldn’t. There’s a lot to do in Pokhara, Bungee jumping, Paragliding, trekking, bike rentals, boat rentals on the lake, and I found a lap pool called the Penguin Swimming Pool. 200 Rupee and you are in. It’s best to go around 10 am before the kids start showing up and you get the pool to yourself besides a coach teaching a few kids how to swim better.

Helping earthquake victims was a great way to spend some time in Pokhara. I didn’t do a whole lot of exploring in the area due to goals but that just gives me a great excuse to come back. I had planned to do a trek but with the earthquakes going off I just thought I’d wait until next time.

 Until next time.

www.davidcdagley.com

Nepal Earthquake, Dahding Town

Nepal Earthquake, Dahding Town

A couple days after I went to Katmandu to have a look around a Canadian named Andre showed up at the hotel after riding out the earthquake in Katmandu on a nearby hilltop with many others seeking refuge. He had been bitten by a dog the day before the earthquake and was taking the rabies vaccination series. We got to talking and wanted to do something to help Nepal. There was an organization on the street near where I’m staying called, Yes Helping Hands.  

http://www.yeshelpinghands.com. Yeshelpinghands works in a few areas to create a brighter future for Nepali people in general but has some specific focuses such as empowering the deaf and blind with skillful training and employment in different trades, massage, weaving, beautician and more.

We bought 12/50 kilo bags of rice to add to the donations pile and with a group of western and Nepali folks we started filling family bags with 25 kilos of rice, a large bag of lentils, salt, simple medicines, and assorted odds and ends. When we finished we had 200 bags for families, water and tarps. The truck loaded up in the night and went to Dahding. Ghorka had been supplied with supposedly six months of supplies so the next focus was Dahding.

Andre and I wanted to go and deliver but we missed the ride and decided to go on our own. We hired a kindly elder and his car and drove 4 hours to Dahding. We traveled back down through Mugling and then crossed the river and climbed up the hills for an hour. The road again was narrow with many slow moving vehicles.

The scenery on the way is really spectacular. The florescent green of the rice fields attracts the eye.

Every direction has something of interest.

  

Again the tell tale signs of the earthquake were apparent at almost every older house made of rock and mud. Walls had crumbled and left gaping holes in many homes.

Other houses were demolished.

We got into downtown Dahding and there was damage everywhere and UNICEF was set up in large white tents and life seemed almost normal. Stores and markets were open and buses were leaving loaded with locals heading out. Kids went to school although as a whole Nepal will lose over 1 million students due to the first earthquake.

The hardest hit areas were outside of town in the smaller farming communities. We didn’t get that far. Again not wanting to be part of the problem we didn’t stick around too long.

Some of the buildings that were severely cracked in the first earthquake have since fallen due to the second large quake. And life went on.

I was in Pokhara for the second quake. I was sitting on the floor working on the computer when there was a jolt. It paused and I waited and then it came rumbling through the building. People were screaming in the street, dogs barked and everybody was running for open spaces. I was three floors up.

There have been a lot of after shocks of various sizes and shakes. The people are scared.

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Earthquake Nepal

Earthquake Nepal

I took a bus from the gateway to the town of Thakurdwara and Bardia National Park, approximately 14 kilometers down a rustic road with a river crossing but not at certain times of the year. John dropped me off at the bus stop and we had tea waiting for a second bus with an open seat on it. It came and off I went. It’s a straight shot 8-hour bus ride and then change buses for a three-hour bus ride up to Pokhara. When I got out I looked for a taxi stand because the buses to Pokhara stop at five pm. It was five-thirty. I grabbed a taxi for 1000 rupee and watched for fallen rock from the earthquake only a few days before. As we drove up past Mugling, It was dark now and I noticed most of the people along the road had made makeshift temporary camps in front of their homes. Fires blazed and stories were told up and down the roads all over Nepal that night and for more to come.

I pulled into Pokhara just after 9 pm and most of the restaurants and shops were pulling down their metal gates for the night. The specials for this evening, we have Pringles and a beer. Thanks you very much. I went to the Lotus Inn and the proprietor and most of the guests were sleeping in the parking lot. Tremors continued. I slept like a baby knowing no one was going to wake me this eve. I woke up thinking about the lovely building codes in Nepal. Buildings shook this day.

I had to go back to Katmandu just to look and see what I had seen and now downed. It’s a long journey from Pokhara and back in a day. We took cases of water and left at 430 in the morning.

We had an extra passenger for a three hours going to Dahding where his family lives. At first light we stopped into a roadside teahouse made of wood and tin. The stove was the usual made of mud. I hadn’t heard of the damage there yet. He mentioned buildings went down including his parent’s house. We wished him good luck and let him off at the bridge to catch a local bus up the hills.

We followed the river valley down towards Mugling town and then a slow rise up a long winding road safe for one-way traffic but that is not the case. It’s two way traffic with the drivers all passing each other in near miss blind spots with buses and big rigs boxing each other in on the hairpin turns. To add to the chaos the government told the people in Katmandu to go back to their villages and the bus ride would be free. It was still pretty early in the morning as we began seeing roadside earthquake damaged homes, walls and roofs. Intermittent rain fell. Trucks and buses broke down on this little road really making it stop and go. On the opposite mountain a road side stall had toppled of the road and slid 100 meters down the mountainside. I saw one truck center punched on a power pole and empty, a transportation truck had lost it’s front axle and it was under the truck with the front left tire flat on the ground, another truck had driven into the two foot deep rain drain gutter and couldn’t get out. Three men stood around scratching their heads. I knew I’d see them on my return.

 Once up on top of the mountain you enter the outskirts of Katmandu. Traffic was crazy with people packed up and sitting with their family on the ground waiting for someone to come and get them. Mini vans were packed with people and belongings tied to the roof, numerous buses leaving Katmandu had as many as 20 people sitting on the roofs some without tarps and it’s still raining a bit.

I heard later that when the government offered free buses some of the bus drivers charged people 4 times the normal price. A few of these drivers were found out and the police came in and beat the deceit out of them. Buses were free to villages.

I drove in to see Katmandu and the taxi driver needed a destination so I told him to go to Tamal where little damage had occurred being a newer area of town. It used to be a rice field but then again so did all the surrounding area of old Katmandu. I took a picture of a black and white photo I saw at the Monkey Temple showing farmland at the base of the rock the temple is on. Sorry for the light reflection in the photo but you get the idea.

On our drive in there were lots of buildings down or severely cracked and beyond repair. People were selling their wares and goods as normal. Vegetables, water, fuel, dust masks. With stop and go traffic in town you really notice when a big bus or truck hops on the pedal and belches out a black cloud right in your window. Or sitting in traffic with a long distance bus right there baking your closed window.

I looked for Sam’s Bar to see if V was okay and at the bar. She wasn’t and it was locked up from the inside. We drove off around the corner and dropped off the water at a small camp of folks that all needed water.

I wanted to go back to Paton Square but the way was arduous due to redbrick all still in the streets. We opted to go to the white tower instead. Basically we tried not to deviate from the main arteries of town and still see some of the damaged area. The white tower had people in it when it fell down on a Saturday afternoon. Here’s a picture of it standing before the earthquake and one the remains. A few vigils have been at this site full of candles, flowers, and incense. The first picture is from the monkey temple looking towards the white tower.

To get to the tower we parked on the main road and walked through the make shift camp. Considering how many people have packed up and left these camps there are still a lot of people

relying understandably on aid. Some just don’t have anywhere to go. I was warned by a Nepali friend to be careful of looters and thieves. I saw nothing like that taking place, I saw life going on a normally as it could, stores were open, lights were on in most areas, phones had been restored, there was just a lot more rubble blocking the congested narrow streets, alleys, and roads.

I wanted to see more but realized with the driver not knowing Katmandu I was never going to get anywhere. We headed back to Pokhara to avoid being part of the problem. We drove on a parallel road and saw a little more of the damage and it wasn’t all old rock and mud homes. Many of the newer homes had also faltered on concrete and rebar foundations.

On the return the traffic seemed to have died down but the road was still wrought with peril. We passed two cars on flatbeds that had hit head on. That’s always comforting.

As you now may know there has been a second earthquake of some size and destruction. Here in Pokhara it shook and cracked some buildings but nothing seems seriously damaged. People are scared and many are sleeping outside.

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