Banda and Gangetic Dolphin
In Bardia, in the town of Thakurdwara, a gateway to Bardia National Park, we heard stories of incredible violence in the area, Tikapur to be exact. I wanted to go and check it out for two reasons, 1) to see what all the fuss was about and 2) to see the Gangetic Dolphin that come up the water ways when the monsoon rains swell the rivers and enhance the dolphin’s fishing area. Johnny and I decided to take a motor bike instead of walking because the ferry boats were not really reliable on short notice and due to the amount of the distances we wanted to cover between the burnt shops on the side of the main streets in Tikapur and getting out to where the dolphin are said to show up at sunrise and sunset.
The road to Limpki was disserted except for the occasional ambulance heading in the opposite direction. Most of the gas stations are closed and the road from Limpki into Tikapur was swarmed with people and trouble throwing bikes into the river, destroying motorbikes, and general Banda behavior stopping all moving vehicles and not letting any through. This was one of the trouble spots. We didn’t go into Limpki due to a quicker route from where we were coming from. This was more of a country short cut once you’re across the Karnali River bridge. As I mentioned in the past there is a large scale construction project going on that will divert water from the Karnali River that the animals in Bardia National Park depend on as well as the people living down river. The water is being diverted into the South Western region for farming. More research is needed.
We saw a motorcycle coming from Tikapur and we flagged him down and asked if there was any trouble in town and he no, everything is quiet now. We drove on towards Tikapur down a dirt road and the closer you get to town the more rickety the bridges get with boards popping up in between two that are loose or where a board is missing all together. On the way in we passed a group of well dressed men having a meeting out of city limits because a gathering this size is prohibited. They seemed more of an Indian persuasion not Tharu. I didn’t put much thought into it at the time. We drove through town alone, not one car moving, a couple other motorbikes, all store fronts shut and locked down. On a particular block all the carts or shops along the main road were burned. We saw a few people sitting together that stared at us as we drove by. They stare anyway but it wasn’t the same, there was still anger in them. We saw both army and police in a few centers of town, the rest of the people were in their house talking quietly and sharing their night and what they saw.
We cut through town knowing we were coming back this way later. Right now we were primarily heading to the river and see some dolphin. We pulled in to find Johnny’s friends family resealing the bottom of their ferryboat in the front yard. It was a true family gathering of the male side of the family of all ages. They said they hadn’t done the Dolphin count because they were waiting for some folks from Katmandu to show up but the Banda had carried on and they couldn’t get out of town. They also said the dolphin aren’t usually at this spot in the middle of the day. Normally they seem to appear in the mornings and evenings. We sat for a bit and caught up on the local news and then headed to the river where we found approximately seven Gangetic Dolphin fishing at the confluence of two rivers. I was exposed and really hot sitting in the flood plain of the river watching these beautiful creatures fish and frolic in the eddies and light rapids.
I put my elbows on my knees and tried for good photos maybe a nose sticking out or a breach for air. Let me tell you, it is nearly impossible to know when or where a dolphin is going to surface but in a river it’s a little different because they may be fishing a particular spot like a confluence and rise near the same spot as current goes by. It’s still tricky even with that because your ears are drawn to another dolphin that just surfaced and splashed on either side of where you’re focused. Now you’ve taken your eyes off your target to see and now another surfaces right in your frame but your beyond focus and its gone.
A young girl from the family showed up and put an umbrella over me and talked a continual stream of Nepali to me while I sat with my eyes through a viewfinder focused on the river. She was cute as a button and decided to periodically nudge my head with the umbrella while I was trying to focus and continued a monolog to the back of my head. Then we saw the Garial nose and eyes emerge in the river. She was alarmed but not bothered since they technically just eat fish, right? While we were watching the Garial swim up stream to the opposite riverbank I was lining up to take a picture of it and a dolphin showed up as well. We sat for an hour or so and I took 85 pictures and still feel I missed it. Lucky for me I have volunteered for the dolphin count that should be happening in the next few weeks with or without those coming from Katmandu.
We took off to eat something at a Banana Restaurant at the edge of town and John talked with some friends who were surprised to see him considering what last night brought on. We were told there was a curfew that could be turned on at any time. Police were said to be coming into Tharu peoples homes searching for certain people or maybe it’s the people that should be there but are not. How ever you want to look at it. We were told there were a lot of folks from India that had showed up for the night of violence. The locals could tell the difference because they dress differently. That’s an interesting thing since India on the other side of the border erupted too. Johnny’s friends were worried about our safety and felt uncomfortable putting us up for the night. They suggested a hotel with security down town. We decided to drive back through town as the sun was an hour out of sunset.
People were out, lots of people all walking this way and that and all their heads turned to the sound of a motorbike. Our saving grace on purpose was to show them we were tourists and wave and smile and don’t stop. Some intersections were particularly tense as youth and bystanders gathered as we came within earshot only to see two foreigner’s faces and begrudgingly let us go. Tense.
As the sun set the sky began to rumble off in the distance in our direction and when we got under it the lightening flashes drew your eyes to lightening bolts crashing down and thunder immediately following it. The wind would gust out ahead of torrential showers that came in waves but they never lasted and that was good because we still had a river crossing on the bike. Another bike followed us over and got stuck in the newly formed soft riverbank. I actually walked across the river and thought of crocodiles in the dark. I moved quickly.
