Nepal Under Banda
An early flight to Nepalgunj becomes difficult when the Banda is on. A Banda is not a strike by any particular body or political orientation, it is nation wide and there is no end in sight at the moment. This is all about the signing of the new and revised constitution and the powers that be adding a new district or division to the mix. The Tharu where I’m staying right now only know that some politicians are pushing for this and when it’s over life will resume with no difference to them, just the politicians. No vehicles move basically between 6 am and 6 pm but it’s more extreme outside of Katmandu. There is a curfew in certain places where violence has risen. That means no transport buses, no trucks, no personal automobiles, and motorbikes are forbidden, but so are plastic bags and that’s not going well either. hops are closed for the most part. I’ve been here for two weeks and the Banda has been on the whole time. When I asked about it at my hotel in Thamel, The Holy Himalaya, they said no problem for tourists in Katmandu. Fine. When I was picked up in Nepalgunj we were the only vehicle in the airport parking lot and the only vehicle on the east/west highway besides an ambulance that we mistook for a police car racing up our 6. It blew by us in a cloud of dust.
We noticed a group of men standing in the road making us slow down as we approached. One of the boys carried a two foot long, ¾ inch chunk of rebar in his hand. Johnny driving slowed down and explained we were just picking me up at the airport and won’t be driving. They rolled their eyes in fury not because we were white but because they want everyone to obey the Banda including whites and the further east or west from Katmandu the more likely trouble will start and spread like a virus. We obviously don’t vote for any party but the youth and angry need something to take it out on and your windshield will do just fine. I’ve been told they also like to light stuff on fire such as cars and bicycles. We saw three such groups of mostly male if not all sitting at what would be bus stops or shelters along the road out of the monsoon rains that announce their presence with a precursor of wind followed by a thorough down pour that has the potential of becoming a flashflood somewhere down stream.
When I arrived in Nepalgunj it was raining and it has rained part of almost everyday since. The town I’m headed for is across a river that we cross in the jeep if the water level isn’t too high. They do not have a floating raft to ferry vehicles, people and supplies to the other side. A flashflood will occur and a few hours later the river subsides and you can cross if you so choose. We were worried about it but all worked out.
My friends Johnny and Sitaram who own Wild Trak Adventure are putting in a new dining hall and I noticed they really didn’t have the right tools for the project. The builders are all Nepali or Tharu and are extremely capable of doing the job with the tools they are accustomed to using but I thought I would help by bringing some of my own tools and helping out for a month or so. So I picked up 600 quid worth of tools in London at the Paddington Hardware Store. The owner thought I’d get the VAT ‘tax’ back at the airport by showing receipts but they want the owner of the hardware store or any other store you buy stuff from to fill out a tax sheet that has to go with you to the airport. The line was really long and I didn’t have the tax sheet from the hardware store so my choices were limited considering my flight was in one hour. Anyway, the tools arrived with me in Katmandu and again in Nepalgunj. The carpenters building the dining room were curious as expected and I went to work putting together a kitchen with them looking over my shoulder at what ever I brought out to use whether it was a cordless drill, skill saw, grinder, or a belt sander. They are particularly happy with the cordless drill and have their own plainer but when the power goes out, which is often, they revert to the old ways and do it by hand. Now I’m the one learning something.
A friend of Johnny’s called, Ram, and wanted John, Sitaram, Krishna and myself to join him and his brother Deep to help identify a bird said not to live in Nepal, an owl. Apparently he has taken some photos and explained what it was to some folks who wrote a book about birds in the region and didn’t include the Mottled Wood Owl in Nepal. He wanted to bring it to their attention so we set out in the jeep for the community forest where Ram and Deep had been seeing this bird. We should up with a hand held speaker with Bluetooth capabilities and a phone that had previously downloaded the Mottled Wood Owl’s calls. It worked like a charm and within one sounding we received a response from the wilds.
We attracted a pair of owls that for now I’m going to call Mottled Wood Owls but that is still left to the professionals to make clear. The male was darker in color that the female but they hung out on the same limb or at least in the same tree together. A third owl arrived and I think that is the one in these pictures. The couple had had enough shenanigans with the speaker owl. Every time the owl would leave we would play the download and it would return and perch in different trees around a clearing off the dirt track road. We did this for two evenings because the first evening we were too late to get any good shots but apparently those in the back seat saw a leopard. I saw nothing but tracks and maybe where it bedded down for a while.
On our way out just before the sun was going down and we were walking back the way we came in Deep saw another owl camouflaged in a tree not far from us and we began to identify it as a Brown Fish Owl. We took a stack of photos and were frantically looking for a download for the Brown Fish Owl. After 15 minutes of fat thumbs on small screens we found it and played it to no avail. This bird didn’t even look at us. When we got home we looked it up in the book and have come to the conclusion that it’s not a Brown Fish Owl at all but a Tawny Fish Owl. The main differences between the two owls are height and subtle markings on the chest and back of the head. It never really moved off.
A resort operator up river went to Nepalgunj the other day to pick up a client and was stopped by the mob on the east/west highway and he and his guest were not allowed to pass and had to spend the night elsewhere. The second day they made it through but the river was too high and had to stay somewhere else again. By the time the tourist and owner got sorted at the lodge the tourist had to basically turn around and head back to where they came.
Life goes on in Bardia and no one travels anywhere at the moment, except into the jungle. Stay turned because due to the Banda the Gangetic dolphin count has been delayed so I will most likely get to participate and that should be something worth waiting for. If for nothing else the photos should be acceptable.
