Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve

Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve

We had been working on the dining hall for the last few weeks while the Banda weakened from town to town. We were getting a little ‘cabin fever’ because we couldn’t go anywhere by jeep without trouble. The Banda began to weaken in the west and a week off brought the tin for the roof and the mysteries (Carpenters) went for it as John, Krishna, Seata, and me drove to the farthest west point of Nepal to see a 350 square kilometer animal preserve called Shuklaphanta that also has 50 square kms of grass land in the heart of the park, our goal, but we were told that roads were in bad condition with tall grass and lots of trees across the road. Phanta means grassland. The drive would take four hours from Thakaduwara, Bardia.

We went to the river to wait for our friend Krishna to come back from escorting his wife to her village in the jungle and then join us. The boatman went over to get him but in the end he only needed the boat to carry his cell phone. We scratched our heads and had a good laugh at the sight.

When we got out to the main east west highway we asked the policemen what the conditions were like and he said no problem. We didn’t see many cars on the road but the buses and trucks were running so that was a good sign that the Banda was lightening up in the west.

We arrived in Shuklaphata and the Shuklaphanta Jungle Cottages where we were going to stay for two nights. We spoke to the head of the park who was surprised to see us because there were no tourists or visitors in the park at the moment and they weren’t really organized enough to get our permits together. It worked though and we were scheduled for a jeep trek the following day. We would be the only tourists in the whole park. Jungle Cottage is literally down the street from the entrance to the park. We had to take a guide and we chose a man named Kum Thakur. He worked at the cottages and was very informative and spoke English pretty well. Our friend Krishna worked at this park along time ago, before the Maoist uprising ten years ago or so. He moved to Thakaduwara to work the Bardia National Park instead because tourists were still coming.

We drove in and looked for Tigers, Swamp Deer, Wild Boar, and birds. The grass was really high and wouldn’t be burned until December so it made sighting Swamp Deer very difficult. The Shuklaphanta is well known for it’s large herd of Swamp Deer, approximately 2,400 and growing. It is not well known for Rhinos or Elephant but that might be because the park is difficult to access. This is one of the reasons it has a not so positive poaching problem. The word is that poachers come across the open border and do there thing and disappear back over the border. We stopped at many of the towers scattered all over the area we were in and checked out one of the parks abandon offices. Apparently someone was killed here and being so remote they just closed it and moved closer to civilization.

It was a good day for birds and we saw or lured a few in with bird songs and a speaker. That was cool, you play a birdcall a few times and then turn it off and listen and the jungle answers you back. It was nice to get out of the dining hall for a few days of change.

The following morning we drove to the very west of Nepal where we walked across a 1.5 km walking bridge across the river bordering both Nepal and India. Where we were it is still Nepal on the far side but India is 2 km away. It was hot and the only cool place was when the jeep was moving. Seata was a dolled up and I didn’t know why until we started driving back and all the women were dressed up in their finest for a woman’s festival. It pretty much goes on for a month and there are dances and parties all across Nepal.

We got as far as Lempki before we had to fill up and while we waited I noticed the attendant had used a different gas pump than before. I asked Krishna, Krishna saw fuel coming out of the tank because the attendant was watching the women dancing across the street and couldn’t be bothered with us. He couldn’t be bothered with us to the point that he put diesel in our petrol tank and we caught it before we started it up. That dance cost us four hours and a tank cleaning. I did manage to snap off a bunch of very colorful photos though and that always makes things better.

Our friend Seata was egger to get home and dance with her friends and she managed to catch a late dance and have some fun. We sat in the tower and discussed the logistics of going to Rara and Jumla for a couple weeks of trekking before I have to appear in Katmandu for the Gharana Classical Music Festival at the Yak and Yeti Hotel on October 8-11.

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A Collection of Moments

A Collection Of Moments

I got to talk with some folks about the troubles in Tikapur and the Banda and the government in general and of course we all have an opinion but not a lot of people get to hear it or want to. For instance I’ll bet a lot of you didn’t know that when a wild elephant trashes a wall in your house they come and take pictures and write up a report and eventually send you meager money as compensation, say 500 Nepalese Rupiah, the equivalent to $ 5. I don’t know about you but that sounds really low.  As a citizen of Nepal you want to obey the National Park rules but with the lack of support from the government people begin to realize how the system works and human life becomes as worthless as recycled plastic in a country where plastic is now forbidden but so is the cast system which is alive and well in the youth of Nepal.

India is the main supplier of goods whether imported from far away or manufactured locally come mostly through India and China is number two. Its rumored India has been slowly encroaching on the border commandeering land under a border that continuously migrates east such as the river that separated the two countries. Nepal has few rights on this river they share due to deals in Katmandu. The government isn’t a trickle down democracy after all and the western part of Nepal has been forgotten. I read an article in a public paper the other day about the possibility of moving the Bardia entrance from Thakadurwara to some other buildings that have been vandalized inside the park. The Thakadurwaraians were upset and went to a meeting to hear the National Park people say that the reporter had their facts wrong. I hope so because all these people would lose their livelihood and no one would ever come here again. On top of that the government would be building in the park which is hypocritical of a national park in the first place. Secondly, then Tiger Tops shoud be able to move back into Chitwan where the founder has a small village of buildings inside the park and should for all intensive purposes be able to move back in. This all goes against previous views but money has a way of rearing it’s ugly head and past laws become bygones and everybody loses except the politician’s children who now can go to school abroad and never look back and never recognize the cultural sacrifices that brought about their education.

Women and children are taken from their villages and travel through India where they become slaves or are sold into slavery of all forms. China and India both are guilty of taking, not only Nepali people but also Burmese, Bangladeshi, and any poor groups that migrate across borders without a state.

I sat at the top of a new dining hall having a chat and a beer with friends when someone somewhere up the road lets loose with a curdling scream that cuts through the humidity and the night. Then I hear a man over by the traditional Tharu village pulling on a rope with a knot on it’s tail that bashes into a piece of loose tin and is supposed to scare the deer, birds and other wild animals out of the corn and rice fields. Men are waging a peaceful yet forceful verbal battle against a boar elephant that came from within the paddocks but can’t get out due to the fence between him and the proper jungle across the river. The night grows dark as the dogs begin their evening bark and echo series that goes on without interruption until the wee hours of the morning.

Been here a month helping out a new construction dining hall at Wild Trak Adventure. Slow mornings and sweaty afternoons absolutely soaked through with sweat and calm. It’s been good for me to stop for a spell before heading back out into the open. I wake to children jumping and swimming in the irrigation channel behind my cabin. Their laughter is contagious and I walk on with a smile. Spotted Owlets live in the resort. When I got here there were four and at least two if not more have stuck around without a cage. They are wild and come and go as they please. They seem to enjoy the light in front of the cabin where they can more easily spot a pudgy toad or an over weight skink sprinting across the path where the owlets take advantage of the light and lack of cover. I can get within 6 feet of these owlets but never for long, still unsure.

There is an elephant stable down the road where I go to watch them return from the jungle with loads of grass and usually holding a large log with their trunk. Children come out of the woodwork and sit with me wanting me to take pictures of them and then see the pictures in the viewfinder. Some of them are very photogenic. After the elephants I usually walk over to Cool Corner at the entrance to the elephant stable, it’s a small restaurant/bar with Internet, cold beer and a Carum board. I have been covered in sweat for the month of humidity and sun. The monsoon season seems to be on the ebb and the nights have been cooling a little. It’s been nice for me not to be on the move for a short while but that is all coming to an end as my feet are beginning to itch and my 3^rd book is at the cover stage to be released soon.

I hear tell here in Thakaduara that an article was written about the Mottled Owl that I had a small hand in searching for as a sound man. I’m trying to find it and put it on my fb page. If you’re interested in more go to fb, Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders and connect. I drop blogs there too but if you really want to know then go to the blog. www.davidcdagley.blogspot.com.

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