Nepal 4, Koshi and Jadi River Region

Just so you know I have few days resting so I’m able to catch up on my blog so your getting a number of posts now but, its likey to dry up again as our bird watching days are exhausting and about 11 hours long. We have a few more left before Dad goes home.

We are napping every lunch time and in bed by 9 pm most nights. Dad is finding the days quite strenuous for him and his feet are suffering from standing too long so sometimes we go back to the jeep and sit while the others head off. We got a few different birds that way too.

The next two days at Koshi we were up at 6am and out onto the reserve before it got too hot.
Mosquitos abound so the whole group smothered themselves insect repellant. Dengue Fever and Japanese encephalitis are a risk here from mosquitoes so neither of us wanted to get bitten.

In the reserve on the Chatara Road (an extinct railway line) looking over scrub, marsh and jungle towards the river, we get out of the Jeeps and stroll along with our guides Suchit and Badri enthusiastically identifying the birds for us.

This area is home to the few remaining wild water buffalo. We saw these and some feral cows. We also saw a couple of Jackals sunning themselves in the path too far away for me to photograph.

The birds were in abundance, we saw a spangled Drongo, which my Dad mistakenly called a Strangled Bongo making everyone laugh.

The road itself is quite busy with local trafic including three Elephants that came along and apparently they were not ordinary Elephants but Government Elephants! It made me think of Nanny Mcfee “I’m a government nanny! A made up title.
They patrol the reserve, although I’m not sure what they do. The chap on the big elephant told me (in Nepali) as they posed for pictues that the one he was riding was 21 years old and the baby was 2 months old, he said the mother was not working while she looked after the baby. He asked for money and I asked the jeep driver (whose name I never quite got) how much I should give the rider and I gave about the equvalient of 50p to the Elephant who took it in her trunk and passed it up to the rider. The mother seemed very interested in my sunglasses. She looked intently at me, her eyes were lighter than I expected and unnerving. I was too close and under scrutiny but, I scratched her trunk hard with my nails, she seemed to like that! I’ve never touched an Elephant before and although the skin is tough its also pliable and feels like velvet/felt, well at least the trunk does. I gave the other rider money too because we were all taking pictures.

The only figures I could find about earnings here in Nepal, seemed to show the agricultural worker earned about £100 a month. Its a fine line to walk between giving a little and being condesending because we are so rich by comparison. Some of our group found the poverty quite hard to deal with, and if you get into that line of thinking it can drag you down.
There is a big difference between want and need,
most humans want but don’t need ( we, the Western world build our whole economy on want I think). I looked at the little homes in this area and thought most people in this region have all they need, a home, good food from their land, water, family, community and occupation…..it is enough for all of us but it is human to want more.

Perhaps the need here is, an affordable medical system for all and a way to deal with flooding, pollution and litter. I will talk to Durga when he arrives and get his understanding of this.

On with the tour…we visited the Jabdi – river region a huge flood plain with goats grazing and a lot of field birds, I never knew there were so many Larks to be had, hahaha.
There are people here too and temporary stockades made of bamboo. I imgine in the summer they are washed away in the monsoon. Here we got our first glimpse of the mountains, The Himal appearing through the haze!
Later back to the jungle region, trying to find loo stops for the ladies was an issue, and Suchit told us you can “walk to the bushes there, no further becuase after that……..is the river!
When I came back he said, “good that means there are no tigers here!” and to think I was more worried about snakes!
A some point we got a glimps of a Marsh Mugger Crocodile, laying in the mud looking like a piece of lorry tyre. Thats enough to make you never want to wee again!
As the light started to fade we saw short nosed fruit bats flying from their roost.

Back to our camp for a fantastic dinner before packing for moving on the next day.

Koshi Camp is a simple affair, tents with a straw covered roof, a dining hall and the area around is woodland. Some good birdwatching and animal watching was had from the Dining hall too, we saw a fishing cat (endangered) on our last night prowling under the trees and caught in the torch light.

The food was excellent, cooked with local produce and washed down with a bottle of Gurkha!

The tents had solar powered electricity, enough for one light and to charge a phone. The first night the showers were cold but it was so sticky after the initial shock (and a scream from dad) we felt more comfortable afterwards. The WiFi it was rather intermittent but it didn’t matter.

The plus was being able to get washing done, I had planned to do my own but the days were so long. Suchit suggested a lady in the village that he uses and for a few rupees our clothes were returned clean and dry, just smelling of rain!

Onto Chitwan next…