Nepal 2010: Karnali River and Bardia National Park

My current position on the globe is now 28° 14' 0" N / 83° 59' 0" E in a place called Pokhara located northeast from Kathmandu. Depending on what day of the week it is, what Hindu or Buddhist festival is currently being celebrated or the lower the ratio of cow:people:vehicles there is on the road, the journey overland is about six to twelve hours from Kathmandu and about fifteen to twenty four hours from Chisopani in the far west. Pokhara is a lakeside town and is the start and finish post for all things trekking. I am camped out here waiting on Suzy Pollard's arrival in the next few days. Let the debauchery begin.

The road to Pokhara was a long and amazing one. I headed to the Karnali River again with the hilarious Drift Nepal boys and a much larger crew then the previous trip.

Lake Mansarovar in Tibet.

The Karnali or Ghaghara is a trans-boundary perennial river originating on the Tibetan plateau near Lake Mansarovar. It cuts through the Himalayas in Nepal and joins the Sarda River at Brahmaghat in India. Together they form the Ghaghra River, a major left bank tributary of the Ganges. With a length of 507 km it is the largest river in Nepal and one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges. The total length of Ghaghara River up to its confluence with the Ganges at Doriganj in Bihar is 1080 km. In Chinese it is called K'ung-ch'iao Ho. In Nepali it is called Kauriala, Manchu and Karnali meaning Turquoise River. In Uttarakhand, Pilibhit and Shahjanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh it is spelled Gogra, Ghaghra or Ghagraand Khakra, literally holy water from the sacred mountain.

Bamboo hut on the bank of the Trisuli River. Lived here for three days until the Karnali River trip.

Butterfly or Leaf?

Terraced rice fields close to the put in for the Karnali River.

First view from the wildest, most death-defying two day bus ride of the Karnali River.

This three year old little man introduced himself by sneaking up to me and playing the game of trying to make you fall over backwards by digging under your shoes. He then practised his English with me in the sand. We were fast pals for about an hour. Fascinated by my camera as most folks out here are.

My tent on the bank of the river at Camp 2. The walking foliage is a young girl carrying the freshly harvested leaves from a neighbouring treed cut by her brother. The leaves are used to feed the goats.

Family who came down to check out the action.

These bamboo containers delivered yogurt from the local village. The yogurt had been in this containers for five years. It was the best yogurt I had ever tasted.

All together now. The man to the right at the back of the raft is Mongol, one of the raft guides. He has over 25 years experience guiding on rivers in Nepal, Japan and India. Most nights he was severely intoxicated on the local rahksie or rice wine. By day, I trusted his every move. Believe it or not.

Bridge over Karnali waters.

Amrit surfing some of that turquiose water under the bridge.

There are four kayakers in this photo. Should represent the scale and size of this enormous river.

Traditional long boat. This one took 45 days to fell, hollow and make water ready. This one is about 35 ft long.

Hoodoos.

View from my tent.

Last sunset on the Karnali river.

This river trip was unreal. Having had the opportunity to travel so far to the west this time into areas that really only paddlers get to see is a great gift. I felt honoured to be there and to be able to breathe in the clean air, swim in the frigid waters, sleep under the stars, eat fresh, local meat, share in local customs like the large hookah packed with locally harvested ganga (don't read this part Mom and Dad ... too late!) and to revel in the beauty and hardship that is life in rural Nepal.

There are no roads, there is no access to proper let alone basic health care, women die during childbirth, malaria kills on average 22 people per year, people go hungry in order to sell their livestock for clothing and basic supplies, every monsoon season hundreds of people including children are swept away in the swollen and ferocious Karnali river ... yet in all of this there is happiness, smiles and laughter. These people are hardworking people. The river represents life and death in a real way. According to religious tradition bodies are carried by bamboo and cremated by the rivers edge and the remains are washed away.

The hills are different shades of green representing rice, millet, mustard leaf, cabbage and other fruitful crops to feed their families. Goats wander the hillsides herded by young children, water buffalo cool themselves in the river, cows wander sacredly and freely and all the while, the people live cut off from the rest of Nepal. Good or bad? For better or for worse? You need to answer that for yourself. According to some, there is a desperate need for roads. Roads to the bigger cities so that these rural farmers can sell their livestock, fruits, vegetables and other products of living in the Terai or marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the base of the Himalaya range. I read Three Cups of Tea and there was a quote by Helena Norberg-Hodge who is an analyst of the impact of the global economy on cultures and agriculture worldwide at the beginning of one of the chapters that read:

"It may seem absurd to believe that a 'primitive' culture in the Himalaya has anything to teach our industrialized society. But our search for a future that works keeps spiraling back to an ancient connection between ourselves and the earth, an interconnectedness that ancient cultures have never abandoned."

We refer to this part of the world as the 'developing' world. Developing what? What is it that they should be striving for? Our Westernized ways of overconsumption, mass production and non-renewable energy sources. These folks have exactly what they need right outside their doors. People lose their noodles in the west when the power goes out. Here, if you even have access to power you may have a little solar panel on your hut that will generate enough energy to have a single bulb on for a couple hours at night. In most bigger cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara, their is load sharing which means the power goes off or on only during certain times of the day. Access to power is a whole other rant for another day but the basis of that argument is Nepal dams their rivers, sells the power to India who then sells it back to Nepal??? Let us all turn out our lights and light a candle. It's way cooler.

Bardia National Park

Bardia National Park is what the popular Chitwan National Park just south of Kathmandu was 30 years ago before being overrun by mass tourism. Bardia is the largest and most pristine national park in the Terai and has excellent wildlife viewing. It's known as one of the best places in the world to spot a tiger - although spending a day walking the jungle - you need exceptional luck to see them. There are healthy populations of wild elephants, one-horned rhinos and among 30 species of mammals living in the 1550 sq km of sal forest and grssland. Bardia has been one of the hardest hit regions by the Maoist insurgency (topic unto itself).

We visited the park after the Karnali River because it would be a shame not to as we were so far west I was not likely to return this way. Bardia literally borders India and has a very sparse amount of tourists which was its biggest draw for me. Chitwan is a circus of elephant rides, packages and tourists where Bardia is quite, sadly empty but untouched by tourism. It is another world with having the military presence but poaching is a serious and real issue here. The rare one horned rhino is slaughter solely for their horn and sold for millions of rupees on the blackmarket. The tiger population was depleted almost to extinction. A lot of work has been done to replenish the population and to rebuild the park.

I stayed with some people from the river trip at the Tharu Home which is a quiet, family run home with a few rooms, good food and amazing hospitality. When I arrived I had no money so they ensured me I could pay them later. I racked up a bill over the 3 days there and when I arrived in Pokhara, using the owners banking information, I paid my bill. I couldn't get over the trust that this man put in me. For me to not pay this bill, in the land of karma would have seriously messed me up down the road for sure! If only the rest of the world had such faith and trust in each other. I was truly humbled.

Crocodile.

Termite den.

Termite homestead.

Beautiful bridge over the crocodiled waters.

The Army patrols the park. Poaching has been and still is an enormous problem here. There is an Army Base at the entrance to the park. Definitely not Algonquin in these parts. As they marched by they said 'no camera' so naturally I obliged.

Park Staff. We patrol in boats, here they ride the elepant.

Elephant to Chaco.

Tiger Print.

Our guide, fifteen year old Dhama from the Tharu Home where we stayed. No English. We learned a lot from him. Really cute kid though. He wears a US Parcel uniform most days.