Paragliding above Pokhara
A Rhinocerous and her baby in Royal Bardia National Park
Kathmandu, Nepal
I had a very interesting and enjoyable trip to Royal Bardia National Park in south eastern nepal. Before I left Pokhara, I took the opportunity to go paragliding of of the top of Sarangkot hill (~500m above the city,) which was awesome! Bardia is BEAUTIFUL... and almost completely devoid of tourists (likely due to the 15 hour public bus rides required to get there.) The Tharus (locals to the region) are very warm and friendly. I found that the relationships that I formed with the people there were more "real" than those that I had had in more touristed areas. There was a feeling of mutual curiosity rather than an all out effort to grab tourist money. The most common request that I recieved was for me to take pictures of groups of kids. This is not to say that all of my experiences while trekking in the mountains were tainted by money, but in Bardia money felt like much less of a factor. I floated down the Karnali river on a rubber raft, went for all day walks through the jungle in search of big animals, and took a 3 hour trip through deep (otherwise impenetrable) jungle on the back of an elephant! very cool... I managed to see wild elephants, rhinos, crocodiles (marsh mugger and gharial,) several exotic species of birds, monkeys, deer, and several signs of the elusive tigers... alas, I was not among the fortunate few who catch a glimpse of a tiger. I had a very interesting and eventful 15 hour trip from the park to Kathmandu on nepali public transport (picture a bus packed to the gills with nepalis who have seen maybe 10 caucasians in their lives.) There was also the incident of my near mugging by some would be thugs outside the deserted Kathmandu bus park at 11pm... I got away ok though. I fly to Bangkok tomorrow morning.
- I finally managed to get some pictures uploaded! Check the other posts, as I have added to them aswell.
A Rhinocerous and her baby in Royal Bardia National Park
Kathmandu, Nepal
I had a very interesting and enjoyable trip to Royal Bardia National Park in south eastern nepal. Before I left Pokhara, I took the opportunity to go paragliding of of the top of Sarangkot hill (~500m above the city,) which was awesome! Bardia is BEAUTIFUL... and almost completely devoid of tourists (likely due to the 15 hour public bus rides required to get there.) The Tharus (locals to the region) are very warm and friendly. I found that the relationships that I formed with the people there were more "real" than those that I had had in more touristed areas. There was a feeling of mutual curiosity rather than an all out effort to grab tourist money. The most common request that I recieved was for me to take pictures of groups of kids. This is not to say that all of my experiences while trekking in the mountains were tainted by money, but in Bardia money felt like much less of a factor. I floated down the Karnali river on a rubber raft, went for all day walks through the jungle in search of big animals, and took a 3 hour trip through deep (otherwise impenetrable) jungle on the back of an elephant! very cool... I managed to see wild elephants, rhinos, crocodiles (marsh mugger and gharial,) several exotic species of birds, monkeys, deer, and several signs of the elusive tigers... alas, I was not among the fortunate few who catch a glimpse of a tiger. I had a very interesting and eventful 15 hour trip from the park to Kathmandu on nepali public transport (picture a bus packed to the gills with nepalis who have seen maybe 10 caucasians in their lives.) There was also the incident of my near mugging by some would be thugs outside the deserted Kathmandu bus park at 11pm... I got away ok though. I fly to Bangkok tomorrow morning.
- I finally managed to get some pictures uploaded! Check the other posts, as I have added to them aswell.
posted by Matt | 8:06 AM
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