Nepalese Garden Birds

The bush outside my office window serves me well for a spot of birdwatching in between e mails. This afternoon I photographed these two chaps - an Oriental White Eye (well named) and a Jungle Myna. There are a number of Myna species in Nepal. This one, in spite of its name, is frequently seen in inhabited areas. Yesterday morning I heard the first cuckoo of Spring, so maybe he will present my next photo opportunity.

Last week on April 1st (note the date) a news item ran on the front cover of The Himalayan Times saying that sale of alcohol had been banned in the run up to the election. After quotations for and against the move the reader was directed to page 2 where it said "Cheers". Bizarrely though this April Fools Day prank has been prophetic as the Election Commission has since decided that such a ban will be a good idea after all. Other restrictions will come into force including no vehicular movement being allowed on the day of the election itself. This is presumably in the assumption that all voters will be by then back in their home areas and within walking distance of a polling station, which I find rather optimistic. The cuckoo's arrival could be well timed.

The British Cemetery in Kathmandu

Few tourists would think to visit the British Cemetery in Kathmandu, as I did this afternoon. It's in a very secluded spot just down from the Indian Embassy, this having been the British Ambassador's residence up until the middle of the last century. In fact it's very easy to just walk right past it without realising it's there; no sign indicates what lies behind its high wall and chained padlocked gate. Hover around for a few minutes outside though and the caretaker who lives inside will spot you and let you in. Her curious dog will escort you around the graves, which are immaculately maintained - an amazing thing for Kathmandu. The headstones reflect styles ancient and modern, final gestures both ostentatious and modest, and sentiments tragic and triumphant. They mark, inter alia, the last resting place of the victims of avalanche and altitude sickness, of the diseases that killed children in Victorian times, of bon viveurs and missionaries. There's even a Jewish grave tucked away at the back of the cemetery, its inscription partly in Hebrew.

Some headstones really stop you in your tracks. I was particularly struck by the tragedy that befell the Wilkins family, husband and pregnant wife with three children who all died in the PIA air disaster of 1992. Reflective of the Wilkins couple having been Christian missionaries is the statement of faith on their headstone, an arguably defiant verse from the Gospel of John - "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand." And I felt for the British residency surgeon, Dr Wright, who must have felt so impotent in spite of his profession as he lost his young wife in February 1873 followed by his only child, aged 18 months, the following June.

There is also some humour to be found. There's the grave of former British Army 10th Gurkha Rifles officer, Micheal John Cheney, "Friend of Nepal", with a Buddhist stupa that I think must have deliberately comically-lugubrious eyes. John Richard Fletcher's epitaph states that "To have known him was to have known laughter", while three year old David Wilson's memorial reflects that he was one "who chuckled through his short life and so enjoyed the sounds of Nepal". A favourite has to be the headstone that lies over Freddie Bowles, "the bartender bard - who was the first Englishman to become a Nepalese citizen and who found his Shangri-La in Nepal".

My newly-written Will stipulates that if I die in Nepal that I be laid to rest in the British Cemetery. Where better? I hope that someone can find something good to write about me in spite of the vituperative content of some of my Blog posts.

Former circus slaves illustrate trafficking through drama

Charities that work with children and young people should make every effort to allow those in their care to express themselves. This is particularly important if there is a need to come to terms with past trauma. Last summer a group of our volunteers in Hetauda, south Nepal, were taken aback when some of our hostel girls (circus returnees) staged an impromptu play about their experiences. This drama was then refined for the girls by a subsequent volunteer, British playwright Nic Discombe.

Watching in the wings at the final performance, I found the play very disturbing, especially hearing the audience laugh at some very bleak scenes. However a clinical professional later reassured me that being able to laugh at such things represented great therapy and advised me not to worry about it.

Here is the final product on film, recorded by my friend Subi Shrestha and edited yesterday (at long last) by me. Like the best drama it is much more powerful than a factual documentary on the subject.

The power of blogging

So many of my Blog posts represent a much-needed opportunity for me to vent some steam about daily life in Nepal. On the other hand many of its visitors seem to be attracted through their use of search words like "massage", "sex" and "Kathmandu" - words that I have used in the course of describing my Trust's work against trafficking rather than as advice intended for sex tourists.

But today the Blog proved some other real worth as I was delighted to meet one of my readers for the first time when she came all the way from the USA with a bag of 30 pairs of top quality shoes for the use of our refuge children.

Rhino poaching

Just last month the news was that the endangered one-horn rhino was making a comeback in Nepal with an increase in numbers recorded in Chitwan National Park. Whether that is true or not (and I naturally disbelieve most things I hear in Nepal) it is clear that poaching is still a huge problem in spite of the Nepalese Army guarding the parks. Just today I read that a rhino was found dead in Bardia National Park yesterday, its horn removed, along with the body of a soldier 400 metres away. The poachers are ruthless and there's a lot of money involved in the trade in animal parts, many of which find there way to the discerning Chinese. I wonder if the victim of the poaching was the magnificent specimen whose picture I showed in yesterday's post?

Increasingly I am becoming interested in somehow supporting conservation projects here (not that there are many to choose from), perhaps through sales of mosaics. Much of Nepal's wildlife seems particularly fragile in the midst of the current chaos and no one cares less than the politicians who are jockeying now for power.

Sudhin Pokharel

In my post of 14th September ("Lose your mobile") I described how supporter Emma Triplett left her mobile behind in a Kathmandu taxi. Thinking that was the last she'd seen of it, she phoned the number to discover that it had been picked up by the father of a famous Nepalese pop star and national TV presenter, Sudhin Pokharel aka "DA 69". When Emma collected the mobile, Sudhin expressed an interest in coming to see our work and maybe in singing for the children.

He kept his promise on Wednesday when he joined us for lunch and volunteer Rebecca Hawkins' farewell party at our arts centre in Godawari. He's a very confident, handsome chap with outstanding English who made quite an impression - especially no doubt on the older girls. Afterwards he went to the refuge where he rounded off a programme of entertainment that had been laid on by the children with a little bit of rapping, a foretaste of the concert that he says he will do for us "after the election" (commonly heard words these days!). The kids were bowled over by their surprise visitor and it's young men like this who provide such great role models for the teenagers that we are caring for.

Bardia National Park

Mention Nepal to even well-travelled foreigners and most will associate it with mountains and cold thin air. Many are surprised to learn that there is a very different Nepal in the south of the country where the dominant topographical feature is not mountain but plain. The altitude isn't much above sea level, the climate is usually hot, sometimes wet and humid, and the region is home to several large national parks with exotic jungle wildlife. I spent a couple of nights at the start of this week at one such nature reserve, Bardia National Park. This was my second visit and my late birthday present from my wife, Bev. There are quite a few companies in Nepal that offer limited safaris around Nepal's jungles but none compete with Tiger Mountain (http://www.tigermountain.com/). Tiger Mountain is pricey but offers real value for money and has the best access to the parks, allowing the greatest possibility to see some decent flora and fauna.

The central "Tiger Tops" accommodation at Bardia is the Karnali Jungle Lodge. This is accessible through a one hour flight from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj followed by a two hour drive. My tip though is to bypass that Lodge and go straight to the Tented Camp in the jungle itself. Surprisingly the accommodation is arguably more comfortable, you're right in the middle of it all and the views over the Karnali river from the campsite are phenomenal.

Safaris are conducted on elephant back, jeep, and by dinghy with these options offering very different perspectives on the park's wildlife. Many tourists go to the Park in the hope of spotting the elusive Royal Bengal Tiger which is not seen that often as, like many of the big cats, it is nocturnal and during the day it hides in the long elephant grass. This time around I managed to see the tiger from the top of my elephant twice but I am afraid these were too fleeting glimpses to provide you with a photo. But I did enjoy the very rare sighting of a leopard in the early morning light during a jeep safari; see the very grainy picture on the right. There's loads more to be seen though - the one-horned rhino, the gharial crocodile, four species of deer, the freshwater gangetic dolphin, and a vast number of bird species. I guess that on Monday we must have seen around 100 bird species ranging from flocks of bee eaters to woolly-necked storks.

I have to declare an interest in Tiger Mountain as they've given The Esther Benjamins Trust a lot of support over the years, including allowing us to film elephant racing for a charity fundraiser and laying on a free overnight visit for our refuge children. Moreover Tiger Mountain is contributing far more than most to wildlife conservation in Nepal and on that basis alone merits my money and yours if you are passing through. And if you visit Bardia, do leave your mobile behind. I had hoped to call someone with the message "I'm on the elephant" but there's no network connection. That's what I call relaxation.