Leopards in Chandragiri landscape

Phantom of Kathmandu

Chandragiri landscape is a hilly range covering most of south-western ridge of Kathmandu valley. The hills are preserved by community forestry management, and are full of dense lush green hill forests. This landscape elevates from around 1500m asl to above 2500m asl with varying degree of vegetation types along the altitudinal gradients. It is an important biodiversity area, but not much of it has been studied in detail.

Leopards are largest wild carnivore and on top of the food chain in this landscape. They share their habitat throughout the landscape with humans along villages mostly in fringes and base of the hill range. Barking deer, wild boar, rhesus and assamese macaques could form the main prey base for leopards in this landscape. Stray or feral dogs roaming freely along the human settlements could also form one of the main urban prey options for leopards. Other sympatric carnivores include leopard cat, jungle cat, large indian civet, masked palm civet and golden jackal.

The indirect signs like scats, pugmarks and scratch marks of leopards are observed very often in the jungles of this landscape.  One day it so happened that I even felt a very fresh yet pungent smell of a spray or urine mark of leopard while walking a trail under canopy of the jungle. I felt the leopard could have been very near but never did I see it then. There are cases of leopards in conflict with people in and around the human settlements in the landscape. Settlement areas like Kirtipur, Matatirtha, Pharping, Chalnakhel are some of the regions around this landscape where leopards sneak into, mainly in search of domestic prey such as goats, stray cattle, pet animals and stray dogs.  Since Jan 2016 to Feb 2017, two leopards have been caught at two different occasions from local houses in Kirtipur and were released elsewhere in natural habitat; one leopard got killed in a man leopard conflict in Matatirtha; while another leopard died of an unidentified cause in Chalnakhel. This makes at least four leopards to have been removed from the area in just about one year time. We don’t know how many leopards still prowl this landscape, but it may not be long that they get to survive many generations to come.

PHOTOS:

FILE PHOTOS:

leopard captured after tranquilized in Kirtipur (Jan 2016).

Photo source: himalayan times

leopard rescued after tranquilized by Radha K Gharti, senior 

vet of zoo and kathmandu's professional leopard catcher

(Feb 2017).  Photo source: nepalireporter.com

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Owl festival and the fishing cat encounter !!!

Owl Festival 2017 at Jagadishpur Reservoir Ramsar site

I went to attend Nepal Owl Festival 2017 at Jagadishpur, Kapilvastu (mid-west lowland Nepal) along with my work colleague, Nagendra (Awasthi) dai. We traveled in night bus, and reached the festival site the next morning by 7am. The festival went well with nature and bird watching program early in the morning and followed by various cultural programmes later in the day. The Jagdishhpur reservoir is one huge wetland lake and a ramsar site important for numerous migratory and resident water birds.

During the birding sessions, over 30 species of birds were spotted that included bar-headed goose, bean goose, gray lag goose, asian open-bill, ruddy-shelduck, ferruginous duck to name some by expert birders. During the night, lot of calls of owls was heard. I was also excited about this place that it is a known habitat for fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), they had been recorded (Sagar Dahal et al. 2014) in and around the lake area. Most of the time, I was wondering about their presence around and really wanted to go track their signs.

So, in this 2nd day of the festival after our morning birding session, I insisted Nagendra dai to go and hunt down their tracks in a nearby small shallow pond which was wet and easy to access. As we walked through the edges, a carnivore scat was encountered, which i believe should be of jackal (unsure), I didn't have the feeling of it to be of a felid because its morphology was quite different than my pet cat's feces (which I am much familiar with). As we went by, we spotted small felid pugmarks, it was a joyful moment. We went ahead, and again spotted even more fresh tracks in a pretty wet area of the pond. In this second encounter, you could also tell the path the cat walked through, it clearly looked as if the cat was climbing up the slope into the edge from the shallow area, the claw marks were intact in the tracks. I took photographs and GPS through my mobile device. As soon as we returned to the festival area, I showed it to Yadav (Ghimirey) dai, he confirmed it to be most likely of fishing cat based on habitat and size of the track. This made my day having tracked a fishing cat track. We attended the festival program and enjoyed our rest of the day in the festival area, I volunteered by putting owl stamp to children and adults too. The festival ended well with messages of owl conservation and awareness among the local communities with many other fun-filled local cultural and entertainment activities.

The next day, we were bound to return early morning. We woke up and got ready by 5.30am when we finally started to move towards bus stop. We had some really good friends who helped us in reaching bus stop at time (by waking up early themselves) by dropping us through bike. I and Nagendra dai started walking and almost covered half way to the bus stop when Kaushal (Yadav) dai took us in his bike (double-load). He was riding very slowly, and suddenly we noticed something move, there the guys started to shout out with joyous voices, then Kaushal bro called "fishing cat". It was a blessing moment of our journey I would say. As we were leaving the place, a fishing cat showed it to us, we were able to see it as it ran through the farm-field and into a bush nearby where it disappeared.

As we reached the bus stop, we excitingly informed it to Yadav dai, who was already there. This joyous moment wouldn't have been possible if Yadav dai had not insisted me to come to the festival. My huge thanks to him, and rest of all Friends of Nature team for organizing such a wonderful festival. This sighting was my second live sighting of a wild cat in the wild.

CITED ARTICLE:
Sagar Dahal et al, SMCRF (2014). Status of Fishing cat in Jagadishpur Reservoir and Ghodaghodi Lake and assessment of threat.

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PHOTOS:

Fig 1: habitat area (shallow pond), where we tracked for signs

Fig 2: pugmark spot 1

Fig 3: pugmark spot 2

Fig 4: pugmarks (claw-marks intact), claws would protract as the cat insist on climbing through slope

Fig 5: slope at edge of the pond, arrows showing tracks with claw-marks

Fig 6: carnivore scat in edge of the pond

Fig 7: Jagadishpur Reservoir

Fig 8: Map showing locations of pugmarks and live sighting of fishing cat (Google Earth Pro image)

Fig 9: Owl face painting was one of the attractions in the festival

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High Mountain Leopards

Leopards of the mountains

There has been a recent spark on records of common leopards (hereafter referred "leopards") and snow leopards at a same camera trap station, which is circling the social and mainstream medias of conservation concern groups and researchers. It all started after bbc published the news which reports leopards and snow leopards captured at same location in Qinghai of China. The concern was obviously about snow leopards having to share their habitat with much stronger and larger leopards. According to them, this would mean the already endangered snow leopards will have to now compete with their larger cousins for space and food, which can probably result in displacement of snow leopard activity from those regions where leopards are roaming. This news came up in the wake of current ongoing snow leopard conference being held in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, the news is not so much of a new thing in the field. The leopards have been recorded at up to altitude of 5200 m above seal level (asl) in the past. They have been camera-trapped by Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC) Nepal in snow leopard habitat in Annapurna region. WWF-Nepal has recorded them in Kanchenjunga region. Non-invasive genetic studies (unpublished) have proved their sympatry in the Himalayas. The recent news have reported similar cases in Manang region. And who knows since how long have they been co-occurring together and its just been into the notice of greater world as the monitoring of much endangered snow leopards are rigorously taking place, whereas leopards have never been accessed in such detail and with much effort. Had leopards' monitoring been given similar priority, their global and local distribution range would have been much different than what it is actually known now, and the phrases such as "leopards are moving higher up" would have never been invented.

It is not a new thing of the present to have two large cats co-existing in the same habitat. Lions and leopards coexist in Africa and Gujarat of India, while similarly, tigers and leopards coexist together in most of present tiger ranges throughout south and south-east Asia. Much recently, tigers are being recorded at higher altitude in Bhutanese Himalayas, where snow leopards occur. And historically, even lions and tigers were known to co-occur together, and this can continue if we drill even more towards prehistoric times when multiple prehistoric super-large sized cats evolved and prowled on this earth together. Cats are very good at maintaining their contacts, they only do it when they want to. Having (larger) leopards in what is known to be snow leopard territory should not be much of a threat to (smaller) snow leopards as this is what nature is bringing upon. There are already lot of human-related threats (poaching, hunting, encroachment etc) against these cats for us to take care of than what the nature is naturally playing.

On the other hand, conservationists should never sound or be biased when it comes to conservation until and unless the threat was really something like "introduced" or "invasive" species cases. If a larger carnivore really threatens the existence of smaller carnivores, what about the lynxes (a small cat, but relatively large in size) that co-share habitat with (larger) snow leopards. Why was it not a threat when much much larger tigers were known to be breeding in snow leopard habitat in Bhutan? I think we should not spend time thinking about this can happen or that can happen, it is all upon nature to decide what has to happen or how it has to happen, rather what we should be thinking about is how can we better protect their ecosystem and let them be just what and how they were and are.

As far as hybridization is concerned, it should not also be much of a concern, because if it does occur, then it occurs, that is also a part of evolution. Hybridization among small cats species is a known scenario, small wild cats of Leopardus genus of the neotropics have been verified to hybridize by genetic studies. In the domestic cat lineage Felis, the hybridization is known and currently occurring events in nature among feral (domestic) cats and wild cats across Europe. In fact, the evolution of cats have itself been shaped by hybridization in the ancient past is what a recent phylogenomic study have proved as.

Hence, if leopards are getting recorded (for first time) in snow leopard habitat, then we should be rather proud that not just one but two big cats prowl this terrain, and hence start acting for their habitat protection and better conservation.

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Phantom of mighty Hills

HILLS STALKER

My hometown Kathmandu (valley) is surrounded all around by massive structures of gigantic hills with varying degree of dense jungles within them. Being an avid hiker, I regularly go hiking into these hills over weekends. One such beast prowls the terrain that has got reputation of a fearsome phantom of these mighty hills. My quest to follow trail of the phantom has led me into understanding so much about the magnificence of these beasts. And more I follow them, the more I get the feeling of getting closer to them which excites me so much but it just remains very short-lived. The phantom always succeeds in what it does best, disappearing into the midst of clouds through the densest and hardest terrain of the globe. The beast is so enigmatic and elusive that you seldom even get to feel their shadow. But my commit to track down these evanescence has led me train my sixth sense that is now able to grab their signatures in one of least thought areas. These areas where you would have never expected them to have been there. Yes these beast prowls the vicinity of the urban region, yet their presence are never ever felt or detected and it is the product of that millions of years of evolution that they are so good at doing. We need not fear the presence of the spiritual beast, rather the time has come for us to live alongside the phantom for CO-EXISTENCE is not impossible and is always better than conflict. Leopards were and are in the spirit of these majestic hills, but whether they will be in coming future is all upon us. They are dying, and yet are given least attention (click to know more). They need us.

My quest began on early 2015 after I returned from Finland finishing my masters, but started to detect these signatures only by late 2015 (the elusiveness!!!). Here are some of the trails of Leopards Panthera pardus of Kathmandu valley:

PUGMARKS:

CLAW MARKS:

 

SCATS OF LEOPARD:

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Chandragiri Range Landscape

Chandragiri Range Landscape

Chandragiri Range on south-west of Kathmandu valley as seen from the valley

INTRODUCTION

The Chandragiri range landscape is a dense mountain range forest, very rich in biodiversity, lying within the greater Mahabharata range. The diverse flora and fauna of this huge landscape has not been fully accessed yet. Very few studies have been conducted in some parts of this forest area.

This landscape forms the Chandragiri range that covers south-west ridge of Kathmandu valley from Thankot (west) up to Bagmati river basin (south-east) stretching distance over 12 km. The formations expand beyond the valley ridge into westward up to Bajrabarahi VDC. This huge landscape has the elevation profile ranging from around 1400 to over 2500 m asl (above sea level) comprising of some popular hills Chandragiri, Bhasmasur and Champadevi. The base of the range facing the valley bear outskirt settlement villages like Thankot, Matatirtha, Macchegaun and Chalnakhel. While on the other side of the hills, there are villages Chitlang, Fakhel and Pharping. The western crest of this range also forms the border between Kathmandu and Makwanpur districts. Chitlang village falls in Makwanpur, the oldest en route to Kathmandu from southern Nepal used to pass through this village before any highways were constructed.

RELIGIOUS, CULTURAL AND TOURISTIC IMPORTANCE

The hills in this range entails religiously significant places of Buddhism and Hinduism importance such as shrines, temples and stupas inviting visitors sparsely throughout the year. The place also forms a popular hiking area for mainly internal tourists. On the first day of Nepali New Year (1st Baishak), all the hills around the valley are visited by people mainly as religious beliefs and for recreational purposes. The Champadevi hill (Hindu Goddess shrine) and Chandragiri hill (Bhaleshwor temple) are also among the main charms during this day for the inhabitants around the valley. A recently started cable car service in the Chandragiri hill (Sep 2016) has been attracting many people from the valley. The cable car line connects Thankot Godam to Bhaleshwor temple (Lord Shiva) in duration of just about 8 minutes. The same travel would take 3-4 hours for hikers and 1.5 hours for vehicles. There is an established hiking route expanding across the ridge line of this range from Pharping to Chandragiri hill via Champadevi and Bhasmasur hills. At the eastern edge, there lies Hattiban Resort which is a recreational resort/hotel near Kathmandu that attracts both internal and external tourists. Other religious sites that lie on different edges of this landscape are Matatirtha, Macchenarayan and Sheshnarayan temples.

BIODIVERSITY

The hills around the Kathmandu valley have similar type of vegetation while differing in the landscape a bit at different places. The Chandragiri hill is one of the steepest hills with dense forests from the bottom of the ranges, and slowly opening up the canopy into shrub-covered meadow-like terrains towards higher altitudes. Mostly, the hilltops and southern slopes are covered with Oak and Blue-pine forests. The northern slopes facing the valley are mainly dominated by broadleaved sub-tropical forests of mostly Schima and Castanopsis along with some Chir pines. This dense vegetation and steep slope might be quite challenging to travellers. While the local people depend on the forest resources for their livelihood, their activities in the forest can be rarely observed. This dense habitat supports a wide range of wild flora and fauna. A biodiversity survey by a conservation-driven organization done at seven adjoining community forests around Thankot Godam area of this forest region have recorded 137 species of birds, 13 species of mammals, 9 species of herpeto-fauna and 53 species of butterfly (SMCRF 2015). They have documented three globally, five nationally threatened and two protected mammal species of Nepal. The Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin was camera-trapped along with their burrows observed throughout the hills. Among the small carnivores camera-trapped were Yellow-throated Marten (Martes flavigula), Large Indian Civet (Viverra zibetha), Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) and Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). The forests also serve as perfect habitat for variety of rodent species, bats, macaques, barking deer and wild boars providing ample choices of wild prey for the small as well as large predators such as Leopards (Panthera pardus). Similarly, an ornithological survey around forests of Chitlang village by Nepal Bird Watching Club recorded 160 species of birds (NBWC 1992). There are very few sources of natural spring water on this landscape, mostly on the southern slopes. You can come across small streams along Pharping highway. There is a river in Chitlang flowing from Chadragiri hill and finally draining into Indrasarowar lake. And, there are some natural ponds in religious places Sheshnarayan, Macchenarayan and Matatirtha. To entomologists, this place could serve as a haven for studying invertebrates. The whole forest comes alive with ear-wrenching crackling sounds of cicadas. A variety of grasshoppers can be observed throughout the walking trails in the deep jungle. Other invertebrates like different types of spiders, beetles, millipedes, butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies were regularly observed during my hiking trips, and not to mention the blood-sucking raining leeches during monsoon.

Leopards in News

The forests surrounding the valley are prime habitat for leopards, yet there has not been much study dedicated to them here. These large cats are being encountered in different outskirts as well as sub-urbs of the city more often in recent times, they are usually thought to have come for dogs that are frequently available in the city. Some areas nearby the Chandragiri range forests where there have been cases of leopard conflicts or sightings are Chalnakhel, Chovar, Kirtipur, Matatirtha all of which lie on bases of the landscape. In January 2016, a large male leopard was captured by zoo officials from a house in Kirtipur. The big cat injured one man but no any fatalities occurred. Later in September 2016, a leopard straying into Matatirtha had to be killed by locals while they were trying their best to chase it into the direction of the forest. Just a month later, a female with four cubs came in same area, the locals succeeded in chasing them into the forest this time. Based on perrs comm with eye witnesses, they’ve sighted leopards on the Pharphing highway, one near Chovar and other near Chhaimale. These cats seem to be doing quite well in such disturbed habitat, however the future of these leopards will hugely rely on our willingness to co-exist with them.

ADVENTURE

Being an avid hiker and having deep connection with hills surrounding the Kathmandu valley, my quest to explore the wilderness has taken me about 8 times until today at this forest area. During my first hike to the Chandragiri hill, the beauty and the mighty hilly forests of this area emotionally attained my heart that made me return to this forests over and over again. The mesmerizing sounds of the forest wind and the lovely songs of variety of exotic birds make you feel like you’re into a very heavenly place. There are lot of walking trails throughout the forest, each one challenging at its own level. Exploring any wilderness on foot lets you observe any wildlife or indirect signs of wildlife directly. As you start reaching higher altitude, you would most likely come across groups of monkeys, and if very lucky, you will hear calls of barking deer. Along the main road trail from Thankot Godam in early mornings, the foot-prints of animals are observed as later in the day, local vehicle services to Chitlang village would have overridden most of the nocturnal signs. The narrow trails through the dense vegetation of the forest are the most adventurous ones, and can be really challenging during monsoon. These trails are also paths taken by wildlife mostly as you can come across scats of carnivores most often here as compared to the vehicle roads. Once you’ve reached the top, you can travel along the ridges of this hilly range throughout. The view of the mighty landscape can make you feel very minute. During clear weather, the Himalayas at north will smile at you all the way making you forget all physical misery of the steep hike. It is guaranteed that the trek into this mountain forest will be one of the most memorable trips for anyone.

During one of the hikes, I with my brother, Sulav, happen to take a shortcut trail which only appeared to look like one until we realized it was actually a landslide-inflicted cliff. We had reached a point where we didn’t have choice of returning as the cliff had already gotten very steep and we continued ascending. This was the day we will never forget as lot of things happened during this adventure. We were actually doing a natural rock-climbing without any gears. Every hand-holds, foot-holds we take was like an added life support to our unsuspecting journey. As we climbed, we could see people and vehicles on the main road very far on the edge of another hill, we shouted for help, but nobody could hear or even see us we supposed. Finally when we started hearing sounds of vehicles on road, there was a vertical rock which we had to climb in order to get to the road trail. Sulav got stucked at first but with his strong struggle to get away with the hurdle and not fall off the cliff, he managed to pass that most difficult hurdle, while I couldn’t gather courage to try that ascend. I was looking for any other options, while Sulav was constantly trying to get help from any passers-by. He finally found a way and guided me to it, but to reach there, it was very challenging. So challenging that I lost my confidence and even dropped my backpack with binoculars, digital camera and other items. Thankfully, I didn’t drop myself down the over-hundred foot drop. We also managed to find my backpack by climbing again from below, but lost the camera as it got thrown away during the fall, and the binoculars damaged. I always feel the mightiness of the mountains during the travels, but this was the day I really sensed it first-hand. These mountains are really the monumental structures of nature and the wildlife in those mountains are the living example of how supernatural they are. These vital gifts of nature should be always protected and conserved for the future of the mountains and for the future of people that depend on these mountains.

REFERENCES

1992 Nepal Bird Watching Club (NBWC). Ornithological survey of Chitlang forest.
2015 Small Mammals Conservation Research Foundation (SMCRF). Biodiversity of Chandragiri Hill, Kathmandu, Nepal.

PHOTO FEATURE

Predators in the city

Predators in the city

Kathmandu valley is surrounded by hills and jungles that endure rich biodiversity and wildlife habitat. The forest-cover are mostly of deciduous with some pine forests on some southern facing hilly terrains. The wildlife of these forests are declining due to expansion and encroachment activities of the city, and thus gradual degradation of the natural habitat. One such predator prowl these forest which is adapting to their best among all others in the human-dominated landscape. This silent predator sneaks around when the city is asleep, taking away any animals that stray around in the city.

An inhabitant of the city happened to have his pet lost one night. Some furs trapped in the house’s fence were seen later, that was used for genetic test. The test revealed the fur to be highly related to Panthera pardus. Leopards prowl these sub-urbs of Kathmandu valley. Due to the overexploitation of wildlife habitat, the wild prey base on which these felines survive have declined substantially. On the other hand, domestic animals such as dogs, cattle etc. without any responsible human owner are straying around in the city and they are increasing which is driving the big cats of the forest towards the city. Often times, these instances are resulting in the human leopard conflict in recent years more frequently. More and more reports of lost pets are coming up in social medias these days from various places around the valley, yet people are unaware of the actual convict.

The leopards are the largest predator on the hilly terrains of Nepal, within where the capital city Kathmandu also lies. In recent years, the cases of human and leopard conflict situation are occurring very often in different parts of the Kathmandu valley encompassing three districts: Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Due to urbanization and developmental activities, the expanding city is pushing the sub-urbs into the edges of the natural habitat. On the northern and north-western edges of the valley, there lies a protected Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park. The southern edge is covered by pristine Godavari/Phulchoki Mountain Forest. While most of the southern and western ridge is covered by very steep and dense montane forests of Chandragiri range. A small parts of eastern ridge are spread over the hills of Nagarkot, Changunarayan and Sankhu. The main city is at least ~15km inside from the circumference of the hill ranges around the valley. But the urbanization is rapidly spreading beyond the sub-urbs of the valley, and thus threatening the natural habitats that surround the cities. As a result, wildlife that thrives in those habitat is having to pay the price.

There have been very poor assessment study on the density of different wildlife surviving in these forests. And the conflict cases are regularly being occurring. On hiking trips into some of these forests almost always lead to the encounters of numerous carnivore scats, potentially also of leopards. But it is really not studied that what these leopards have been feeding on, and moreover how many leopards are estimated to be there, as well as for what is the current carrying capacity of these degrading forests. The leopards are believed to come into the settlements mainly in search of potential prey. This lets us think that the natural prey animals of these big cats have declined in the forests, which is why these feline predator are now on the look for a new urban preys to thrive in this disturbed environment. Leopards are known to adapt very well in very disturbed terrains, and is also the main reason why these cats are among the most conflict wild animals.

In order for placing a proper mitigation measures, a proper and serious scientific study is highly required, while also not forgetting that the implementation of these strategies are also needed to generate the result. The movement and behavior of these predators need to be closely monitored using technologies that allow us to do so. There needs to be satisfactory level of awareness activities among the city dwellers about the conflict mitigating solutions. The concerned stakeholders need to maintain their active profile and support for carrying out these important activities in order to assure its implementation success. The rapid response team has to be localized in more than one place so that nothing become regretful just because of time difference.

When everything is in place, it is still yet not certain that the things will work out as planned. We can imagine how it could get when nothing is in place and unplanned. Saving leopards will save many other walks of wildlife that are thriving in those forests. Preserving the wilderness and letting them be where they have always belonged is going to help our generations itself in the long run. Just getting to know that these nature’s gift are roaming around in their natural habitat makes everyone feel overwhelmed, and hence we all should play our part in conserving the beauty that is ever eternal. The nature should be left to be what it is always meant to be and never should be taken for granted if we are to survive under its warm cover and not under her dark influence that she is capable of if ever gone against her.

CHITUWA !!!

Nagarjun hill forest on 20Feb2015

Early in the morning, me and my dad left off in public vehicles to Balaju bypass where we would meet my cousin brother Akhilesh Manandhar. My dad has always been the source of inspiration to me for making me walk, walk and walk. Hence, accompanied by him and brother, we went for hiking into the Nagarjun forest sector of the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. The Shivapuri and Nagarjun sectors of the National Park are not physically connected due to villages and a highway that runs through these patches, and moreover the Nagarjun forest was made part of the National Park later only much recently. There after we reached the main entrance gate, and paid the entrance fee of Rs. 56.5 each, we ascended for hiking through the trail. As soon as we enter the forest or in fact from the vicinity of the park itself, the sounds of the forests makes us feel so live and charming and brings adrenaline into our blood for the exciting hike.

Just in a short while, we were met after by a local man, who sells candles up in the monastery. He told us about rhododendron high up in the hills, and to hide them in your bags so that the army wouldn't find out about. We asked him along about any leopard sightings he has had, he was fast, he said yes he has had encounter quite often, but the big cat either runs or goes his own way. Being a regular person, he shortly paced and outran us. We kept on our own speed. As my brother and dad were climbing the stone-stairs paved along the trail, I was constantly trying to explore any signs of wildlife along the path we took upon. Shortly after, we thought of taking a shortcut way from outside the trail, as there we saw a small unused path aside of the main trail. Thinking that it would meet with the main trail later in the way, we went through it. It was quite steep-path, a natural path that would normally serve as a highly for any local wildlife specially mammals. As we went forward, we soon discovered that its taking us to a different direction from the main trail and we would have to cut through into the forests in order to meet to the main trail again. There was no point of returning as we had traveled long way, then as we were trying to find a way out, there I noticed some feathers lying on the ground. As I inspected, it seemed it was of a whole bird that must have been the prey of some animal. The feathers were all over lying concentrated in one region mostly, I felt it was a good sign of a presence of a mammalian predator. The color of the feather was dark black to blueish black, looked kind of shiny. I thought for a second, it should be a clouded leopard's kill. That was my mind's first thought as it is so much enthusiastic about clouded leopards. But most probably, it could be from other mammalian predators such as leopard cats, civets, martens, jackals, jungle cats, and who knows could also be that of a leopards. Anyways that was a nice breakfast or last night supper for some elusive wild predator of the jungle. Then we moved forward and then took an uphill turn through steeps to meet the main trail. And yes we were almost lost as we had been moving in a wrong direction through that out-trail. We met some army persons after we got into the trail and they asked us why we were coming out from there, and they showed us the hiking path to take again. And there we went again climbing the stone-paved stairs but now the man-made pavements were slowly mixing with the natural pavements of blocks of medium-sized stones to rocky and muddy hilly paths.

After walking for some time, we reached an open ground that much of looked like a view-point as we could see much of the kathmandu valley from there. As we were viewing down into the valley, Akhilesh detected a movement in a tree just about 300 m away down the hill, and pointed it to me. I too saw a glimpse of movements there but could not really figure out what it was as it vanished into the forest before we could sight it. But whatever it was, it definitely was not a human activity, the tree was tall and the ground it was standing was very steep. Most probably, it should have been some monkeys, if not at least other medium mammals. And from there as we looked above, our destination - the Jamacho gumba was still so high above the clouds. After resting in the terrain for some time, we headed uphill through the dense forests again. Again with the sounds of birds all around and the shades of trees along the paths made us not even realize that we had already reached the summit, it felt so short way as we had seen the monastery from the view point to be still so far. But we have reached the place now. Then we started to eat what we brought with us, saw the valley and took photographs from the view tower there. Then we lit candles in the stupa there and prayed. After sometime, we had to move on most probably the same way we came from. But we thought of going still ahead after we have come so far, why not going just another high-point we were seeing from there. My dad was insisting to go back, but we made him convince as we two had majority. So there was again another quite unused path, and we moved ahead, there were the flags of buddhists prayers lying along the way from the trees and branches. We reached the point and there was a old army barrack which had been destroyed my maoist during the decade long people's war. It was vacant and most probably been serving as a refuge to the wildlife of the area. After spending some time there, we headed back towards the end of our journey. We passed the stupa and downhill through the forest, there again with the feel of nature and live jungle all around us. As we kept on going down, I stopped at a point with an excitement in me. I saw a poop in the way, I got excited as it was looking pretty fresh, another indirect wildlife sign. My dad and brother were joking as I was inspecting so curiously into the scat, and then my turn I said that's of a leopard and the leopard might have just walked by here about an hour or less ago. But it was not of a carnivore indeed, must be of a primate, thats most probably monkey. Then we headed downwards and reached the open field again. We sat to eat some fruits that was left with us. After finishing it, we started moving quite faster this time, it was starting to get dark slowly, we had to move fast. Then reached pass the army post we had encountered on the way. And then finally the main entrance/exit gate after about half an hour walk from there.

This way, our journey came to an end. What a wonderful hike it was, into the jungles full of wildlife, birds, nature and above all the exciting feel of the real wilderness at its best. Due to weather conditions, we could not see the Himalayas, but we did got the feel of the wind from the mountains flowing through our veins throughout the journey. It was a very splendid moment I spent my day on. I pray this pristine natural heritages of this wonderful country be always preserved through generations and generations to come. May all the wildlife living in it could take the full enjoyment of the rich nature here for decades and centuries and we humans to live in harmony with all these beautiful creations of nature. I plan to make this exploration again and again in coming days to get the feel of wilderness away from the busy urban kathmandu life.