Trip Report: Nepal, April 25 - May 27, 2000

This report outlines an independent five week bird-watching trip to Nepal in April/May 2000. We would like to thank Hem Sagar Baral and Carol Inskipp for advice and help and also to Hathan Choudhary, Colin Towe and the Leicester crew and 'Stuart and Vince' for gen and advice in the field.

Sites Visited (25/4 to 27/5)

Chitwan National Park (26/4 to 29/4)

We travelled from Kathmandu, taking a Makalu bus from Kalanki Chowk direct to Meghauli. There is one bus a day, and it leaves at 1355 and arrives about 1900. It cost us NR100 to get to Kalanki Chowk by taxi, and the bus fare is NR110. At Meghauli we headed for Chital Lodge to stay with the famous Jib - an excellent bird guide. Jib charges NR650 per person to guide you around the park and is very good. We gave him a 'shopping list', and he largely fulfilled it - he can find Bengal Florican very easily for example. It costs NR650 to enter the National Park for two days and a great deal of money to stay in the National Park itself. Staying at Meghauli you are committed to walking long distances but can see all the birds if you put in the effort. Late April is considered the best time to visit this site. Large mammals are fairly common in this Park so take great care!

Highlights here for us included; Tiger (1 adult at 20 m whilst we were on foot), Indian Rhinoceros, Bengal Florican (single male), Hooded and Indian Pittas, Sand Lark, Slender-billed Babbler, Pale-chinned Flycatcher, Bristled Grassbird (at least three singing males) and Grey-capped Prinia.

Kosi Barrage (30/4 to 1/5)

We left Meghauli on the 0630 bus to Naranghyat. From here we quickly got a bus through to Kosi Barrage which cost NR170 and takes 6.5 to 7 hours. We stayed with the owners of the big tea shop who have a spare bed (NR50) if you do not mind roughing it a bit. This site looks fantastic, and we would like to get back here in the winter sometime. It was quite quiet when we visited but we still managed to see some excellent stuff.

Highlights included; Ganges River Dolphin (up to 10) feeding in the outflow from the barrage and Baer's Pochard (1). Swamp Francolin occurs here, and we failed to find Hodgson's Bushchat.

Kosi Tappu (1/5 to 3/5)

Time for a bit of luxury, so we opted to spend a couple of days at the tented camp at Kosi Tappu. We booked this in Kathmandu when we arrived through Hem Sagar Baral (birdlife@mos.com.np) and arranged for the guides to pick us up from Kosi Barrage and take us to the camp. This place is wonderfully situated, with great accommodation and food, and we had a very relaxing time here. The guides here are helpful and know their stuff. As usual it cost NR650 to get a National Park permit to enter. The site was very disturbed however by pre-monsoon repairs to the embankments.

Highlights here included; Wild Buffalo (++), Spot-bellied Pelican (2-3 daily), Swamp Francolin (just two seen), Indian Skimmer (1), Black-bellied Tern (1-2 daily), Bristled Grassbird (2-3 singing males) and Smoky Warbler (one bird around the fish ponds at the tented camp).

Dharan Forest (4/5)

Arranged as a side trip with the guides at the tented camp. It takes about an hour to drive to this site from Kosi Tappu. We spent a morning here and picked up a number of birds not seen elsewhere in Nepal during our trip. Undoubted highlight was the Jerdon's Baza displaying and carrying food over the forest. We travelled back from Kosi Tappu tented camp on 5/5 taking a comfortable early morning bus (booked by staff at the camp) which took 11.5 hours to get to Kathmandu and cost NR250.

Langtang-Gosainkund trek (8/5 to 25/5)

Before you consider trekking do look at the Lonely Planet guide Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya, pay particular attention to health matters and ensure you carry an adequately stocked first-aid kit! All manner of drugs can be bought in Kathmandu (at pharmacies)! We combined the Langtang and Gosainkund treks as many birders do - it offers an excellent selection of birds and is fairly easy going. The trails along the Langtang Valley are well maintained, but those on the Gosainkund trek are rather poor. Pay attention to the effects of altitude; taking it easy on the walk up to Kyangin will pay dividends when it comes to searching for the birds on the hills above the village.

We travelled to Dhaunche by bus from the Kathmandu's "New" bus station. Booked the day before, this cost NR110 and took 8 hours. In Dhaunche we stayed at the Langtang View Hotel and engaged a porter (@NR350/day) to carry our stuff. If you are thinking about hiring a porter it is worth buying a waterproof duffle bag in Kathmandu for all your stuff.

We took it fairly easy, although there were a couple of days that were exceptionally painful, and we followed the itinerary below:

 8/5: Kathmandu to Dhaunche

 9/5: Dhaunche to Syabru

10/5: Syabru to Lama Hotel

11/5: Lama Hotel to Ghora Tabela (3000 m)

12/5: Ghora Tabela to Langtang (3500 m)

13/5: Langtang to Kyangin (3800 m)

14/5: Kyangin (climbed to 4600 m)

15/5: Kyangin to Ghora Tabela

16/5: Ghora Tabela to Lama Hotel

17/5: Lama Hotel to Dursagang (600m above Syabru) - not recommended, hard work!

18/5: Above Dursagang

19/5: Above Dursagang to Sing Gompa

20/5: Sing Gompa to Gosainkund (4450 m)

21/5: Gosainkund to Ghopte

22/5: Ghopte to Thare Pati

23/5: Thare Pati to Kutumsang

24/5: Kutumsang to Chisopani

25/5: Chisopani to Kathmandu.

Langtang (8/5 to 17/5)

We enjoyed reasonable weather during this part of the trek, mostly sunny with occasional short showers in the afternoons. There are plenty of good lodges along this trek, and it can get quite busy on the trail. We opted to sleep at Ghora Tabela (3000 m) on the way up to give ourselves plenty of time to acclimatise. It is possible to walk from Lama Hotel to Langtang in a day, and many people do this. We spoke to people who had done this, and they were generally not in good shape for altitude work once they got to Kyangin on their second day. We on the other hand suffered no symptoms other than breathlessness when walking and difficulty sleeping (due to irregular breathing).

Highlights included; Snow Partridge (above Kyangin), Pied Thrush (pair below Syabru), White-bellied Redstart, Grandala (above Kyangin), Streak-breasted Scimitar-babbler, Grey-bellied Tesia (near Bamboo), Yellow-rumped Honeyguide (single by bees nests across the gorge from Rimche) and Scarlet Finch (two pairs together below Syabru). Also an excellent selection of laughingthrushes and rosefinches.

Gosainkund (17/5 to 25/5)

The weather broke badly during this part of the trek, and from 20/5 we suspected an early start to the monsoon. We were plagued by low cloud and rain for six days. Despite this somehow we managed to see some excellent birds. The lodges and condition of the trail are more basic than on Langtang, but there are fewer people, and the scenery (when you can see it) is fantastic. If you have already done the Langtang trek you should be appropriately acclimatised to work at altitude, otherwise the usual precautionary principles apply.

We saw a number of species here that were not recorded on the Langtang trek. Highlights included; Satyr Tragopan (2 males heard above Dursagang at the usual site plus a male which gave superb views just below Ghopte), Wood Snipe (displaying bird briefly below Thare Pati), Rufous-breasted and White-browed Bush-robins, Gould's Shortwing (a pair between Phedi and Ghopte), Dire-tailed Myzornis (several small groups feeding in flowering rhododendrons in the Ghopte area), Collared Grosbeak (woods just before Sing Gompa) and Red-fronted Rosefinch (pair just after the pass).

Phulchowki (27/5)

We got to this site by taxi (NR600 to the summit from Thamel). Nice site to visit whilst passing through Kathmandu. We saw a few species here that were not encountered on the trek including Spiny Babbler. A site that probably deserves more time than just one day, we intended to visit twice but got rained off in April.

Systematic List

Order and nomenclature follows the OBC checklist (Inskipp et al 1996). The following abbreviations are used: CW Chitwan, KB Kosi Barrage, KT Kosi Tappu, DH Dharan Forest, KV Kathmandu Valley, LG Langtang, GK Gosainkund and PH Phulchowki. Species in square brackets were heard only.

Birds

Mammals

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