Nov 1^st, 2012 Delayed

Made my way to the airport in the late afternoon with plenty of time to relax and kick back. Passing through security checks at any airport these days is unpredictable. By now, I should have learned to expect the unexpected. But a four hour plane delay?

The worse part of being delayed four hours is not sitting in the airport, twiddling your thumbs. Is knowing that you will miss your connecting flight. It really sucks and is totally out of your control. I would arrive within a half hour of my plane leaving for the States, But, Customs would take at least that long to clear and then trying to get to the other terminal... not possible. I cleared the customs area at approximately 10:30 PM. The plane was scheduled to leave at 10:35 PM. But wait, there's more!

When I finally arrived in Delhi, I had to leave the arrivals area and then make my way to the departure zone, which took about ten minutes. Guess what? When I tried to enter I discovered you are not allow in the airport unless you have a ticket that has not expired. A the time, I was not aware that the plane home was delayed till midnight, but a delay is what I was hoping for and why I wanted to gain access. Still, I was not allowed in. So India has a special area for people like me. There were ticket booths in this isolated zone but no one was working them, at least not at the United Airlines counter. No phone number to call, no one from the airport able or willing to help, another than to say “come back tomorrow”. And none of the other airlines offering some insight to their system. I will spare you with the rest of the details of my ordeal. Suffice, if not to say, no one ever showed up to the United/Continental ticket counter but I finally received some assistance at 7:30 PM the following day. But the military security still would not let me pass until a ticket was issued. The representative had to go inside the airport, book me a ticket and bring it out to me, which finally satisfied the military. (Sorry, no photographs to show you the chaos at Delhi's Airport I was happy to get out of there and will do everything I can not to fly through India again.

So, that's my story! Hope you've enjoyed it. I've filed my papers to start a non-profit foundation and hope to return to Nepal next year with a team of biologist and educators to document exactly what's out in that jungle and to help the Sherpa people improve their lives without compromising their lifestyle. If you'd like to join the project, or contribute, contact me at canislupusproductions@gmail.com. We'll be lunching a website ((nepaltigers,org) by January 2013.

Oct. 30^th, 2012 – Bus ride home

I had a restful night sleeping in the dormitory. After walking 9 hours the day before, I was pretty much out for the count.

The buses are cued up and scheduled to leave at 5:30 AM and 6:30 AM. We decided to purchase tickets for the 6:30 AM bus.

So, you know those photos of people setting on top of the bus's racks? Here's the deal. All these buses are privately owned and operated. They will sell you a ticket, even if the cabin is sold out. You can wait for the next bus the following day, or you can stand in the aisle or sit on the roof. Same price. My guides assumed, and rightfully so, I would not want to sit white knuckled on the roof for ten plus hours, so we purchased tickets early and secured three seats. Our forth team member stood in the aisle for part of the way then went up on the roof until we reached the Kathmandu city limits. At which time the bus company made every one come inside the bus.

At what point in time do those of us living in countries that have been through such exploitation, and evolved past it, stand up for the less educated and tell them this is not acceptable? Do we have that right? That duty?? Do land borders supersede human, or for that matter, animal rights when it comes to the basic needs of a society or the individual? Greed and selfishness seems to be inherent in our species, but I would argue that we are better than that. By this point in human history, reason should have long since over ridden the selfish gene we've been passing down from generation to generation. I had a lot of time to think about this topic on the ten plus hour ride into Kathmandu.

Once back in the city, I sorted out all my dirty clothes, packed up my scat samples, and made preparations to leave Nepal the following afternoon. A short plane ride to Delhi, India, then a 14 hour flight back to the States.

Oct. 29^th, 2012

Last night, we had a little celebration.  We had potato mash for dinner, a local favorite among the Sherpa people.  The potatoes are boiled, peeled, then mashed by hand to a very fine consistency.  Its then place in a pot and cooked again, then served with a broth.   I helped pound down the potatoes and discovered how weak I am.  It was a lot harder than it looks.  Maybe it was the lack of oxygen, or maybe my body is just a spent unit.   In any case, I could only pound it a few times before handing the job over to another.

Dinner was followed by a lot of chung, conversation, and dancing to Nepalese music.  To a guy who listens to jazz and normally only dances to salsa, this was an interesting change. As isolated as many of the villages are from social services, I wondered how children were born out here.   A local doctor?   A Mid-wife? Nope.   Babies are born here the same way they've been born since the beginning of the human species.  All of the men on my team were born at home, without the help of western medicine.  “Sherpa women are strong”, I was told, and that very few children or mother's die out here as a result of natural child birth. Fascinating, I thought.

A product of natural child birth

We took off around 0730 hours the next morning after breakfast.  We were still above 2,500 meters so, it was no surprise that every uphill step I took was a struggle.  We made it to the nearest town by 11:30 AM, stopping for lunch.    Along the way, I came across a man on the trail.  His gaze was vacant, his clothing torn and dirty.   He stared at me as I walked towards him. “Namaste”, he said as I approached to pass. “Namaste”, I replied, smiling but continuing forward, in an attempt to pass.   He stuck out his hand. It was dirty.  Really dirty, showing the signs of a very hard life.   I looked at it, and him as I reached for his hand.   I could not help but think of how many people back home may have declined to shake his hand, or perhaps offer a knuckle instead.  Or maybe reluctantly shake the man's hand but immediately feel the need to breakout the hand sanitizer.   After our exchange, I continued down the trail, then focused on the hand that had just touched another's, and wondered, what is humanity?

In the next village we passed through, before dropping in altitude, I was reunited with a little girl I had met the year before.  It made me very happy to see her.

My young friend and her brother in 2011

My young friend 2012

Soon after passing through this village, we were able to bypass the trail through the farm fields and walk on the unfinished road they are building that will allow buses to travel further into the mountains, reducing the walk time for many of the villagers that are traveling back from Kathmandu.  Once we dropped below 2,500 meters, I felt like myself again, able to walk at a brisk pace and keep up with the others.

Some villagers are trying to discourage littering on the trails

Some people still don't get it

We made it to the buss staging area in the village of Dareh before night fall.  After dinner, we all sacked out for the night in a dormitory style hotel.   Although I was still in rural Nepal, life felt a bit different.

Oct. 28^th, 2012 – Another Leopard sited

So, I miss understood the travel arrangements spoken by my interpreter for returning home. And my guides misunderstood my desire to return to Kathmandu as soon as possible. I had hoped to start the walk back today, meeting up with the other team members we left in the jungle, back in Kathmandu. But, instead, they will be coming to my location and we will be leaving together, tomorrow morning.

By mid afternoon, the men came out of the jungle with their findings. The tiger did not return to the kill site, but a scavenging leopard did! Not the same leopard we captured on film a few days ago (if you compare the photos taken, you can clearly see the difference between the two animals). This is not the animal responsible for the kill. (Paw prints left by this leopard are smaller than the ones discovered the day after the kill). Leopards are solitary animals but the territory of this leopard and the one we spotted days ago are very close to one another, overlapping the suspected tiger's territory. I can not judge sex by photographs alone, but my educated guess would be that we've camera trapped a male and a female leopard. Not the photograph of a tiger staring into the camera lens that I wanted, but pretty cool, nonetheless. We'll be leaving a few cameras behind to monitor these cat's activities.

New leopard scavenging two days after kill

New leopard feeding

I said goodbye to those team members that will remain in the mountains, returning to their villages. We all are proud of what we've accomplished during the past twenty days. These guys weren't just hired help. This is their home and their heritage. They were as excited as I was whenever we discovered a new track, or located fresh scat. They believe, as I do that the presence of tigers (and leopards) will help stimulate the economy of the mountain people. Not one person we contacted, even the woman who lost her calf, thought that trying to protect what tigers remain in the area was a bad thing. I think helping them receive compensation for any losses incurred due to wildlife predation, will keep them on the side of the tiger.   

Core team members

Its clear to me that I could not have documented the presence of large predators in this area of Nepal without the help of the Sherpa people. I am sure tigers are here, however, their numbers are much lower than the elder villagers had noticed during their youth. Educational awareness and protection from human anger is what is now needed.

So, the plan now is to start a foundation. We'll set up a study area next year in order to document exactly what is out here. We need to know exactly what we are dealing with as far as cat numbers, prey base, territory size, health, etc.

This is very exciting.

Oct 27th, 2012 
We broke camp yesterday and continued traveling south after documenting the tiger kill site. We set up a camera trap pointing directly at the fallen calf, in hopes that the tiger will return in a day or two to finish feeding on the kill. I left Tsering and Dawa behind to monitor the camera trap and talk with a few more of the locals about tiger activity. We are now staying at the home of one of my Sherpa guides, about two hours walk from last night's camp site. I visited this family last year and was happy to know they have remembered me. They have made some improvements on their home since my last visit. Then, we had talked about the health dangers of having an open fire pit within the home. To my delight, they constructed a base level internal wood burning stove from which they cook on and draw heat. They also constructed a more enclosed outhouse and build a shower stall. They previously showered or bathed under a waterline in the open air. Needless to say, during the winter, a full body wash with cold water only took place on mild sunny days. An added bonus to their shower stall was heated water! They routed a water pipe from the spring into the house and through the wood burning stove, then back out to the shower, allowing them to bathe daily, if they wished. You can't imagine how much pleasure I received from being able to take a luke warm shower after camping out and cleaning up with cold mountain water for almost 20 days.

We had a bit of confusion this morning on when we are to return to Kathmandu. I would like to leave now, in order to hit the Chitiwan preserve before returning to the States. I had to send one of the Sherpa guide back into the jungle to clarify what I thought the plan was with Tsering, the guide who speaks the best English, on when we are heading back to Kathmandu. In any case, rest is great but this will be a day wasted.

Open fire pit, common within the homes of Sherpa people

Improvement on cooking facility

Oct 26th, 2012 Lightning strikes twice!
Finally, I woke up to some good news!  One of our cameras captured a leopard passing through!

The locals had told us they have seen both leopards and tigers in the area.  Now we have a full body visual on the leopard.  I can't tell you how happy that makes me feel.   In science, facts are everything. I could interview ten thousand Sherpa people but their eye witness accounts would not prove creditable. The leopard's photograph, the tail or a tiger/leopard, paw prints and scat collect provides me with the scientific evidence I was looking for.  I am still hoping for a tiger photograph but the leopard photograph is a close second in my book.  Neither one of these species was believed to exist in this part of Nepal.  Although part of their historic range, they were believed to be expired here.  I would say that it is pretty cool to be the one to have “discovered” these two species here, but as the Native Americans probably said to Columbus, “How can you discover something that had been long ago found?” So, I want to be the one that makes sure the two species do not disappear.   

Leopard captured on camera trap

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) lists the Asiatic leopard as Near Threatened and the U.S. Endangered Species List (ESA) has them listed as endangered.  The subspecies known to live in Nepal is the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca).  According to Wikipedia,

“They are becoming increasingly rare outside protected areas. The trend of the population is decreasing.”

The actual number of leopards living in Nepal is unknown.   The tiger population in Nepal, however, is believed to be around 176.  The are listed as endangered on both the IUCN and ESA.  As with the leopard, the tiger species found in Nepal is said to be the Indian or Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris).   Any tigers found outside established preserves in Nepal would be very significant. And that is why we're here.

Also this morning we received another good lead on a tiger sighting. This one is so fresh, the hour or so walk up hill to 3,265 meters, the lack of oxygen in my lungs, even the cold frigid air is worth the trek.    A fresh tiger kill. Wow.

The word of are investigative tiger activity in the area has spread throughout the villages in these mountains.   A women attempted to call us last night to tell us that she had just witnessed a tiger killing her calf that afternoon.  We didn't receive the call until this morning but she said that the calf is still at the kill sight and that she would take us to it.  This is pretty cool! With any luck we should be able to collect some great samples.

The kill site was amazing and the woman was very credible.  She was able to get a real good look at the tiger as it was killing her calf.  She was very frightened, to say the least, and did not stay in the area.   She ran back to her home, and then a neighbors house to find help.   She then telephoned one of our team members to relay the story.

Tiger kill site

Paw print believed to be from a tiger

We were able to collect a few good prints from the site and decided to set up a camera for two days in hope that the tiger would return to the kill site.

This was a very good day.

Oct 25th, 2012 - Did I mention the cold? 
My remaining time here is growing short, as are the days.  The air is becoming progressively colder (which I am sure I mentioned in earlier posts). Having only a ball cap for my head, and an U.S. Army jacket and a few layered tee shirts to help keep the heat in my body, every day is a cold day for me.  The clouds  literally, pass through our camp almost every morning.   The nights are almost always cloud free, the stars ever present overhead.  Its beautiful; really beautiful, but really cold. I keep reminding myself that people live up here, so don't be a wimp, Brooks!  Suck it up and enjoy the beautiful star lit nights, and try not to get attacked by a passing leopard when leaving your tent during the night to relieve yourself.

I've decided to take the four good cameras we have and concentrate them in one area. This will be the area where we captured the photograph of the cat's tail.  This animal's prints were headed east.  Hopefully, it will be coming back through tonight.  Regardless of its movement, we will be moving to the southeast tomorrow. I'll leave one camera trap here, on an established trail, however.  I need to have the team cover a few more areas before heading back down to Kathmandu.   Nonetheless, I am confident the scat and prints we collected will prove to be that of a tiger.