20/4/2026
Our trip starts at our home in Baldivis, where after 10 years on the road we spent last night. Spent they day slowly getting ready so that at about 19.20 we hopped on the bus to take us to Warnbro Station where we sat for 1/2hr as they cleared a train that had broken down ahead of us. We got to the airport at about 21.30, cost $0. Why do people spend exhorbitent amounts of money getting to the airport or parking there when you can do it for free? Our flight is with Malaysian Airlines which has an automated checkin system that doesn’t work well. Our flight left at 2.10 headed for Kuala Lumpur. The food wasn’t as good as we’ve had on recent trips and the entertainment wasn’t all that interesting so I surprised myself by managing to nod off.
21/4
We had a quick turn around to get on to our flight to Kathmandu where coming in to land you can see the high Himalayas off to the north, possibly one of them was Mt Everest, but there was some cloud around to. confuse which mountain was which. We sank into the smog of Kathmandu arriving about 12.00. We met some fellow Trip-a-dealers in the arrivals hall, but there was no one to meet us. We stood around for a while but nothing happened to I went to see someone who said the greeters have to wait outside the building, and there they were. Bit confusing. We were soon on our way to the Landmark Hotel and up to our room on the 7th floor with a nice view, spacious and modern. A quick turn around saw me back out on the street heading for the Bagmati River. It was quickly evident why Kathmandu is so polluted, the city is surrounded by hills and is chockers full of traffic. The city has an Indian feel to it, chaotic, unplanned, dirty, noisy, etc. etc. I added city birds like Rock Dove, Common Myna and House Sparrow easily on my stroll down the crowded footpaths, risking life and limb to cross busy roads. Everyone here is politely aggressive, you have to force your way across roads and along footpaths, but everyone gives way to everyone. I found my way down to the river and wasn’t surprised to find a rubbish filled sewer, the smell being strong enough to taste it. My first little “ooh that’s not too bad” was a Black Drongo, then Barn Swallow, followed by House Swift, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Collared Dove, Red-vented Bulbul and lastly White-browed Wagtail. I made my way back to the hotel and found a Magpie Robin just in front of the hotel. Other birds were Eurasian Tree Sparrow, House Crow, Large-billed Crow, Black Kite, Indian Pond Heron and Alexandrine Parakeet. Up to the room for a bit of a rest then we headed out to the Nepalaya Hotel which has a roof top restaurant with good reviews. Bev had the sizzling chicken which was nice, I had the Nepalese roast chicken which was in fact fried chicken and nothing to rave about. We both had mocktails which on a quite warm evening were very refreshing Bev had her usual Virgin Colada, I tried a Virgin Mojita which is lime, lemonade and mint. By the time we got back to the hotel it was crash time.
22/4
I went out like a light last night, and slept reasonably well. Breakfast was at 7.15 and was pretty good. We met our tour leader Kamal, who apart form the usual unimpressive hard sell of the optional tours was good, being both knowledgeable and helpful. We had a large bus for the 20 of us which on the crampted streets of the city was propbably not the wisest of vehicles, but he got us to the Monkey Temple with a view down the smog filled valley and the huge stupa which is supposed to cover a lotus flower of power and along with the hill itself is believed to have appeared sponaneously. From there we went to Durbar square which is on the old trade route between India and Tibet and is lined with old temples which have all had to be rebuilt after the huge earthquake of the 1930’s. The first stop was to see the Kumali, a 2yo girl who is supposed to be able to bless all who see her as she appears at a window in an ancient building for about a minute, then we meandered down the old road admiring the restored ancient buildings. We went to the old palace where some of us climbed the nine storey tower for another view of the smoggy city. It was so thick today that the surrounding hills were not visible. Back on the bus to the Orient Restaurant for lunch. I had momos (dumplings) which were quite yummy if just a little beyond my comfort zone for spiciness. All this too so long that I missed my chance to go see the Community forest a few kilometres to the north of us, since it closed at 17.00, so we sat in the room until near dark when we ventured out to check out the shops. We got our fidge magnet and a mandala painting. The only new bird today was a Common Tailorbird which I spotted whilst Kamal was giving his introdutory monologue out the front of the hotel in the morning.
23/4
It’s 5.30 and a group of 10 of us are in the foyer of the hotel, soon we’re in a minibus driving through the empty streets heading for the airport, we filter through the domestic security to gate 5 to board a Bhudda Airlines plane. We’re a bit late heading out to the plane, but there was no guarantee that we would fly. We file into the plane, I’ve got a bad seat on the ATR 72-500 with it being right next to the propeller at 5A. It’s also small and a bit opaque, but that’s my lot. There’s a delay for 20min and then another delay, I’m getting nervous, are we going to get airbourne or is it going to get cancelled at the last minute. It’s 7.00 when the engines start up and we are soon sailing up through the smog into a bright sunny sky and heading NE-ish. The first mounatin we pass to the south of is Langtang, we slowly head east ticking off some of the highest mountains in the world, and then the last one is the biggest of them all, Mt Everest. Being a commercial plane we can’t get that close to the mountain, but we got a clear view of it for the rather exhorbitant price of US$490. There is an extra US$50 fuel surcharge due to the war in the Middle East. Then we turn tail and retrace our steps back to the hotel for a quick breaky, grab our stuff from the room and at about 10.00 we headed slowly slowly out of Kathmandu, down the highway following the Trishuli River. We stopped twice, once at a servo near the river where I didn’t find anything new, then at Kurintar Resort for lunch where I had Sandheko Chicken which was again just a bit too spicy for me, but not deadly. I found Himalayan Bulbul and Bank Myna as new. We went for sundown at the confluence of the two Rapti Rivers. We had picked up Andre our wildlife guide so we stood on the bank ticking off Indian Pied Starling, Chestnut-rumped Starling, Pied Bushchat, Lesser Adjutant, Asian Openbill, White-breasted Waterhen, River Lapwing, Oriental Darter, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Striated Heron, Greenshank, Paddyfield Pipit, Cinnamon Bittern, Small Pratincole and Pied Kingfisher. None of which are new for me. We got to the Landmark Hotel a bit before 17.00, dropped our stuff in the room and went to see a performance of a local dance troup perform a number of local dances including a fire dance with the floodlights turned off. We had a late dinner at the restaurant where I had the worst sweet and sour chicken ever, it was neither sweet nor sour, and had coriander, I’m one of those that doesn’t like coriander, ah well, I was hungry so I ate it. By now it was bed time already.
History Repeats
Each time I hear the sabres rattling I feel the world unsettling As another madman Pushes his luck a bit too far Salt water still wells in my eyes History repeats Complete with utter defeats God help them they were only nineteen The mass graves scattered across the land Soldiers and civilians Their broken cities abandoned The foreign flag a flying War, what is it good for Absolutely nothing Don't they know the futility of war What do they keep on fighting for These wars will not end wars East versus west Right versus left Religion versus religion Haves versus have nots Us versus them Me versus you Hob-nailed boots Complete with neatened cleats Come marching down the streets Seeking out the different We turn away diffident Reaping an ugly dividend Sumerians warred against the Elemites Ten thousand years of organized violence Total war totally anhilliates Press button death Remote war Removed from the point Technological marvels conscripted It seems we'll never learn Drip feed apocalypse We clash to the sounds of thunder As we tear the world asunder Conveniently fogetting the sixth And the other nine for that matter Completely soulessly sick If everyone laid down their enmity There could be no fighting Mandala unity Imagine that I'm wondering if there's intelligent life Somewhere out in space Because there ain't none down here on Earth Military madness may kill us all Vengeance is mine saith everyone Fractal reprisal Recurring repercussions Retaliatory retribution History repeats Total control is impossible Yet still some try With ruthless intent Attempting to bend every will Inevitably they won't With desperate hammers they blow Their weakened souls they show Resorting to unethical tactics History repeats Still the banners they fly And the slain pile up once more As we play our national anthems Shaking our angered fists Tanks, planes and ships bristling History repeats If ghosts could really talk I wonder what they'd say Would we listen anyway Paybac is written in blood Beneath the deathly hood The Grim Reaper's only smile Quiet please Sing a bar from Alice's Restaurant It might just save your life What right minded person advocates war War is illogical Yet history repeats And all I can hear is screaming As traumatized people teeming Fleeing from the oncoming slaughter The soldier's laughter Echoing into the ever after Yes history will always repeat
24/4
Up at 5.30 for a wander around the grounds of the hotel which has lots of trees, finding Plum-headed Parakeet, Asian Koel, Spotted Dove, Common Iora, Common Chiffchaff and Lineated Barbet. After an ordinary breaky we piled into the bus to take us to the river to take the canoe trip down the smaller of the Rapti River, we were all in the one canoe poled along by a local. With Andre up the front and me right next to him we got a few Nepal birds, being, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Zitting Cisticola, Chestnut-breasted Bee-eater, and Red-naped Ibis. We then went for a walk through the quite open jungle adding Indian Peafowl, Dollarbird, Black-hooded Oriole, Crested Serpent Eagle, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Crested Treeswift, Little Green Bee-eater, Citrine Wagtail, Indian Roller, Puff-throated Babbler, Rufous Treepie, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Jungle Owlet, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, and Spotted Owlet. Right at the end We got Himalayan Flameback and Chestnut-breasted Nuthatch both being lifers. In a Water Hycynth choked pool we got great views of a One-horned Rhinoceros, a full gron male. By now it was getting quite hot so an ice cream vendor did a roaring trade at the end of the walk. We all got into two jeeps and went off to the buffer zone, following a channel. We mostly got kingfishers but did add Cattle Egret, Jungle Babbler, Greater Coucal and great views of Grey-headed Fish Eagle. I then paid AU$70 to get a guide to take me out birding, he was a nice man but his birding knowledge wasn’t great, I identified more birds than he did. We wandered along the grasslands beside the main Rapti River, adding Pompadour Green Pigeon, and Richard’s Pipit which are lifers and Little Cormorant, Siberian Stone-chat, Bank Myna, and Indian Pied Hornbill. There was a good variety of butterflies getting photos of a few. By the time we got back I was drenched in sweat and spent the rest of the afternoon cooling off.
25/4
We had a good storm come through last night, but in the morning it was still hazy, mostly from farmers burning off. Up at 5.30 and wandered down to the river finding Indian Cuckoo, there were a few Small Pratincoles by the river that let me get close enough for a photo, annoyingly there were some Rosefinches that flew in but then I lost them so never got a proper ID. After breaky it was time to get on the bus at 7.30 for the long drive to Nagarkot which is in the hills to the NE of Kathmandu, we arrived at 16.45 with 2 breaks to do the 200km trip. The rise is about 2000m from Chitwan. The road is narrow with some parts where the bitumen has deteriorated, so with a lot of very slow trucks impeding the steady stream of traffic it makes for a long day. I managed to ID Grey-backed Shrike, Jungle Myna, Great Tit, Common Stonechat and Fork-tailed Swift from the bus and found some Grey-breasted Prinias at one of the stops. The room at the Garden Fort hotel is palatial and the grounds are well wooded, so in the short time I had before dark I added Common Cuckoo, Verditer Flycatcher, Grey Hooded Warbler, Grey Bushchat, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and Hill Partridge, as usual there were a few that I couldn’t get a look at. I had a major embarassment when I couldn’t find my backpack when I got back to the room, so told Kamal and the staff who said they hadn’t seen it. The cctv was eventually checked and I was clearly seen arriving without my backpack, I had left it on the bus. Yesterday when I went on my afternoon walk I left my bird book on the dashboard of the car that took us down to the river, it took a while but I got it back. I’m getting forgetful.
26/4
Up at my usual 5.30 and went up to the roof, but it was evident there would be no view of snow capped sunrise, so I headed down to the road and walked along both ways slwoly adding birds. The light was glaring as usual making good shots impossible. Added Ashy Drongo, Blue Whistling Thrush, Black-throated Tit, Common Wood Pigeon, Great Barbet, Scarlet Minivet, Grey-throated Babbler, Tickell’s Leaf-warbler and Himalayan Bulbul as new for Nepal and my lifers were Asian Tit, Blac-lored Tit and Rufous-bellied Niltava. Back for breaky at 7.30 which after the fabulous room was a bit lack-lustre, then headed out again until it started raining. We boarded the bus to head down the mountain at about 9.30. Not far down the mountain we all got out to walk down a parallel road through rural properties to meet the bus further down the mountain. A pleasant walk with nothing new to report. At the base of the hill is Baraktpur where we had a wander around the old town, with restored old buildings and temples. We had a rice wine tasting of which most of us could only manage a few sips, it was a strong as whiskey at 40% alchohol. There was a multitude of plates of local foods to with it from crushed rice, to Water Buffalo intestines, spiced potatoes, broiled spiced goat and spicy nuts. It was enough for lunch, though none of us had brought water and all our mouths were burning. Right at the end it started to rain again as we piled into the bus. We drove in to Kathmandu to Boudanath Stupa where The Buddha’s relics are supposed to be. It started to rain again not long after we arrived, we stopped about half way around for a demonstration of singing bowls. We couldn’t afford a large bowl which sound amazing, so ended up with an etched 5 metal small bowl for US$150. Dashed back to the bus in the rain and whilst waiting for the bus to turn up bought a roll of inscribed prayer flags which along with the mandala that we bought the other day and the bowl will be our momentos from Nepal. Back to the Landmark hotel briefly then we walked to the Busy Bee Restaurant for our farewell dinner where I had the Busy Bee special chicken hamburger with a Blue Butterfly mocktail, both excellent. So we bid farewell to Kamal our guide who has worked hard to keep us all happy and entertained and definitely done a great job.
27/4
After breaky we headed up to Ranabri Community Forest which has a 40RP fee for foreigners. We wandered around the lower and upper paths for a few hours adding Blue-throated Barbet, Laughing Dove and Oriental Turtledove as new. We had lunch at the Angan bakery and sweet shop chain then back to the hotel for the afternoon. We ventured out to Krishna Bakery near the hotel for something to eat before our flight. Some people had left earlier and some people were staying behind, the rest of us set off at 19.30 for the airport in the same bus as we’d used for the tour for our flights. Ours was at 10.45 again with Malaysian Airlines and home we went.
If you would like to contribute the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Bush Heritage, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.