Simon’s birthday today so we’re all in great spirits and hopefully he’s had a good day filming cattle and some rescued birds of prey. The sun also came out so we got a great view of the mountains – gave us a taste of what to expect for the next few days because we have a flight up into the Himalayas crack of dawn tomorrow to a remote place in the lower mustang – near the Tibet border. Of course we have the birthday meal to deal with before that… Internet may be a bit hard to come by so will catch up in a few days.
Archive for November, 2009
We all woke up slightly the worse for wear today as last night was spent out celebrating Simon’s birthday – an interesting night at a bar called the Busy Bee. Their house band played classic tracks like “Smoke on the Water” and “Paranoid” and we were all fairly impressed with the guitarist.
But despite this we all had work to do and spent the morning filming a veterinary training course for large animals and the afternoon filming the rescue and rehabilitation of injured birds of prey. It was a good day, although I think I shocked the rest of the crew by showing off my running skills when the camera batteries died and we had to get them from the bag. I sprinted over to the car and was highly energetic. It was probably the fastest I have moved all series…
So the day of the flight arrived and I was absolutely petrified. The flight was very early in the morning and for this reason we were all very tired, waking up at 5am. I was sitting in the departure lounge looking tired and trying to put the flight to the back of my mind when the guys came up with my Nepalese name, Sloth, because I looked like a sloth with little sleepy eyes and curled in arms. It runs in complete contradiction to my energetic display from yesterday, but all in all it’s probably quite apt. And sloths are also my favourite creature so I’m pretty happy.
The plane was worse than I hoped – it looked like it had been built by the Wright Brothers. But we arrived safely in Jomsom and it was actually an absolutely stunning flight with the mountains looming above us. The landing came upon us pretty quickly, but the pilot had it in control and we touched down smoothly. The only problem now is that we have to fly back in a couple of days. Oh no…
A nerve wracking plane ride ascending 4000metres and landing on the edge of a mountain got us in the mood for a hardcore section of the trip. Amazingly there is an old computer with internet in the hostel we’re staying in. I say amazingly because there is also very little hot water – no soap, toilet paper and the room temperature is sub zero, but it does have brilliant food, a great family running it and is soaked in character.
It has also been a great day – I’ve done the first cat spay in a remote mountain village ever which was great – on the roof of a house with the backdrop of snowcapped mountains, the people are super friendly and the scenery spectacular.
Gearing up for the helicopter arriving tomorrow – it can only fly until 11am or the winds get too strong so it promises to be an action packed start to the day.
One the most stunning places I’ve ever been.
Big, big, big news – Nathan ran. The rest of us were astounded but I can confirm that witnessing this was up there with being on a remote mountain top in the Himalayas treating yaks. I rate Nathan hugely but he has acquired yet another nickname this trip – ‘sloth’ – due to the fact he has been moving at the speed of a lame snail and has been feeling a little ‘tired’. Poor chap. But he was in the zone and actually ran about twenty metres. It was like watching a baby bird take its first flight – or so I would imagine – but without the feathers – almost miraculous.
The day has been hardcore – the helicopter was with us which always adds a bit of edge to things. Once again the radios didn’t work so we had to wing it and the added extra was that due to high winds, aerial filming after 11am wasn’t going to happen. With a one and a half hour off-road drive up a mountain side to conquer before we were even close to the yaks I was going to treat (the bit the guys wanted to film), it was an early start to say the least.
It was also a bit stressful as the yaks weren’t having any of it to start with and Marc and I exchanged a few choice words as I explained we needed to herd them into a makeshift stone coral and running up a mountain, carrying a 35kg bag at 4,500m was leaving me a little short of breath. Marc had sweated blood and guts into making this happen so wasn’t best pleased that things weren’t going all too smoothly to start with. We did manage to get it nailed though and it turned out to be a brilliant day. Marc and I are still talking – now I have my breath back – and all is sweet. The yaks are also fine and are awesome animals – incredibly well adapted to surviving in such a harsh environment. They actually have an extra pair of ribs than cows which allows for bigger lungs, a massive heart and greater oxygen capacity at such a high altitude (50% less oxygen up here than at sea level apparently).
Joy of joys is that we have to do it all again tomorrow as the helicopter is going to have another crack in Pokhara where it’s a lot lower and things are a bit safer. Rock on.
Today I ran back to the hotel and now I’m shattered. Not attempting that again.
Day two of the helicopter shooting and as predicted it was a bit of stress due to complete lack of communication with the aerial camera. However, despite the glitches, I don’t think the aerial shots can disappoint – the landscape is simply stunning and it was a beautiful day so it’s going to be a winner.
The flight back to Pokhara was fairly good – considering the plane takes off the side of a mountain and it literally flies off the end of the runway. One lady (sitting behind Simon thankfully) was throwing up a fair bit, but it wasn’t as turbulent as the flight out and with such dramatic scenery (we flew back over the mountains to get to Pokhara) there wasn’t a dull moment. Once the helicopter was all done and dusted it was back up to the shelter to check on a few animals and one small drama in that a wheel fell off one of the trucks as the front axel snapped. Quite exciting as neither truck has working handbrakes and we were up the top of a very steep hill. All is fine though (lots of boulders handy to act as brakes) and hopefully the truck will be back in action for the final big day tomorrow.
Probably won’t have a chance to update the blog before I am back in the UK as the next few days are action packed – bits to get done tomorrow in the day then flying to Kathmandu tomorrow night, overnight there then on to Doha and then finally back home.
I think the whole team have really enjoyed the trip but with so much travelling it’s been very full on! Will be brilliant to get back and see our respective families and I’m sure we’ll all remember HART with great fondness. I’ve made some more great friends on this trip and am heading back with lots of plans to set up some follow up teams and get these community outreach programmes working really well. If anyone fancies an action packed adventure in Nepal I have the perfect itinerary!
Fly sloth airways – getting you nowhere very slowly!
