The first things seen if one crossed into China. A large pile of rubbish, lorry painted in North Korean flag and highly attractive buildings.

Nepal on the left. Tibet on the right.

Bored Nepali lorry drivers waiting at the Nepal/China border.

Nepal/China (Tibet) border. The red umbrellas that mark the border can clearly be seen on the bridge.

0.42 Seconds in Tibet

As a little excursion from flinging myself off bridges I decided to go to the China/Tibet border. Just to have a look. I am very curious about borders, I find them odd and exciting at the same time.

The two countries are linked by a bridge. Half way across this bridge is the border, marked with a red line and two Chinese border guards under red ice cream vendor style umbrellas. Unfortunately and not surprisingly photography is banned on the bridge. As I approached the line in the tarmac I wondered if I could cross it. I stood adjacent to the Nepali side of the line, next to one guard and hesitated. The other guard crossed over and also stood next to me. I realised it was now or never. If I was to gain entry into Tibet I had to be strong.


At that point I threw caution into the wind and stepped the extra 6 inches over the line and into forbidden territory. The guard closest to me then gave a very firm and stern "OI!" and gesticulated that I should get back into Nepal sharpish. I did. He had a gun. And a furrowed brow. I leaped back across that border and into safety. So there we are, my Tibetan odyssey was at an end. One can forget Heinrich Harrier and his 7 Years in Tibet. I have 0.42 Seconds in Tibet.

Tansen

Tansen, quick stop at Kathmandu and then BUNGEE!

Tansen, a conveniant stop off between Bardia and Kathmandu was pretty enough to warrant a two night visit. A small hill side town, again like Gorkha and Bandipur with great views, was nice to walk around and take in the sites.

My return to Kathmandu was only short lived, only long enough to book my Bungee trip. Unfortunately I can not post the videos of my jumps on this site (100mb max) so if you are interested take a look at

Bungee jump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m20xJMNamQ

And swing jump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=einVpguIvAg

Orphaned Spotted Deer being hand reared.

Spotted Deer.

Rhino doing a roly poly! You can just make out the rear leg poking out of the water on the rhino on the left.

Rhino's.

Tharu women fishing.

Black Buck.

Transport in Bardia National Park. Yup, that is Titanic on the bus. I hope the bus has better fate!

Bardia National Park.

Bardia National Park.

Quoted in the Lonely Planet as one of the most likely places on earth that you will see Tigers in the wild I thought I'd visit. And, boy did I come mightily, frustratingly close.

A long bus journey west of Butwal took me into the park. The first thing I noticed about the park are the increased road blocks and police checks to search vehicles for any poached parts of beasts. On arrival I decided to stay for two days, day one would be spent trying to spot Gangetic Dolphin in the Karnali River and then on to a Black Buck breading area.

The dolphin spotting provided no results unfortunately. The river was very murky after a previous storm, and there was no sign of leaping or blowing. Black Buck, once widespread through out South Asia, suffered many years of hunting and habitat loss and are now classed as Near Threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The breading site is an excellent place to watch Black Bucks close at hand, and very enjoyable it was watching them fight, leap and run.

Day two was spent on a long jungle walk where hopefully I'd spot tigers. The day started promisingly when over the river my guide and I could hear many warning calls from Spotted Deer. A clear sign of a big cat. But the calls soon wained as whatever was scaring the deer departed for a deeper part of the jungle. As the heat of the day increased, animal activity decreased. However as the afternoon cooled, thirsty beasts started to emerge from the jungle to drink. From our vantage point we could see many deer, monkeys and Wild Boar come out to drink. After an hour or so two female rhinos came for a wallow, one doing a roly poly in the river. And I will never forget the site of a 4 ton rhino gracefully and playfully rolling about in the river! These were soon joined by a big male who also wallowed but did not roll.

As this was happening from the other side of the river the panicked warning calls of many monkeys started. This could only signal one thing - tiger! The calls went on and on, at a distance of perhaps 500 - 600m. The cat was definitely there. However unfortunately he/she decided not to come to the river and drink, and remained hidden in the jungle. Frustratingly close!

I enjoy jungle walks. Standing a few 10s of meters from a wild Rhino or some other beast with nothing but foliage and river in between is a very exciting experience. There is a very real threat that they could charge. So silence and slow deliberate movements are a must. For safety I was given a 3cm by 1.5m bamboo pole to beat any marauding animal with. Quite what a rhino, tiger, wild elephant or any other large jungle resident would make of my stick is hard to fathom. But I was never far from my piece of given security.

Butwal.

Gorkha

Bandipur

Parting shots of Pokhara.