KHAPTAD-A MEMOIR

The slogan 'Wonderful Far-west' appears on most of the buses that run to Dhangadi and Mahendranagar from Kathmandu. Whenever there is any discussion of the major attractions in Far-west, the wondrous picture of Khaptad immediately flashes. Khaptad is often presented as 'The Heaven on Earth' by its promoters. The area was declared a National Park in 2040 B.S., comprising 225 km² of four hilly districts namely Doti, Bajhang, Bajura and Achham. But this heavenly landscape has seen few international tourists in 32 years. Keep aside the pilgrims who visit the area during the annual religious fairs of Ganga-Dashahara and Janai Purnima and it will reveal that the flow of domestic tourists is not significant either.

This way or that way, I keep going!

I was planned to go explore the lake Rara during Dasain vacation of 2011. One of my friends had shown an interest of joining me. He requested me to shift it after the festival and I agreed.

On the day set for departure, I packed all my gears early in the morning and called my supposed companion. He did not respond. I kept ringing his phone till 14:00 but he did not pick the phone. Around 14:30 a message came to my cell phone that read, 'Sorry friend, I am unable to join!'

The message annoyed me for a while. In no time, I dialed another friend, 'Would you like to go to Rara?'

'Rara will require more days. What about Khaptad?'

'Let's do that.'

The next day, three of us (Prajwal Byanju, Sanej Prasad Suwal and me) caught a bus to Dhangadi.

As usual, the bus played folk-duet songs (Lok-dohori), non-stop. At Dhangadi, we took another bus to Silgadi, Doti.

The bus took a break of about half an hour at Dipayal, headquarter of the far-western development region.

'Hey brothers, you seem to have returned from a foreign country. Where had you gone?' a passenger asked us.

'We came from Kathmandu, not from a foreign country. We are here to visit Khaptad' I replied.

This short conversation made us realize how uncommon the culture of travelling is in Nepal.

The bus rose from the shallow depression of Dipayal and dropped us on the hilly market of Silgadi at 21:00 in the night. Dabal Bahadur Singh, who was in the same bus with us, proposed that we spend the night at his house. We agreed instantly.

I was lying on the bed writing my diary when my phone rang.

 'Happy birthday brother!' came the sound of Ankit.

The Hazmola shot

We took leave of Dabal Bahadur dai early in the morning. 

Silgadi bazaar

For a short while we walked on the black-topped road leading to Shantinagar. But soon we diverted towards NTV tower, the trail being almost two hours earlier to reach Baglek than the black-topped one. 

Baglek

Near the NTV tower, the Nepal army had managed a big tank to provide drinking water facility to the travelers. A little ahead was put a route map of Khaptad National Park (KNP). We had a pleasant impression.

Around 15:00 we reached Jhigrana, from where the boundary of KNP started. 

Jhigrana

Here we met a group of fellow trekkers; Prawesh Paudel and Sambit Bhandari from Kathmandu and Sabin Pathak and Janak Bhatt from Kailali. Our team grew in size.

Beyond Jhigrana, the route went through a steep trail. Unfortunately there was no easy availability of drinking water in this section. KNP could have drawn water from streams into a tank through pipes, just like near the NTV tower!

On the way, we met another group of Nepalese coming back from Khaptad. They told us that they had an encounter with a wild boar (Sus scrofa) and advised us to stay alert as the route ahead passed through a dense forest. Instead of developing fear, my heart silently craved for an encounter with the wild boar. According to their advice, we moved forward making noise every time we saw a rootling of a wild boar and counting each other at intervals. We reached Bichpani after four hours.

At Bichpani, we stopped by the lodge run by KNP. 

Bichpani

Although the lodge had three staffs, two of them had gone home leaving behind an old man. We asked him what was available for dinner.

'Dal-bhat-tarkari' he replied with a smile.

As the old man was washing some potatoes, we asked him to put some of them in the fire as the fire-cooked potatoes always taste better.

Having taken dinner, Prajwal proposed that we celebrate my birthday. We gathered firewood, made a camp fire and sang songs to the top of our voices. In the meantime Prawesh came with a small bottle of locally-brewed alcohol. I told him that I do not drink alcohol. 

'Come on, it's your birthday. You cannot decline.' everyone shouted.

We finally made an agreement that I take just a few drops.

Prawesh gave each of us a Hazmola (a digestive tablet easily available in market) and said, 'Everyone should finish the alcohol in a single take and then eat the Hazmola. We call this the Hazmola shot!'

(Note: There is a popular Nepali television commercial advertisement of the Hazmola that concludes, 'Je aauncha mazzale pachauncha' i.e. 'Eat whatever, Hazmola will digest.')

The rolling pastures

I had difficulty sleeping the previous night because the zipper of my sleeping bag was broken. The lodge had only one room to accommodate us and that too had no door. Cold air kept hitting my body all night. I woke up very early (around 04:30), gathered some dry leaves and tried to make a fire. But I could not. Everyone got up by 6:15 and we asked the old man for tea. But there was no sugar left in the lodge. We had a glass of hot water each.

After walking for a few minutes, our eyes caught sight of the rolling pastures. These features stood behind the fame of KNP. All the exhaustion we had from yesterday was gone upon seeing the wonderful landscape. 

The rolling pastures of KNP

We were walking by the bank of Ghat khola, crossing the wooden bridges over the river at many places. Stepping on the wooden bridges gave us a strange pleasure. We could not prevent ourselves from taking a bath in the cold water. By the time we reached Tribeni, the natural beauty had held us captive. Tribeni, a confluence of three small rivers, is a holy place of the region, visited by a large number of pilgrims during Ganga-Dashahara and Janai Purnima every year.

Tribeni

A walk of five hours from Bichpani brought us to the headquarter of KNP. 

By the headquarter of KNP

Some horses and mules were grazing in the pastures and wild boar rootlings were numerous. In the evening, the environment grew wilder by the howling of golden jackals (Canis aureus) nearby. For some minutes, we were lost gazing at the stars in the vividly open sky.

Wild moments

The rootlings of wild boar injected in us a desire of observing the animal. For this, Prajwal, Sambit and me woke up at 04:00 the next morning and made our way into the forest while it was still very dark. We did not see any wild boar. But we had a sighting of two golden jackals which was a wonderful reward for our jungle adventure!

While returning we developed a fake story of our encounter with wild boars to tell to rest of our lazy friends.

'We had a narrow escape from a whole family digging the ground. They were so fearsome.' I said.

'Don't make a story. Show us a photo and we will believe!' Sanej argued.

'When you are being chased by the wild boars, would you think of taking out your camera or keep running?' Prajwal answered with a big smile on his face; our fake story lost its charm.

We paid a brief visit to the Khaptad Baba Ashram, the hermitage of late Khaptad Baba, after whom the park has acquired its name. 

The hermitage of late Khaptad baba

Right here, we got to have a delightful view of Mount Saipal and other mountains of the Saipal range.

Saipal range

After lunch, we went to visit Khaptad daha. We were told that the lake would be reached in about an hour. But we could not locate it even after two hours. After another half hour, the lake revealed itself.

Khaptad daha

The Khaptad daha lied serene in the middle of the forest. We enjoyed watching the lake change its colour during our two hours stay by its shore. Adding to our pleasure was a group of Nepal grey langurs (Semnopithecus nipalensis) jumping from one tree to another.

Nepal grey langur

While returning to our camp, we found a skull of a dead langur on the forest floor. We took it with us, cleaned it and submitted it to the museum managed by KNP. The museum had exhibited skulls and skins of different animals found from the park.

A small section of the KNP museum

'To have a fully satisfying impression of Khaptad, do come here during monsoon and winter as well. The landscape will be adorned in a multitude of colors by different species of wild flowers during monsoon. You know, this area itself houses about 11% of flowering plants in Nepal. And during winter, you will enjoy sliding down the rolling pastures that are covered in a thick layer of snow.' told the caretaker of the museum.