Nepal – a great place for birds along with spectular scenery and interesting people – ADVERTISMENT

I would second that, Bob. I spent 5 weeks there in 2014, on a soothing
about trip, with birding secondary. Most of my time was spent in Pokhara.
My great highlight was the Vulture Restaurant at Gawchowk, where a cow had
obligingly recently died, and there were vultures aplenty. What I found
amazing, was that Egyptian Vultures seemingly performing the same role as
our “bin Chickens”, in the parks, diving into the rubbish bins and dragging
out bags of rubbish and rummaging through them. Not hard to see Vultures
around Pokhara. While at the Vulture Resto, I lay down on the grass on the
terrace above the cow, for a bit of a snooze in the sun. After about 10
mins, I heard a bit of a rustling noise, opened my eyes, and there were a
pair of Himalayan Griffons, giving me an eyeball. I decided not to be the
entree, and sat up. Magnificent birds when viewed close up. Amazing how
quickly they can move on the ground.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get high enough to see Monal, Tragopan , etc, as I
was breathless enough at Pokhara’s altitude. Must take my ventolin next
time. Recovering from a bad dose of Bronchitis didn’t help.
I would recommend flying someone like Singapore Airlines, Air Asia does it
cheaper, but their departure and arrival times at KL are not the most
friendly.

On Wednesday, May 3, 2017, Bob & Trish Sothman < randtsothman@bigpond.com>
wrote:

> Over the years I have seen on Birding-Aus many reports on birding trips to
> various overseas countries but very few on Nepal. I have just returned
> from
> Nepal and I would rate it as one of the more interesting of the 50 odd
> countries I have birded in. Roly Lloyd & I saw 347 species between us in 15
> days. However, in addition to the spectacular scenery of the Himalayas, it
> was the quality of the birds that was so impressive eg Himalayan Monal –
> Nepal’s national bird (10), Satyr Tragopan (4), Blood Pheasant (2) and
> Grandala (30+) are all spectacularly attractive birds where the
> illustrations in the fieldguides do not do them justice, along with Snow
> Pigeon, Himalayan Buzzard, Honeyguide, Bristled Grassbird, Rufous-rumped
> Grassbird, 5 rose finches, 10 woodpeckers, 2 bullfinches etc, etc, etc. We
> also saw 20 different ‘animals’ including 12 rhinos (Rhinocerous unicornis)
> and a beautiful sloth bear with young.
>
> Undoubtedly, it was a very competent birdguide that got us so many birds
> and
> many with great views. Thus I would recommend Shankar Tiwari as a guide for
> anyone planning to go to Nepal (apart from knowing how to find the birds &
> where to find them he is great company as well). You can contact him at
> email: travelnepal@mos.com.np >
> travelnepal@mos.com.np internet:
> www.wildernessnepal.com ; alternatively
> you
> can email me for more details.
>
> Bob Sothman, Adelaide
>
>
>
>