Thursday 7 August 2014

Nepal - Poon Hill Trek Part I

Back in Kathmandu now after a 4-day trek to the popular Poon hill near Pokhara, Nepal. In the right season this place offers spectacular views of the nearby himalayan mountains. At this time of year the mountains are often shrouded in clouds and it is raining for the majority of the time (monsoon season is really kicking in now).

Luckily I made it to the summit of Poon Hill (3200m - and it's only called a hill) during the only morning without clouds in over a week, so I managed to get satisfying views of the Annapurna mountains. To top it off I racked up about 100 species for my Nepal list - including at least 50 lifers.

The hike followed a dirt road along a river for the first part:

There was evidence of many recent landslides along the slopes down towards the river:

There were many small villages along the route - they rely on agriculture (mostly rice) and income from trekkers for their livelihoods:

Eventually the route leaves the road and begins to ascend very quickly - generally the trail followed small rivers - disappointingly I only saw 1 kingfisher during the entire hike:

A glimpse of some of the mountains from the summit of Poon Hill:








 One of the more common species was the Plumbeous Redstart - oddly, all the ones I saw were females or hatch year birds. They frequently bob their tail and flash their white rumps similar to a wheatear:


More to come!