Festival of Elephants

Elephants are the largest and strongest mammal on earth. But have you ever wondered how intelligent they are?

As every December in Chitwan, they played football, participated in race and beauty contest and enjoyed the first ever day-off (picnic) in their life. World of elephant is really beautiful, that I closely observed for 4 days !

Elephants Playing Football

Elephant bath : Janakikali & Mahout Bishal Chaudhary

Participant of beauty contest with Mahout

Winner of Elephant beauty contest 2014 : Pinkikali

An evening view of Rapti River, Sauraha

Elephant Beauty Pageant :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUw7OTCwDdM

Elephant Picnic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9NGx1pZIQE

Beautiful Far-West

Though I love travelling, I have traveled really very less. But this December remained special as I embarked my first trip to far-western Nepal. 

Name itself is enough, its far ! 
But unfortunately, this beautiful region has been untouched and unexplored. 
I just managed to step in two districts Kailali & Kanchanpur, but got stuck by the amazing beauty !

Welcome to Far-west airways :)

Dhangadi Airport

View seen from flight while travelling from KTM_Dhangadi

                            

Nepal's first aircraft museum

Rainy morning in Chadani Dodhara 

Asia's largest suspension bridge in Kanchanpur district

In the bank of Mohana River, that divides Nepal & India

Traditional Tharu dining experience 

Tharu attire

A typical Tharu house in Kailali

Way towards Indian border, Gauriphanta (Dhangadi)

Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve

Lets end the journey with a sweet cup of coffee (Bells Cafe, Dhangadi)

Thank you for travelling with me :)

Nepal's first Aircraft Museum

The opening of Nepal's first aircraft museum in Dhangadi in the far western part of the country, some 500 km from Kathmandu, has attracted local and foreign tourists to the much-neglected region.

Nepal's first aircraft museum, Dhangadi

Just three months after its opening, the aircraft museum has been the talk of the town and thousands of people have flocked to view the different miniature aircraft on display.

Me in Cockpit (Captain Shristi) 

In a talk with Xinhua, Captain Bed Upreti, aircraft museum director, said the Dhangadi museum is not only the first of its kind in Nepal, but also in the whole world for having a display of down-sized models of all kinds of aircraft.

Tharu women in path of empowerment

A few years back, women of Tharu community in the far western region of Nepal were without exception housewives and were confined to cooking, washing dishes, gazing cattle on top of childbearing and breeding.

The times are changing, however, as Tharu women of this region have asserted themselves and are slowly being empowered. Some of them are now self-employed, doing odd jobs in order to earn and help in running their families.

Me in Tharu women' attire during trip to Kailali, Far-western region

Most of these women are no longer content with just being plain housewives waiting for their husbands to come home at sundown after toiling in the fields the whole day.

This week, 42-year-old Nirama Chaudhary was seen selling the hand-made jute items such as purses, bags, hats, pen-stands, interior decorative items, baskets and similar items in a fair in Dhangadi of Kailali District, some 500 kilometers from the capital Kathmandu.

Nepal's disabled people seeking basic rights

Nepal, which has around 3 percent of its population of 27 million who are considered persons with disabilities (PWDs), has been lagging behind other countries in ensuring their rights and privileges.

This stark reality has been highlighted during the observation of the 23rd International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Wednesday as Nepal's PWDs demanded access to new technology to enjoy life despite some form of physical defects.

Appropriately, this year's theme of the International Day for PWDs is "Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology." But unfortunately, for Nepal's PWDs, they still lack easy access to technical devices and equipment that could contribute to their living a normal life.

Gadhimai Festival: Mass Slaughter

Despite global protest against the mass slaughter of animals as part of the celebration of the Gadhimai Festival in Nepal, the Nepali people have continued to preserve their century-old Hindu tradition.

The festival, which calls for the mass killing of animals as offering to goddess Gadhima, kicked off on Friday in Bariyarpur of Bara District, a border town with India some 160 kilometers south of the capital. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees from Nepal and India participated in the ritual.

Devotees from Nepal and India flocked to the town starting at the wee hours of Friday, most of whom brought with them their prized livestock to be sacrificed for the month-long festival. The ritual started almost at midnight with people killing their buffaloes, goats, chickens, pigs, pigeons or even rats.

More than 100 locals have slaughtered their animals using their sharp khukuris in a dry field protected by high walls. Buffaloes were being corralled in holding pens as they are being readied to be slaughtered during the festival.

Motilal Kushwaha, the secretary of Gadhimai Festival organizing committee, said that they cannot speculate as to the exact number of animals or livestock to be sacrificed on Friday and Saturday, but it might be lesser than the past years due to protests.

But he said that some 7,000 buffaloes have already been registered for the mass slaughter as of Thursday evening. He could not give an estimate of other fowls or livestock that are going to be slaughtered.

The festival is held every five years where buffaloes, pigs, goats ,chickens, sheep, pigeons, among others, are sacrificed in order to please the goddess Gadhimai.

Migrants and their spouses highest-risk HIV AIDS group in Nepal

As the people across the globe are commemorating World AIDS Day on December 1, the prevalence of the HIV virus is found highest among migrants and their spouses in Nepal.

According to the latest report released by the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control of Nepal, 16 percent of the total HIV infected population in Nepal are labor migrants and their spouses. It is estimated that 40,723 people are living with HIV AIDS in the country.