Kathmandu-Kakani-Jhor Wilderness (77 photos) #Nepal #Hiking #Nature

Last Saturday we went for a hiking trip to Kakani and Shivapuri area. The team included me and two of my colleagues- Suraj Kunwar and Aashis Luitel. We began the overnight journey from Balaju on the rooftop of a bus that took us to a place a couple of kilometers away from Kakani. We got off there and walked for about half an hour to reach Kakani, a popular picnic destination for Kathmanduits.

Beautiful view of part of Kathmandu valley was hallmark of the evening. We stayed in a Nepal Scouts guest house attached to the Nagarjun-Shivapuri national park. In the morning (Sunday) we decided to take a walk- about 14 kilometers in total- that went mostly through the dense forest. We arrived at Jhor Mahankal village in the afternoon to catch a bus for the city.  Here are photos from the trip. [Plus: हामी सबै यात्री]

Waiting for bus to Kakani at Balaju chowk

Parts of Kathmandu, north of Balaju, as seen from a moving bus

Travel mates

At the top of the bus

Yes, he is cute but….the conductor of the bus.

Ready to be shipped to the market

Radish

Looking for Ainselu- the raspberries.

Stretching up

Tied

Running in front of the ruins: Soon after we entered the Shivapuri national park we saw broken buildings that belonged to the national park. Beautiful and peaceful place. A Kafal tree was nearby. We climbed and ate berries to our hearts content. Ainselu (raspberry) bushes were plenty in the area. We tasted them too. That is why it took us about three hours to cover the distance of 8 kilometers.

That’s Suraj on the ground. Looking for the story behind this photo? Click here

This is the same Kafal tree, just below the Gurje bhanjyang, Suraj and I had climbed in 2008. We repeated the feat this time. This tree was part of a story that I wrote for Kantipur’s Koseli back then. Here goes the relevant part: त्यतिबेला म शिवपुरीको त्यो घना जंगलको बीचतिरको एउटा खिरिलो तर अग्लो काफलको रूखको लगभग टुप्पैमा थिएँ । राताभन्दा हरिया गेडा बढी, त्यो पनि झनै टुप्पामा । अचानक एउटा एसएमएस आयो जसले पाँच गेडा रातै काफल टिपे बराबरको खुसी दियो । टेलिकमले नेर्टवर्क अप्टिमाइज गरेको र अर्को दिन सेट स्विच अफ/अन गरेमा सेवामा सुधार मिल्ने आशा एसएमएमा देखाइएको थियो । तर त्यसो भए पो, आज चार दिन बिते, अहँ । हेल्लो, हेल्लो, हेल्लो । सुगतरत्न, तिम्रो निधार खै ? त्यो लेखको पूर्ण अंश पढ्ने भए गुगल, गाई र रिक्सा