Garibdas ( Gairibas ) : Gairibas, (somehow the name that stuck in our heads was “Garibdas” ) trekker hut , it was pretty much just us that day. The rooms are huge and it had indian style toilets. We thought the temperature would be warmer since Gairibas was at a lower altitude but that was not to be. It was just as cold, pretty cold. The unpacking here was even more frugal and pretty much only the sleeping bag , the water bottle flask and the toiletries kit came out of the bags ! Gairibas has only solar charged lights and no regular electricity. We had a quick lunch of maggie and slipped into our sleeping bags.
A bit later Shering called me , there were a few black faced laughing thrushes close by seen through the kitchen window. They came in took a quick look and skipped out and I got a couple shots.
Shering told me that the birds would come around the kitchen in the morning and I could park myself pretty much in one spot and see them. Evening we had dal rice, egg curry, some local veges salad and pappad which the care taker made for us. Very yummy again. The caretaker , and our guide were rather chatty in the evening and we realised that they were down a few drinks 😉 . Made for very interesting giggly conversations indeed !
The mutt “PP” who welcomed us at Garibas.
27th Nov 2018: It was to be a late morning since the sun would come in rather late into the valley.
But all the same I was up by six and went down. The view was a frost covered jungle very cold and slightly cloudy.
I didn’t anticipate much bird movement and thats how the morning turned out to be. Since it was static birding , I pulled out my tripod and my 600mm here. But, hardly any birds. Just a couple Yellow billed blue magpies, a Blue fronted redstart and a new one for me a quick glimpse of the Golden Fulvetta.
Yellow billed blue magpie – scape
Again seems March April this place is a riot of birds. Breakfast was a simple fare of omelette toast and tea. We again hitched a ride on the Bolero for the upslope from Gairibas to Kayakatta and hiked the remainder route to Kalpokhri. Not much birding except we saw a few spotted nutcrackers and yuhina’s. But a pleasant walk nevertheless with a gentle slope .
At Kalphokhri, we stayed at “Chewang Lodge” which is almost at the Sandakphu end of the village.
The kitchen and dining room is large and the food very nice. We ordered some chowmein which we wolfed down in a jiffy and asked for second helpings ! There was french trekker family sitting next to us and they were all animations and loud especially a young lady who perhaps was along with her Mum n dad and a rather quiet young guy who seemed like her boyfriend. The french lady would be easy match for the loud bongs for sure, and we did meet such a lady there. While we were waiting for our lunch, the Chewang lodge cook, an elderly lady, cooly told a bong lady guest to take a stroll and come after sometime for lunch. The bong lady had asked about lunch and some exact cooking specifics she wanted, the old cook lady said to her “Thora bahar groom ke aa jao”. The bongs on the trail I noticed were quite into food, big time !
After lunch a short rest and we went hiking up a small hill over the lake. Soon we saw the spotted nutcracker. We had already turned back when we saw the nutcracker fly to a tree right besides the trail were we had turned back. Shering and I huffed back up to the top to catch the bird closer. And while we were huffing our way up, the bird came within iPhone picture distance at the spot we had just left. “Bird will always be near the spot you just left” , old jungle saying 😉 I did notice the nutcracker smashing nuts with its beak and hence the name too. High altitude birding is tough on the lungs !
Spotted nutcracker
Gaiter baba: Enroute to the hill, the weather was cloudy and we could barely see Sandakphu. At the base of the hill near the lake, a big hiking group was coming into Kalphokri and I saw a man in gaiters and two trekking poles. Gaiters in this weather with zero snow ! He was giving “gyaan” to the others saying something like would they get this scenery in Mumbai or something. I could see that the others were pretty bushed from the climb and I didn’t see much response to his talk/ question ! In my mind, I named him “gaiter baba” 🙂 On the way back the sun was setting and the valley below was covered in clouds. The clouds had settled into the valley and Sandakphu was now clearly visible. The classic sandakphu shots we had seen was this exact scene. On the way back we used a Nepal Cell phone to call home from one of the lodges.
Hai hai meri ungliyaan: By nightfall the sky had cleared and the milky way was clearly visible but I chickened out to try some shots. At dinner we ran into a brit who was with a guide called Peter Lobo. The dinner table was being laid and the lady at the lodge kept a bottle full of very nice looking “red cherries” in a liquid and said that this is super hot. I thought to myself how hot can it be and nonchalantly bit into one. I did a rocket ride to Pluto and back ! Aowww Man that was one hell of a scorcher. Seeing me jump, everybody around the table burst out laughing ! Some nice dal rice and veggies helped bring me back to some normalcy to my mouth but my scalp was sweating till well after !
Rocket fuel
Shering meanwhile was tucking into some local yak meat and rice preparation which was a local speciality. Oh yes the lodge bathroom had working western toilets, a small wash basin and even a cleanup spray. Very nice indeed. The night was super cold and the fingers freezing especially for M. And the only song for some reason that was running in my head was “hai hai meri ungliyaan, tun-tun, tun tun” sung to the tune of “Tu ne mari Entriyaan…” Probably the song of the trip ! And the second song another convolution “ garam garam sambar mein doob ungli” sung to the tune of an old Rotomac pen advert ! I wonder how I even remembered this !
28th Nov 2018: Final push to “Sandak-phew”: Breakfast was pancakes with jam and honey made by the lady super efficiently and while chatting with us.
While having coffee I spotted “gaiter baba” soaking the sun before his start.
We did a leisurely one hour birding and walk to Bhikebanjang, an easy 3 km. Enroute spotted, nutcrackers, a green tailed sunbird ( I messed up the shutter speed since I had set a ISO, got a super nice blur! ) and the redstart and a few yuhinas. Base of the climb at Bhikebahjang we were looking out for the Blood Pheasants, but no such luck.
A short halt at the hut at the base of the climb to Sandakphu, we started the last steep push to the top. Its a 3.5 Km but steep trail and one can see the Sherpa Chalet lodge at the top all through. “Aage mode pe jayada oxygen hai” ( The turn ahead has more oxygen !) was the most used in this section. MnM both were enthu to carry their packs and hike up. It was a hard climb with a lot of stops. But in a couple of sections we did find some interesting birds. Thankfully that meant halts ! Phew! Saw a bunch of Coal tits, a male and female red crossbill, Finches, the Blue fronted redstart , a winter wren, stripe throated yuhina, spotted laughing thrush and an alpine accentor. The Crossbills were very close and we got some neat shots. We finally “Sandak-phewed” at 1240H.
Beautiful Finch
A lunch of dal rice and some veges at Sherpa Chalet lodge and we retired to our room. The structure is a two storied one and we had our room on the second floor. The climb from the first to the second floor was always such a breath knocker, unbelievable what altitude can do to the body! We were completely bushed and snuggled into the sleeping bag immediately. I forced my self to get outside again to recce and take some shots. It was a bit cloudy but Mt Kanchanjunga was clearly visible.
The temperature dropped fast after lunch and with a slight wind blowing, it got pretty cold. The view from the room was probably the best and we could see the full mountain in all its glory. I went down to the view point to take some pics and did a quick handheld pano stitch series. Good that I did, I realised tat the 17-35mm would be too wide and I opted for the 105mm for the next morning sunrise shots.
Change in plans: Shering informed us that the route to Falut was really bad for the vehicle but we could trek. That would mean we could not take the camera gear etc other than the bare minimum. And also the distance being 21km one way, it would have been tough to do 21 Kms on two consecutive days, to Falut and back to the vehicle at Sandakphu. Hence we decided to drop Falut & do an extra night at Gairibas to try and use the day to spot either a Satyr Tragopan or the Red Panda. I was so wishing I was that brit now 😉 Evening the whole place was watching some football match which came in via satellite TV. Charging is only possible in the evening here when they run the generator. My multi plug strip came in handy. Again no cel coverage and mostly Nepal Cell . One can get BSNL cell at one point where there is a forest department board right at the entry to Sandakphu. My BSNL sim and a regular button phone came in to use here to make a few quick calls home 🙂
29th Nov 2018: We needed to be up early at 5 am if we wanted to catch the sunrise on the Kanchenjunga. The morning was a bit cloudy and the very top of the Kanchenjunga was covered in clouds. All the same, the sunrise is a spectacular sight, both on the east and over the mountain to the west. The morning was super cold and it was windy too. The first light to hit the mountain top is something to see.
It goes by in a jiffy. The clouds made for some spectacular shots of the “Sleeping Buddha”.
We then did some bird spotting near the garbage dump and saw the usual Laughing thrushes the spotted and the black faced. Plain mountain finches were flying around in small flocks. We went down a small trail at the beginning of Sandakphu but nothing much was spotted except the mountain finch and the black faced laughing thrush. There is a spot at a clearing on that trail which gives a great view of the Kanchanjunga. Thats probably the best spot I thought to view the “Sleeping Buddha”. The black faced laughing thrush was now so common that I began to detest seeing it ! (I nick named it “Black faced chu***ya”). You can also see them up close near the sherpa lodge water point ( left of the lodge when you are looking at it).
Spotted Laughing thrush
After breakfast we did a short 2-3 km hike to the Indiahikes camp in the direction of Falut. Nothing majorly new but we did get some nice views. Got a clean shot of the Rufous Breasted Accentor and also of the Plain Mountain finch. Black faced Chu***ya was in there definitely. M also spotted a “Chestnut bellied rock Thrush” which I missed. Yippie ya for spotting something that we all missed and had a pic to prove it too ! Awesome spotting M ! We ran into a lone trekker ‘Nabil’ inside the viewpoint hut and he was busy writing something. We asked what he was writing thinking it would be something deep. Pat came the reply – expenses! LoL ! We all burst out laughing. He was from Kerala, on a solo trip to the North East. He had diverted to Sandakphu when someone told him about this place ! And he was headed back down the same day.
On the return trail we heard two spotted thrushes calling out to each other one was above the trail and another was below the trail. What a melodious sound they had! Sounded like a “blues” call and response set and it went on for almost 10-15 minutes ! An absolutely brilliant experience to listen it was !
Two laughing thrushes call- response audio ( Thanks M for the recording !)
At lunch we had a local vege called “Kurling” which was quite tasty. The bong lady with deep interest in cooking ( the one who was also at Chewang lodge) was also here. She made frequent forays into the kitchen for some or other thing. When the cook asked what we would like to have, we in contrast were like, “jo app kha rahe ho, humein bhi khila do!”. Around 3PM with “Kittu” the local mascot in tow, we headed again over the same trail.
The kitchen view
Kittu, The mutt “Kittoo” who looked like a dirty version of “Snowy”, Tintin’s dog.
On the way back Shering was able to show us a unique himalayan rodent “the pika”. Its a cute looking rat family chap. Though the day was cloudy , the clouds were seen lifting by evening.
The Everest group was almost visible by late evening and we hoped the next morning would be clear. That night I ventured out to take a few milky way shots. I rushed it and it came out like crap. I need to learn this from someone knowledgeable. I realised the hard way that, zero degree night is not the place to learn to shoot the milky way!
30th Nov 2018: Morning was super clear and windy and we made it down in time for the sunrise. I was aiming for a time lapse and in the rush to setup missed the first couple minutes where the sun just hit the top of the mountain . Oh well any case got the rest of the 15 minute time lapse, each shot at 15 second intervals, a total of some 61 shots.
The sky was super clear an we could all the way from Mt Lhotse, Everest in the east to Mt Pandim to the west. Finally we see Everest and one can even see the Hillary step from here. From Sandakphu, on a clear day you can see four of the fourteen eight thousander mountains and all from one spot, Lhotse, Everest, Makalu to the west and moving east Mt Kanchanjunga. Further East, one can also see the tallest peak in Bhutan from here. Below Kanchanjunga I could clear see Frey Peak which I had climbed way back in 1991. That was a cloudy day I never realised geographically how close it was to Mt Kanchenjunga !
Everest group
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The mountains look divine!