Exchange rate: £1 = 108.5 Nepalese Rupees (Rs)

Friday 14^th September ~ D minus 2 days
Two days before departure. The team juggled spending time with their families with last minute preparations and panics. The money transfer to the trekking company was caught up between Bank of Scotland and Nepal, and there was still no sign of the official collecting permits we first requested back in January. DL decided to take extra travellers cheques in case the money transfer fails, and we had to hope that we could expedite permits when in Kathmandu. The collecting equipment packed into two old suitcases and 3 cardboard boxes: total weight about 105kg. Gulf Air had given us an extra 80kg excess baggage, and we hoped that the rest would be waived. Flights in and out of Heathrow looked like getting back to normal on Saturday night after the disruption caused by the terrorist attack in New York on September 11^th. The no fly zone over central London was due to be lifted on Saturday.

Saturday 15^th September ~ D minus 1 day
Last minute packing of personal equipment. MW spent his birthday with his family. DL visited Ron McBeath to borrow a wide-angle lens. DK was worried about check-in times at Edinburgh Airport. Airport Information advised checking in 1.5 hours before departure, so we settled on a revised meeting time of 2pm. Thankfully the no fly zone over central London was indeed lifted at midnight.

Sunday 16^th September ~ Departure day
Sunny, breezy day. DK and SC were the first to arrive at the airport, closely followed by MW. MW discovered that he had left boots at home, and a frantic dash to retrieve them caused a 25 minute delay. The additional security measures meant that very little hand luggage was allowed, and our rucksacks had to go into the hold (liberally decorated with FRAGILE stickers). Most of us had brought a small bag for essentials, so we could use these. DK hadn’t so he had to carry his essentials in a clear plastic collecting bag. Fortunately our check-in (15 bags) went without a problem, and we were not charged any excess baggage. With plenty of time now spare we could spend it in the coffee lounge with our families before saying our emotional farewells. DL picked up a few gifts to hand out in Nepal, but left his glasses in the shop (retrieved later).

Even tighter security at Heathrow delayed our plane coming up to Edinburgh, and we boarded the 16.30 flight at 17.10. A passenger ‘no show’ caused further delays as their baggage had to be found and off-loaded. Finally we took off at 17.40, more than an hour late. Fortunately there was a strong tail wind so we made good time in the air, but even so, our time to make the connection at Heathrow was slowly slipping away. Finally we landed and disembarked at 18.50. As we could not check our baggage through we had to collect it and take it to Terminal 3. The bags took a long time to appear and we began to get concerned about making our connection. Finally all the bags arrived at 19.30, and four heavily laden trolleys now had to be rushed through the connecting subway to Terminal 3. The bottleneck was the lifts in the arrivals hall. There were only two lifts, one was out of order and the other was sensitive to overloading. All four of us plus carts just made it in. We literally ran through the subway and arrived panting at Gulf Air check-in. To our dismay there was another huge queue! Fortunately the Business Class check-in attendant took pity on us and sped us through (20.00).

By now there were only 40 minutes to our fight closing and so we had to go straight to the gate. The security check queues were extraordinary, but eventually we get through. Unfortunately SC was held back for a random check, so DL stayed with him. DK and MW went on ahead to warn the gate attendants, but managed a lightening detour into the Duty Free shop to secure a couple of bottles of malt whisky (Dalwhinnie and Ardbeg). With the PA system calling our names we had to run to the gate arriving hot and sweaty, but in time. There was even time for a last phone home. Finally we took off at 21.00, and at last felt that we are really on our way: a round of Carlsberg crowned the moment. The flight time was about 6.5 hours, and we arrived in Abu Dhabi just before 7am local time.

Monday 17th September ~ Abu Dhabi, Kathmandu
We arrived sleepy but on schedule in Abu Dhabi, 6.50am. There were five hours to wait in the departure lounge so plenty of time to sit down, freshen up and tour the shops. Fortunately a few decent whiskies were available, so DL bought a Glenfiddich 12yro for himself and a Jameson on behalf of SC (SC does not drink whisky so we made use of his allowance). The terminal building has a dramatic domed ceiling covered with mosaic tile, giving a light, airy feel. Even so, the time soon started to drag and one by one we fell asleep. We were called through to the gate an hour early, not surprising as security took 25 minutes to clear. DL nearly left his glasses behind again. Twenty five minutes before departure we were told that there would be a 3-hour delay: by now we were resigned to delays. Surprisingly the delay proved to be just one hour, and the cause revealed as a pilot failing to clear security. We took off at 13.25, with a 4-hour flight time to Kathmandu. A tedious flight (long haul flights had now lost their appeal) but the food was again excellent. At cruising altitude the orange glow of the setting sun coloured up the clouds heaping up behind us. In front the grey piles of a monsoon storm were brewing over Kathmandu.

We arrived in Kathmandu airport in the dark about an hour late (7pm local time) to be met by representatives of our trekking company, including Nima Tenzing himself and our sirdar Pema. We were all very tired and appreciated the friendly welcome and extra hands to move our kit. All our bags came through safely and we were waved through customs. On leaving the terminal buildings it soon became difficult to make headway through the melee of itinerant baggage handlers jostling to help us with our bags. The evening drive through Kathmandu gave DK and SC their first experience of the sights and smells of Nepal, and jogged distant memories of past visits for DL and MW. We stayed at the Hotel Utse (Thamel): the Davids (beardies) in one room, and SC and MW (the youngsters) in another. Equipment and luggage filled all available floor space in both rooms. We were all relieved and elated to have arrived safely with all our gear. DL telephoned Krishna Shrestha (Tribhuvan University) and Mr Bista (Dept. of Plant Resources) to announce our safe arrival, and paid some of our trekking costs to Dadoma and Nima.

Tuesday 18th September ~ Kathmandu
The city was already well geared up for the day when we woke at 7am, and there was plenty of noise rising from the street below. Early morning views enjoyed from the hotel roof. Breakfast at 8am. As we could only take 15kg each with us on the plane to Biratnagar we were expecting most of our kit to leave at lunchtime on the bus with the trek staff. DL went to the Department of Plant Resources (DPR, Ministry for Forest and Soil Conservation) to sort out the collecting permits. The rest of us walked into town to change money (by shopping around for best rate) and buy the last equipment we needed: 2 galvanised metal trunks big enough to fit 3 presses side by side (2000Rs); 2 kerosene wick stoves for heat drying the specimens (550Rs); and 6m length of spare wicks (70Rs). DL’s taxi driver got lost but the nearby Maternity Hospital is a better-known landmark than the DPR. DL met Keshab Rajbhandari, Yogesh Vaidya (Chief of Nepal Flora Project in Kathmandu) and Mahesh Adhikari, the Curator of National Herbarium. Later he met Mahendra Subedi, our Liaison Botanist for the expedition, who had previously travelled with us on the 1989 KEKE Expedition. DL returned at lunch with the disappointing, but not unexpected news that we must all stay for an extra day whilst our permits are cleared by the Home Ministry, Dept. of Immigration and then Ministry of Forests. After lunch we all went to DPR and met the Director General, Mr Bista, to whom we presented the latest volume of Flora of Bhutan. Following further bureaucratic hitches with our collecting application it became apparent that we would now have to extend our wait in Kathmandu for two days. The evening meal was courtesy of our trekking company, and at 5.30 Nima arrived on his scooter and sorted us out with a taxi to his home. We spent an enjoyable evening with Nima and his family, and the meal was prepared by our trek cook (Tara) and a fancy cake to finish. Nima’s daughter Dadoma has been very helpful over our several changes of plan (e.g. changing our air tickets for Tumlingtar), and took the news of yet another change of plan very well. We paid up more of the trekking costs. The enforced stay in Kathmandu meant that we would now leave on Friday (21st), and return one day later than planned, on 19th October. DK made good use of the Internet Centre opposite the hotel, sending back emails on our behalf.

Wednesday 19th September ~ Kathmandu (Godaveri)
This morning we visited the National Herbarium (KATH) and Botanic Garden at Godaveri kindly hosted by Mahesh Adhikari (mycologist) who picked us up at the hotel. During the rush hour traffic the journey took 45 minutes. The herbarium had good cupboards for the specimens, was nice and airy and had good work benches, however, it was a bit short on microscopes. There are 100,000 specimens incorporated into the collection, but at least 50,000 await mounting and laying away. MW worked through the Umbelliferae before and after lunch, whilst the others toured the Botanic Garden. The Garden has been much developed since DL’s last visit in 1992, with a new Visitor Centre. Lunch of daal bhat tarkari in the canteen. There are now only 4 taxonomists working in the herbarium, and they catalogue and mount specimens rather than do research. Mahendra Subedi phoned to say that the Home Ministry had approved our application, and that we should return to DPR promptly. The minibus ride back was only 30 minutes as the roads were clear. After a wait at the DPR we found that there were still problems with our application for Restricted Area permits (for the Topke Gola leg of our route), so we returned to our hotel with the permit issues still unresolved. At 6pm Nima came to speak with us in an agitated state. He too had had problems with the Ministry, and we discovered that the Restricted Area* now apparently extends across Topke Gola, Milke Danda and Jaljale Himal. We decided to abandon our original plan to go to the Jaljale Himal, and go instead on the more standard trek route up the Barun Khola avoiding Restricted Areas. Dinner tonight was with Krishna Shrestha and 3 colleagues from Tribhuvan University (Sangeeta Rajbhandari, Nirmala Pradhan and Devendra (Orchid specialist). Krishna took us to a traditional Newari restaurant, with exquisite décor and even better food (and rakshi!). There was some discussion on our permit problems and the Flora of Nepal project. A rather late night was sealed with a whisky ‘snifter’ back at the hotel.

* The Restricted Area system was abandoned in Spring 2002, so future expeditions should not face the same problems as we did.

Thursday 20th September ~ Kathmandu
Nima arrived at the hotel soon after 8am as we were finishing breakfast. He suggested an alternative route in central Nepal ending at Gosainkund, but Mahendra Subedi advised that we would need a new collecting permit for this area, and after prolonged discussion we decide to keep to last night’s plan of going to Barun Khola and Makalu Base Camp from Hile. Unfortunately it was too late to change our flights to Tumlingtar (the normal start for Makalu Base Camp), and so we will have a 3-day ‘walk in’ from Hile. At 10.00 am DL & DK went to DPR to try and finally resolve our collection permits. They met Mr Bista who approved our new plan, but then Mahendra had to take them over to the National Park Authority to meet the Deputy Director, Mr Narayan Poudel, to get permits to collect in the Makalu-Barun National Park. This was a very friendly and positive meeting; we agreed to submit a report of our findings in the National Park. SC and MW remained to make last minute purchases and pack up equipment that was taken away at 11.30 on the bus to Biratnagar. Our rooms were now nice and spacious! DK & DL returned from DPR after lunch with the good news that we had permission to collect in the Barun Khola area. The Internet Centre was again put to good use sending emails back home bearing the news and revised travel plans. We spent the afternoon shopping for down jackets, bags, holdalls, hats and maps. The weather has been good since we arrived, no rain and hot in the sun. We were not looking forward to the 3 days of lowland walking from Hile to Tumlingtar. In the evening we attended a drinks reception hosted by Mr Bista attended by many prominent retired botanists and dignitaries including S.B. Malla, T.B. Shrestha, Dr Shakya and Prof. Joshi from TU. This enjoyable event was concluded with a series of speeches on collaborative links and specifically the Flora of Nepal project. After the reception we walked to the home of Yogesh Vaidya where he laid on a feast of Nepalese food. Mr Bista greatly enjoyed the occasion (as did we). As we were leaving early the next day we could not stay late, even so it was well past 11 when we returned to the hotel.

Friday 21st September ~ Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Hile
The wake-up call at 5.15am was a rude awakening, and proved that the streets are noisy even at this early hour. We left for the airport at 5.45, for a 7.30 flight, via Nima’s house to leave a couple of suitcases. Airport security was perfunctory. A lot of small planes were taking off, from the numerous local airlines, to all corners of Nepal. Our flight (Cosmic Air) left very late but the views of the mountain ranges (including Gauri Shankar, Everest, Makalu, Jannu and Kanchenjunga) were still excellent, arriving at Biratnagar (on the terai at 70m alt.) at 8.45. The coach was there to meet us full of our gear and most of our porters and cooks, and more equipment piled up on the roof. Kerosene jerry cans placed down the centre aisle perfumed the air. Thankfully it is not too hot given the low altitude. The road up from the terai was in good condition as it winds its way up in a series of hairpin bends. We drove through mostly cultivated countryside with trees of Tectona grandis, Dalbergia sissoo, Betel Palms, Polyalthia longifolia, Coconut Palms, Duabanga grandiflora. Eichhornia abundant in the waterways. Before Dharan we drove through some degraded terai forest with Sal, Bombax, Gmelina, Oroxylum indicum. We reached Dharan at 9.37, then the climb into the hills began. Much Butea buteiformis on the slopes by the road, Melastoma in flower. Most of us nodded off, awaking for lunch at Bhedetar (1340m) at 10.30, in swirling mist. It took nearly 2 hours to finish lunch! With hindsight we should have all had the same simple dish which would be quick to prepare. We continued via a big descent to Leoti Khola, then followed it downstream to the big Tamur River which we crossed, then a winding ascent up to Dhankuta at 1.30pm. In the valley bottom were Nerium indicum, Calotropis and Ricinus. On the way up we passed through more temperate forest with Quercus lanata, Rhododendron arboreum, Pinus roxburghii, and Lantana camara. We arrived at Hile (1850m) at about 2pm, taking up residence at Gumba Lodge (next-door to a small Sherpa monastery) where our group pretty much took over and prepared our own food. The collecting equipment was distributed between trunks and bags to give even weight, and we repacked our own bags. Tea at 4, followed by a wander up the high street. Hile is at the road head, so a busy place where lorries decant their loads and the burden is moved onto the backs of the many porters looking for work. There are many merchants, some with colourful stores, but it is not a picturesque place. Dinner was at 5.30: soup, daal bhat tarkari. It was dark by 6.15 and we were soon to bed. DL & DK’s streetside room turned out to be a mixed blessing as although it was less gloomy, it was surrounded by noisy neighbours and they had a broken nights sleep not to mention disturbance by dogs, trucks and babies.

Saturday 22nd September ~ Hile, Dikure, Mangmaya Khola
Bed tea at 5.45am, breakfast (rice pudding) at 6 and 26 porter loads were ready for departure at 7.05 while it was still refreshingly cool. Hile is at 1850m and we had a gradual descent through cultivated land reaching the village of Pakhribas, 1640m, in 2 hours. The path was extremely busy with porter traffic, mostly heading north with many different loads. There were splendid views from this village across the Arun valley to the snowy peaks of the Makalu range emerging through the clouds. The valley slopes were mostly cultivated with a few trees of Ficus cunia, F. roxburghii and F. religiosa and Schima wallichii. The descent steepened as we wound our way down through the terraces of small farms and patches of scrub, finally arriving at Dikure, 1240m, for lunch at 10.30. It had been a hot sunny morning and we were not relishing the heat of the Arun Khola flood plain. The vegetation was interesting, but very degraded with most of the land given over to subsistence agriculture. Occasional Frangipani trees scented the air and litter the path with fallen flowers. Our clothes were dripping, and drink stops were frequent. Lunch consisted of chips, sandwiches and sardines, and we appreciated the 2-hour rest in the shade. We restarted at 12.30 through Chir Pine forest, collecting Maesa, Glochidion and Biophytum, but energy waned due to the heat and humidity. At 4pm we crossed the suspension bridge at Mangmaya Khola, 370m, and took another welcome Pepsi break under shade at the village cross-roads. We were walking along one of the main porter routes, and there are many heavily laden porters, both young and old. They rarely took off their baskets, but stopped frequently perching their load on their ‘walking stick’ pack stand. Some scraped sweat from their brow using bamboo loops, some just took the chance to draw breath. Their pack weight is usually 50-60kg, but some must have been carrying more. We passed several porters with rolled up corrugated iron sheets (13 or more) tied to their packs. This was not only very heavy, but difficult to guide through narrow village streets and tree lined paths. Soon our bags caught up with us and camp was set up at the edge of a paddy field just across the river. Exhausted we started to establish the routine that was soon become second nature: sorting out our bags, preparing our tents, and organising the specimen pressing equipment. Today there was time to bathe in the warm waters of the Mangmya Khola and wash our clothes in the mica-laden water. We finished working up the collections as night fell. Thankfully there was a little breeze, but it was still 25°C at night. The whisky by starlight in this idyllic setting was made more memorable by a dancing display of fireflies around us (and the lack of mosquitoes). Bed soon after 9.

Sunday 23rd September ~ Mangmaya Khola, Piluwa Khola
A cool, clear morning. Bed tea was brought round at 5.45am together with a small bowl of water for our morning wash. Breakfast of museli, boiled egg, toast and marmalade. We set off at 7 for a long, low altitude slog along the east bank of the Arun River. At first we followed a path above the river along the edge of the forest, with lovely views across fields of rice and other subtropical crops, dotted with haystacks, but there was little shade and we were thankful that it was cooler in the morning. This is a densely populated area with a new road under construction which ended at a pontoon bridge. A few trees of Duabanga grandiflora and Mangifera indica. The path then followed the terrace walls through the paddy fields before making a detour to cross a bridge over the Leguwa Khola (other porters were fording the river downstream which looked quite hazardous). The steadily increasing heat forced a Pepsi stop before stopping for lunch at Damar on the sandy banks of the Arun at 10.30 (whole fried potatoes, Spam and vegetables). We took a long lunch break to avoid the worst of the sun, and to dry the blotters (we did not set up the heat dryers last night). The blotters were laid out on the white sandy banks and soon were hot to the touch. Some blew around in the odd gusts, and some were trampled when a herd of goats was driven through. Nevertheless they dried nicely and we were able to put hot blotters back in the press, and then dry the ones we had taken out. We left at 1.30 for a long, even hotter slog up the Arun. Seven Woolly-necked Storks flew past, and White-throated Kingfisher was seen. Fortunately there were several tea shops on the way where we could stop under some shade (often Ficus bengalensis and F. religiosa) and take some refreshment. We waded across the Kyawa Khola as the prospect of a long detour upstream to a dry crossing did not appeal (we were wet anyway!). SC was having problems with tight boots, but slackening off the laces helped matters. Camp is just before the Piluwa Khola at 340m, we arrived at about 3.30. Again we were well in front of our porters with only the cook staff waiting. A rumble of thunder and a few spots of rain. MW changed into shorts and went for a bathe in the tepid Piluwa Khola. The camp routine was similar to last night, but this time there was a little rain at dusk. At night there was the same cool breeze and warm temperature, but alas no fireflies. We had not yet collected enough to merit putting up the drying frame.