Here are a few shots of my trip to west Nepal spring 2011.
This is our put in point on a tributary of the Karnali. With me were Andy W who has fished with me in Nepal before, Jason and Andy B.
We got a fair bit of interest from the villagers. This river is very rarely run by rafters never mind fished by anglers.
Text book pool. The river mainly comprises of smallish rapids falling into gorgeous pools, and good long runs, some shallow and fast others slow and deep ... time to relax and admire the stunning scenery.
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Having said they are mainly smallish ... this one isn't. Its the biggest rapid on the run down, a class three beastie, it looks horrible from the top but is straightforward, a good bit of fun in fact, not holding on for dear life stuff ... realy !
Top
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Middle
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Bottom
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and off again
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Catchng bait on a tributary of the tributary. We had a few issues with bait on this expedition that will never happen again, you live and learn hey ...
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21st century when you haven't seen it for days! this is one of only three footbridges we passed under in the entire 120 miles from start to finish.It realy is remote. The old growth forest the river flows through is home to Nepals last hunter gatherer tribe the Rautte and a meeting with them is jawdroppingly fascinating on both sides.
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A nice run close to the confluence with the Karnali, The allready rare people of the area drop off the closer we got to the main river and of course the wildlife gets richer. One night a guide came over to the fire to say there was an "animal "on the far bank, so out with the big lamp and there is a leopard sitting watching us ... we watched it for a good ten minutes, amazing to see as it moved about not realy bothered by the strong light in its face but it was a bit too close for the comfort of one guide who eventualy hurled a rock in its direction, it went up a twenty five foot near vertical rock face in two bounds, awesome to see, a rare privelige.
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Well what can I say about this ? there are still rivers in the Himalayan belt that hold massive fish and the Karnali is one them but you need to get off the beaten track to get up close and personal with the king of the river,Andy W did just that.
Sixty three pounds taken on a nine inch livebait; forty five minute fight, hundreds of yards of line taken etc etc, absolutlely classic stuff.
Well done Andy.
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These are fish that were caught by the Raji tribespeople. They come up from the plains in the low water period to net and nightline the Karnali for mainly small fish which they dry, then take back down as the rains set in to sell. We passed six small family outfits on our journey, on this scale I feel it is sustainable and its not till you get closer to "civilisation" that everyone seems to be hammering away at the river with all manner of traps and devices.
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This one however was fortunate enough to be caught by Andy B and lived to fight another day.
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Local transport. The Dunga, a hollowed out cottonwood trunk, used for all manner of river based work.
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A lovely rapid and probably a mile of superb water below it, sadly too close to people to have kept its fish, there are some beauties still there but nowhere near its potential ...
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The monsoon rains that sculpted this rock must be staggering to behold.
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This fish was taken from within the Bardia national park, it is the red finned mahseer, not seen as often as the true golden mahseer but absoloutely lovely none the less, she picked up a live crab from the bottom of another classic pool and gave a lively account before posing for the camera.
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Here she is in all her glory.
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Close up.
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A rickety bridge in the jungle of Bardia national park, the wildlife here is abundant, as we crossed the bridge we watched a mugger crocodile and murrel below us, Langur monkeys and a huge squirrel in the trees and birds all about, a proper tarzan experience !
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Here are a brace of twenty pounders taken by me on crab from another tributary of the Karnali. excellent sport on lighter gear. (battery went before I could get them out for a proper photoshoot).
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Early morning walk in the park ...
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Impressive sandstone cliffs on the Karnali. I am looking forward to seeing them in the light of the early morning.
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Hope you enjoyed the photos.
all the best
Rich.
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Last edited by chilwa on Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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