Central Zoo Kathmandu

Thursday 19^th January 2006.

 This morning I woke with a headache, the first for the whole trip. After taking a paracetamol and having a good breakfast I was fine. I then had a rumbly tummy for a while but by 10am I was feeling a lot better. I have been surprised that I haven’t had any other headaches along the way and my stomach upsets have been quite mild. With all the different foods I have eaten, some of it very spicy, I though that I may have had more problems.

 Central Zoo, Kathmandu , Nepal

I tried to access my email but all internet access was unavailable. Mid morning I used one of the hotel drivers to take me to Central Zoo. The entry fee was Rs100 (A$2) plus Rs10 for my camera. The zoo in Kathmandu is a sad, run-down affair. It looks tired and few changes seem to have occurred since it was built in the Nineteenth Century. In fact, many of the cages are 19^th Century in style with no attempts apparent to bring the exhibits up to modern standards. Despite these criticisms I spent two very pleasant hours wandering around the enclosures. The bars and wire fences made photography a challenge but I managed to get some very good shots.

The main purpose of visiting the zoo was to view the many animals and birds of Nepal I missed seeing in the wild. I was disappointed that they didn’t have any Red Pandas in their collection. This is one of my favourite animals and Nepal is a stronghold of this wonderful animal.

 Patan

After leaving the zoo I walked down the hill from there for about a half hour. This gave me another area of the city to explore as I went along. Being the only foreigner in that part of Patan I was the centre of attention. Many people at the zoo had also stared at me as well as my expensive looking camera. One man even spoke to me in good English and made his son shake my hand and practice speaking English to me. He was delighted to find out that I was an Australian. At least there is one country where Australians are looked up to and respected. As I walked along the street I was acutely aware of the stench of sewage. Sure enough, looking down some broken parts of the path revealed the source of the smell.