09 Feb Fishing for Golden Mahseer in the high Himalayas

An expedition led by myself and one of the owners of Tiger Tops, Tim Edwards, back in Spring 2012

‘When you see the name Tiger Tops, the first thing you think about is a safari and the hope of seeing a tiger! However, Tiger Tops offer much more than this, and the following is an outline of a memorable few days rafting and fishing down the West Seti river, starting at a “put in” under the far western mountain range in the Himalayas.

Jack, who worked for Tiger Tops, was part of the team who developed this feature of the operation, and we were accompanied by one of the owners, Tim Edwards. Nick and I were two of the first clients to be taken on this expedition.

Nick and I had flown to Kathmandu from London via Doha, courtesy of Qatar Airways, a contrasting flight of space and good service on the leg to Doha, and crammed in on a less than spacious journey from Doha to Kathmandu. However, the welcome sight of Jack the other side of the barrier at Kathmandu airport, followed by a dip in the pool of the Dwarika’s Hotel accompanied by a cool beer, quickly changed all that, and set us up for the onward flight to Nepalganj in western Nepal. The flight on Buddha Air was uneventful (although the size of the aeroplane and the name of the airline were initially of concern!), we had a stunning view of the Himalayas as we climbed out of Kathmandu, and an hour later we touched down.

The baggage area of Nepalganj airport can best be described as organised chaos, but amazingly our bags, that were submerged under a mountain of others, emerged unscathed, and we were soon in a Tiger Tops jeep en route to Karnali Lodge. The journey took about two hours, much of which was spent avoiding cattle, trucks, bicycles and potholes (or in one case no road at all), and passing many of the locals’ dwellings, always surrounded by the requisite chickens ,goats and oxen. The overriding memory I have, however, were the constant smiles of the villagers and the close communities in which they lived.

After the hustle and bustle of the earlier part of the journey, we eventually turned off the main road into Bardia Park, and with the light fading, arrived at Karnali lodge in darkness, but with lanterns adorning the entrance. We were greeted by our hostess, a lovely welcoming smile, and were ushered into the reception area where we had a few much needed refreshing cocktails. Dinner was excellent, and we retired to our individual rooms for a good night’s sleep.

I said earlier that Tiger Tops would be best known for it’s safaris. And so, as an appetiser for the journey ahead, at six the next morning we were roused by one of the staff, and headed off through the jungle by jeep to team up with a group of Nepalis who were preparing two large elephants for our first taste of the Nepalese jungle.

During the first hour we didn’t see much, but gradually as we got deeper into the undergrowth, we spotted deer (samba, hog, barking and spotted to name a few), crocodiles, a huge female python that must have just eaten a month’s worth of food, monkeys (langur and rhesus) and many beautifully coloured birds. As we came to the end of the journey, our leader became very excited as he found fresh pug marks of a tigress and her cubs, and although we pursued this trail, we eventually gave up as morning fully dawned, and the animals gradually withdrew for rest and shade.

On return to the lodge, we were greeted by the cooking team who prepared a wonderful breakfast, and we then lazed around until lunchtime. After lunch, we reviewed our fishing tackle with Jack and Tim, in preparation for the expedition ahead.

That afternoon at around 4pm, we went off again in another jeep and headed for the river, where we saw more deer and monkeys. We hadn’t been long at the river, when we heard distressed calls from several animals, and our guide told us to be very still and quiet. It wasn’t long before a large male tiger emerged from the jungle and walked across the river bed about 100 metres in front of us. It’s not often that you see a tiger at all, but we saw one on the first day, so we were very lucky! Unfortunately, the tiger sloped into thick scrub in the middle of the riverbed, and although we waited for a while, we didn’t see him again…………………we returned to the lodge for drinks and dinner, and repaired to bed in anticipation for the journey ahead. What a first day!

At 4am, we were woken for an early get away, and with bags packed (minimum kit as we needed to travel light) we headed off in two vehicles for an 8/9 hour trip to our river put in point. The roads in Nepal vary in quality, and we were warned that the annual monsoon rains might have caused landslips on the route ahead, but generally we were lucky in this regard, as we wound our way slowly into western Nepal and gradually ascended to the river.

En route, we had stopped for lunch in a typical local village where we were greeted by a smiling Nepalese woman and her child who gave us lunch in her cafe. Lunch consisted of dahl and rice, very much the staple diet, and which would form the basis of our menu for the next few days.

On arrival at the river, we transferred our bags (carefully split into night gear and day gear!) into the two rafts (owned and run by Himalayan Rafting Expeditions) and with all the equipment needed for the next four days (tents, food, gas cylinders, fishing rods etc), we embarked on our adventure. Each raft was manned by three Nepalese. Nick and I were in one raft, and Jack and Tim in the other…………..although we swapped around during the voyage. The Nepalese couldn’t have been more welcoming and helpful, and the rest of his team shared rowing, cooking and all other duties. We were royally looked after throughout the trip.

Our arrival at the put in point caused a lot of interest from the locals, and after sharing out the remains of our provisions from the drive, we boarded the rafts and set off down the river. I had rafted many years before down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, but the beginning of any rafting trip is exciting with the unknown ahead……………at least as far as we were concerned! We left the hubbub of the locals behind us, and all was tranquil until we encountered the first rapid, to be followed soon after by another, neither that dramatic as far as the drop was concerned, but enough turbulence and spray to get us very wet!

An hour or so elapsed, and we found our first resting place for the night. We were tired after the early start and long drive, followed by the initial rafting excitement, and having arrived at our first campsite, we placed our wet clothes on two large boulders to dry, whilst our tents were erected.

The site decided upon was on a pretty “beach” with enough space for the tents and a good place to have supper. None of this would have been possible in the monsoon season, but at this time of year (March), the river subsides and natural beaches/inland coves appear.

At the back of one of the rafts, two chickens had been smuggled aboard in a small pen, and these were to be the basis of our supper for the first evening, accompanied by dahl and rice………delicious! Additionally, there was no shortage of beers and we polished off a few of these.

Before supper, we fished for a while in the hope of landing our first golden mahseer, but drew a blank the first evening, with high hopes for the next day.

Shortly after turning in for the night, and getting used to the sleeping bag and my general surroundings, there was an almighty screech from nearby which I put down to locals fooling around or even a wild animal…………………at any rate there was no more noise thereafter and I drifted off to sleep. The following morning we emerged from our tents, and it transpired that Nick was the culprit of the previous night’s disturbance, claiming he had been stung by something sharp. As we looked around his tent, we found a small scorpion which had done the damage, and concluded that the offender had got into his tee shirt which had been drying on the boulder the previous evening. This was borne out when we found an even larger scorpion still on the boulder, which thank God had remained there! Happily, there was no lasting damage, quickly forgotten by an excellent breakfast of bacon and eggs, after which we packed up and rafted onwards.

The next few days all rather blurred into one, but as we rafted further down the river, the cliff faces seemed to get steeper, the scenery was forever stunning, and we passed numerous hillside villages which consisted of modest dwellings, and rice fields carefully graded on the slopes next to where the locals lived. And of course, we fished hard in various pools and likely spots for the golden mahseer. I think Jack was the first lucky fisher and landed two the first day, one rather small and the other a better size. In true British fashion, he returned the smaller of the fish to the river, which caused much muttering from the Nepalis who thought this was very bad form, and would bring bad “karma” to the trip. Any fish in their view should be kept and devoured! We probably didn’t catch as many fish as we would have liked, and we felt that the Nepalis had considered this was our fault!

Nick and I then caught one decent sized fish each (an eight and ten pounder), and there was no way that these would avoid the pot! Mahseer are silver with a touch of blue and yellow in colour, beautiful to look at, but pretty bony to eat. They resemble a cross between a carp and a codfish! However by negotiating the bones, they were quite tasty, and particularly so after a night’s slow cooking on a homemade barbecue of dried saplings. On the final morning, Tim Edwards caught a twenty-five pound monster which restored our faith in the size of these fish, which can exceed fifty pounds or more. Most evenings, after we had set up camp for the night, two of the group went off to lay bait lines for catfish which can weigh anything up to a hundred pounds, but they had no luck on this trip.

At various stop- off points, young children from the hillside villages came to look at us, intrigued by the rafts and the fishing, and as with all other Nepalis we met, were smiling and friendly! It was helpful to have the support of our team who were able to communicate with them when their attentions had become a little persistent!

As said earlier, we were well provided for in terms of food and beverages, but one evening one of the Nepalis went off on a long hike up the cliff face the other side of the river to barter for two chickens for our supper. He duly reappeared with the birds for the evening pot.

Lunch every day was a very civilised affair. We were set up under a large canvas, supported by oars, and this protected us from the heat of the day. We ate local fruit and other goodies which kept us going for the afternoon rafting ahead, and gave us a break (and the oarsmen) from the river.

On the penultimate day of the trip, we were a little behind schedule, and so the two oarsmen were given instructions to row hard for most of the day. Not only did they row almost without a break for eight hours but a lot of the journey was against the stream. They were tough!

As we headed further down the West Seti, the river merged with the Karnali from where we rafted on and eventually made our designated arrival place after floating under the large impressive Karnali Bridge, built by the Japanese some years earlier. On the riverbank there were a group of locals, celebrating the last rites of a deceased person as their ashes were scattered on the river. It all seemed part of the day’s activities!

We eventually arrived at base camp on the river which was the other camping site of Karnali, and were driven back to the lodge for a very welcome shower and dinner. We had spent four days and nights on the river, had navigated through numerous rapids, had seen some spectacular sights, and above all had been very well looked after………………and had caught several golden mahseer!

Tiger Tops had done us proud!

Michael Van der Gucht’