DAY 225 (Wednesday 14 March 2012)

Well I made it back into the Families Reception Centre for 0545hrs, which was to be the start of a long morning as we were not due to finish the exercise until 1330hrs.  After a few more scenarios, which my section weren’t really involved in ENDEX was finally called at 0900hrs, this made quite a few people happy, we all had to close down our various sections then it was back to work for us for the rest of the day, but as it was a Wednesday (sports afternoon day), most people sacked it for the afternoon come lunch time.  Unfortunately not for this call sign as I had a few emails come in that needed to be actioned.

DAY 224 (Tuesday 13 March 2012)

Well today was certainly interesting, we had briefings all morning before the main Exercise started after lunch, it is supposed to be a 24 hour exercise but we were told that we would get stood down at midnight for 6 hours to get some rest.

The briefings consisted having a medical briefing in what to do to help the injured in the event of an quake taking place, briefing from NST (Nepal Signal Troop) on what our communications will be and a briefing from BK (Maj Kelsall) in what to do and how we should be prepared if a big quake should hit, that last briefing actually brought it home to some people to the intensity of what could happen and where the safest places were to be when a quake hits. 

After lunch some of us heard the tannoy system calling the start of the exercise, we had to meet up by the CHAUTARA to be briefed as to what the situation is and who was going to be running with what cell and who were going to be casualties.  There was me, the GM, Mandy Childs, Prakash and Uttam working within the Families Reception Centre, here we were to process any family within the Brigade of Gurkhas that were working here in Nepal and account for them, some of the families were taking part in the exercise but not all of them, which I thought was a bit nuts, but hey that was their choice, anyway, poor Jackie McCulloch had scenario where her house had cracks in the walls, the gas and water couldn’t be shut off (to avoid any further damage if an explosion occurred), she left her dog behind (which she really didn’t want to do), she was fine in herself as she had no injuries.  As she was one of the first to reach the Families Reception Centre and was processed, we actually were able to put her to work by helping us with any of the other families that came in.

 

Throughout the day things happened as a result of the earthquake but later on there was an aftershock and in the event of the aftershock Jackie’s dog had been killed (she is well and fine really, it’s all play acting so don’t panic).  Another wife also died in the incident.  It does bring it home to you as to what can happen during these events.

Anyway, the civilians were stood down at around 2000hrs and the rest of us military people had to battle it through until much later, but we were eventually stood down for the night at around 2330hrs, we were all supposed to stay on camp in the transit accommodation as we were allowed to leave camp, however, as my house is actually on camp I snuck back to my own bed but I have to make sure that I am back before 0600hrs.

DAY 223 (Monday 12 March 2012)

Well this week is the start of Exercise BHUKAMAP AYO, which basically means Earthquake.  After the earthquake that we had last September the top knobs had decided it would be best if we did a mini exercise to see how we would actually cope in the event of a bigger quake.  The main part of the exercise will start tomorrow as we had to wait for the personnel to arrive from DHARAN and POKHARA.

Other than that it was mainly a normal working day for most of us.

DAY 222 (Sunday 11 March 2012)

All today consisted on was getting the washing done from our holiday clothes and chilling out.  Poor washing machine didn’t know what had hit it as it normally has Sundays off.

DAY 221 (Saturday 10 March 2012)

Today was our last morning as we head back to camp after breakfast; we didn’t have anything down on the itinerary for the morning so we had a bit of lie in, I still got up early though so that I could go to the watering hole to see if there was anything there.  I was stood there for a short while when I took a photo of what I thought was the Jackal heading back out for the day but when I looked at the picture that I had taken it was actually a Jungle Cat that I saw the other day but didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a picture, but this time I had been able to without realising it.

Jungle Cat

After breakfast it was time to pack up and head back to KATHMANDU, it took just about 6 hours with a stop for lunch at RIVERSIDE to get back and this time going back didn’t feel like I was on a theme park ride that I wanted to get off because as the roads had been laid with tarmac making the journey a little bit more pleasant.

DAY 220 (Friday 09 March 2012)

The morning was really misty, but I got up and after our drink of coffee and tea, we headed out for a nature walk, but first I went to the watering hole to see if there was anything there and this is what I saw.

Our guide took both me and Charlie all around the jungle, but we didn’t get to see much other than the spotted deer, monkey’s and the ever present peacock.

Spotted Deer

After we got back it was time for breakfast then, later that morning it was out again to do a bit of bird watching, unfortunately as it was late morning it was quite hot so other than the smaller birds there weren’t that many to see, however I did get to take a picture of a BLACK DONGLE that stayed sat in a tree long enough.

Black Dongle

We did get to see a couple of different varieties of Woodpecker, Peacocks and the oh so brightly coloured Kingfisher.  Not only did I see a Jackal heading out in the morning I actually saw it coming back in from its day out as it crossed over the bridge by the watering hole.

Jackal

As the program at MACHAN is rotated every 2 days our evening consisted of the Local Farmers Dance followed by a BBQ again consisting of pork and chicken.

DAY 219 (Thursday 08 March 2012)

Well we were up at 0600 hrs this morning and were giving a drink of tea and coffee before we headed out on our Elephant Safari.

Our Elephant for the Safari

We saw plenty of deer, a jungle cat (no not a tiger), not only did we hear but we also saw plenty of peacocks, but also no rhino or tiger this morning, however we did get to see a tiger pawprint in the mud down at the side of a bank where the rider of the elephant believes it was passing through.

Tiger Paw Print

As we were out so early when we got back it was time for breakfast before our briefing on the elephant which was at 1030 hrs.  The briefing was good even though it was hard to understand the briefer at times, however, Charlie and I were the only ones in the group that wanted to get on the elephant by the way of using their trunk.

 

Charlie getting on the elephant

Getting on the elephant by the means of the trunk was quite an experience because as soon as you had your foot on the trunk the elephant literally threw you up onto its head before you even had a time to think about it.  After doing this and feeding the elephant its morning snack of sandwiches which were made up of leaves and other stuff that was inside the leaves that they normally eat it was time to head down to the river to bathe the elephant.

There were 3 other people that were in our group but they didn’t go in the water with the elephant so it was just me and Charlie.  I was actually quite surprised as to how warm and clear the river was and with the clarity of the water I was happy with as crocodiles swim in the river that we went to.

I even had the chance to ride the elephant out of the river back onto the bank before getting dried off and footwear changed prior to heading back to MACHAN for our lunch.

After lunch we were doing a village walk, but to be honest with you that wasn’t really my cup of tea, I was more interested in seeing animals not people.

The evening consisted of a slide show presentation of the Park and Animals and there was an amazing picture of a tiger splashing into the river that another visitor took when they were here.

Again after our evening meal which consisted of their local curry, it was time for bed as we were up early again in the morning, but this time it will be to do a nature walk.