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Nine Days in Khaptad

September 18, 2008

I will never forget my “adventure” this summer. I endured a lot of hardship whilst experiencing immense joy at the same time. It might sound strange but that is what happened to me. I spent about nine days without any electricity, proper food, a proper place to stay or any clean drinking water and bathrooms. The place I am talking about is called Khaptad, a very beautiful place situated in a remote part of Western Nepal. Khaptad is also known as "The Mini Switzerland" of Nepal.

We traveled to Khaptad for two primary reasons. First was to serve the people that call this place home and the second was to enjoy its natural beauty. Although Khaptad is only about 900 kilometers West of Kathmandu, due to the lack of transportation and inaccessibility of this hilly region it was extremely difficult reaching there.

A team of highly qualified doctors from Kathmandu, including my father (leader of the expedition), had gone to Khaptad to conduct a three-day health camp. Since the people of this place are so far from health facilities, my father decided to conduct a camp for their benefit. My father also wanted me to experience something worthwhile, so instead of just lazing around, I joined the team as well! The health camp was a success in itself, but the experiences I went through during those nine days is what I learned through this trip.

We had bus access till a place called Doti. Then we had to hike for about one and a half days to reach the camp spot. Since we could only afford transportation by bus (taking all the equipment by helicopter would have been too expensive) it took us two days to reach Doti in the first place. So in total it took us about three and a half days to reach the camp spot.

Khaptad is about 10,000 ft above sea level, whereas Doti is about 4,500 ft above sea level. So the experience of climbing almost 5,500 ft through deep mud, daunting jungles and continuous wild rainfall with limited food and water was what made this experience so harsh yet unique. The bags were so heavy that my shoulders would be numb during the nights. We spent the first night on our way to Khaptad in a small village with only about half a dozen houses. We had to sleep in the open with rain trickling down our faces and a chilly breeze blowing into our sleeping bags. We had also hired many porters to carry the medicines and tents that would be needed for the health camp Khaptad.

When we finally reached Khaptad it was like 9 p.m., the fourth day since we began. Since it is such an isolated place we could find nothing proper to eat that night and we had to make do with packed food. Even more unfortunate was when we did not have a place to sleep. There was only one guest house with only two rooms. About 15 to 20 people had to sleep in a room that night. It was really frustrating for doctors who were used to living with so many facilities and modern amenities in Kathmandu to have to go through such an unpleasant situation. However, the more important duty was to serve the needy and the sick people of that place so the doctors did not complain about what they had to go through. Instead they were happy that they could contribute something for the good of the local people. During the next three days we conducted the health camp and the doctors with the help of other medical personnel treated hundreds of people. We also went around Khaptad to observe a very beautiful and naturally blessed place.

The view of lush green fields stretching many miles in all directions with Sal trees as far as one could see was stunning. This place is very strange; one can spot rainfall and fog at one end of the horizon whereas there might be scorching sun at the other. The weather is subject to change at any instant! This is also one of the reasons why Khaptad is so famous. It was all like going through a very pleasant dream and some of the things I saw I cannot even put to words. All in all, I am really glad that I visited such a place and also managed to help in some small way the people who live there.

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