First Stop…Nepal

Heading out from the U.S., the first stop was Nepal.  Flying into Kathmandu, I, Jennifer, first met with Shambu to drop off some C Pods (acoustic recording devices) for his research that have been generously donated by Chelonia Limited. Acoustic recorders can be useful to collect data on dolphin presence because they will record the sounds the dolphins make as they move past the recorder. This works especially well in a small body of water like a river, because basically if the dolphin moves along the stretch of river where the recorder is, it will pick up the sounds they make. One of the issues for all dolphin research is that it costs a lot of money to go out in a boat and look for animals. Having a device to be there when you are not, collecting data for you, can be invaluable.

C Pod Acoustic recorder (Wordpress.com)

Shambu Paudel in
Kathmandu, Nepal
(JLewis, TDRF)

Shambu and I had lunch and then I headed to Bardya National Park where I will meet with Gopal and spend the next few days following him for the film.

The Karnali river system is probably the only system left in Nepal where the Ganges river dolphins still exist. Part of this river system borders the Bardya National Park. So it makes sense to stay in this region while working on the river, which was our hope during this leg of my trip.

Map of Nepal. The Karnali is in the west.