Visual Stories
Away from the dust bowl
Life in Kathmandu, which is both polluted and perennially crowded, can be exhausting.Prakash Chandra Timilsena
Life in Kathmandu, which is both polluted and perennially crowded, can be exhausting. Today, we find ourselves wishing for clean air and clear skies more than ever before. And yet, we forget that we can find it all, a hop and a skip away in the Valley’s own outskirts.
A couple of weeks ago, just before the warm summer air arrived, I made a chance hike to Chisapani. The Chisapani trail is one of the most fulfilling one or two-day hikes in the Capital’s vicinity. Located in the Shivapuri National Park—that boasts not just wildlife but quaint human settlements within—the trail takes you through an amazing cultural and natural experience that serves as the perfect break from the city.
The villages on the trail are yet untouched by the frenzy of a life in the city. The locals lead such simple lifestyle that they make coexisting with the nature without covering it in a blanket of pollution look so effortless.
It is only after you see the mountains up close after an arduous climb uphill that you realise Kathmandu once used to be a green, airy city sky-lined by hills and mountains, the last vestiges of which can now only be experienced once you’re up and away from our dustbowl Valley.
TEXT & PHOTOS: Prakash Chandra Timilsena