Dave the Nomad

Pokhara, hub of the Annapurna circuit trail, home to picturesque views and Tibetan refugees, is the last destination my Dad and I will share in our world travels. In the early 70s Pokhara wasn’t a hot tourist destination, there was hardly a speck of the tourism hub it has become. While talking with my Dad before leaving he told me about one particular day he was walking around a nearby field and happened to hear a waterfall in the distance. To his surprise he found the hole where the river vanished underground. He couldn’t tell how deep it was to the bottom, but said it was something he wished he could have investigated in more depth.

I’ve been in Pokhara for several days, and after detoxing from the Kathmandu pollution, I was ready to take on some adventurous hiking. I was holding out for the clouds to dissipate in order to have a great view of the Annapurna Himalaya Range at sunrise. Today was my last day in town, so I decided I would finally go even if I didn’t have a good view. I casually mentioned I was walking up to the World Peace Pagoda to watch sunrise to a young women, An, I met the night before. She asked if she could join me as they advise women against walking there alone due to theft problems. I told An I was going to take the boat across the lake at 6 am, not knowing if she would be up for an early morning start.

I arrived at the boat terminal a few minutes late to find An sitting on the steps waiting for me. We hired a canoe to take us to the trailhead, and were silently paddled across the tranquil lake. The hike to the pagoda was harder than I expected, considering I was just trekking at high altitude for nearly two weeks. We walked around the peace pagoda in true peace as we were too early for the young hawkers, but sadly only a tiny glimpse of the mountain peaks was visible. I told An I wanted to see the waterfalls my Dad had described on the other side of the hill, and she said she would join me for the exploring. As I had come to find out, the waterfalls have become a major attraction, named after a Mrs. Devis who fell down them in the 1960s bathing just upstream of them. We also found out there was a cave across the street you could enter to see behind the falls.

An and I decided to check out the cave first, and then walk over to the falls. We were ushered down a corridor lined with shopkeepers selling us a wide variety of Tibetan handicrafts and other assorted souvenirs. The cave entrance was a manicured concrete descent into the limestone below, but the ticket salesman said there was no power now for lights. It happened that both of us had flashlights with us. After a few moments of staring at our flashlights in disbelief, we were allowed to enter. A wedding procession started to come down as we entered, at which point I guess they had enough business to warrant firing up the generator and our flashlights weren’t needed by the time we were in the cave.

There are two parts to the cave, the first being a stalagmite in the shape of Shiva where pictures were not allowed, and the second part the steps down behind Devis Falls, where we were free to carouse. As we went into the cave we were told to go under a sign that said, “Cow Shadow,” politely we started winding into a small spiraling walkway until reaching the center where an attendant sat with a small box. He explained to us that this lignam was a place worshipers gave offerings of milk, and now we could do the same for 10 Rs…. except the new technicolor advanced version of this involved buying a small marble which the attendant dropped down a tube. This would cause the multi-colored lights in the ceiling to light up, and more importantly spout milk out of the udders of a plastic cow about 4 feet in height. Content with the ridiculous proposition, we made a high-tech milk offering, but no milk came out with the 5 second light and sound show. The attendant dropped a few more marbles with no luck, grabbed a small wire crawled under the cow and started clearing the udders until milk came out and he was shouting, “See! See! Milk Offering! Milk! Milk!” As respectfully as possible we left the winding “cow shadow” to get on with the cave tour.

Unsurprising, the Shiva Stalagmite was less spectacular, and we quickly took off for the bottom of the falls. The cave was simple, but the crevice where the falls peaked out with a beam of sunlight was spectacular. I found it ironic that after so many miles of traveling, I was looking at the same falls as my Dad from about the most opposite side possible. I waded out in the calf deep shallows and looked up as high as possible at the falls. After sitting and enjoying the cool cave temperatures and calm pools, my curiosity got the better of me, and we decided to check out an unlit part of the cave.

As we were marveling at the reappearance of the river below us, several pools of water were being scoped out by some locals. They were spotting a fish and loudly whispering back and forth. We saw some more people up another section with flashlights and decided to check it out. The two men we had just seen came by us and asked if we wanted to explore the cave, and we said, “Yes, but how far does it go?” They told us it was about 1.5 km and “outside new exit, no inside return.” They also had a backpack filled with candles and flashlights and quickly upgraded our lights as we started to climb through the cave.

As we continued, they kept spotting fish with their lights, the older guy constantly was running ahead of us and shouting to his friend. They were fascinated with the fish, some of which were easily 3 to 4 feet in length. It took some prodding but we eventually found out they come here to catch fish for food. We laughed and kept walking until we started to hear the bats.

After a few more minutes of walking we could see the cave entrance, and the massive bat colony which was occupying the heightened alcove of the cave. Noticing the guano covered floor I consciously kept my head down until we got to clear ground before looking up. There were so many bats flying around, they had made their own air current…which sadly kept wafting the acrid smell of the guano to my nose. We finally pressed through the colony and into the open air which was surrounded by high unstable cliffs. We took the moment while actually looking face to face to make introductions and ask them a few questions.

The older man, Bukun, has lived in the Tibetan Settlement near the falls since 1962. He doesn’t even speak Nepali well, and relied on Golinda to translate. Golinda is a Pokhara native who owns a nearby shop, and had a good command of English. He told us he was happy to show us the cave since he knows it, and didn’t want us to explore on our own and possibly be lost without any light. I asked Golinda how they went fishing, he responded by reaching into his ever trusty bag and pulling out a sickle. He told us they sit by the edge and wait for them to get close enough, or try to corner them. Certainly a different style of fishing, but apparently effective enough to keep them coming back to the cave every week or so.

Content with our trusty guides, we started to hike out of the river overflow. They, like the tourists at the cave entrance don’t go inside the caves during the monsoon season, which has spectacularly carved the loose soil and limestone around us. As we hiked out, An slipped off the steep trail. Golinda grabbed her wrist as she fell, and I turned around in time to help pull her up as she had no footing below her. We slowed down our pace for the rest of the climb up and emerged at the far end of the Tibetan Settlement.

The Tibetan Settlement here is vastly different from when my Dad visited it, instead of being fenced off from the Nepali population with nothing to do, they had a functional school, housing, and were allowed to interact with others while trading handicrafts. After a brief stop at Golinda’s shop for some refreshments, Bukun insisted we come see his home. He pointed to the H#60 above his doorway as we were ushered into the living room. An felt compelled to buy some things in return for their hospitality and saving her at the cliff’s edge, so some handicrafts were bought and we sat in Bukun’s living room with his son. Bukun’s son, Prabhu was timid at first, but we bonded over the football on TV and his Michael Jordan jersey. Once he became comfortable with our presence he showed us his sketches, football clippings, athletic certificates, sports magazines, and American pop lyrics. After looking at school certificates for ten minutes he started playing Enrique Inglesias’ Greatest Hits for us. Prabhu and his sister Dawa were great athletes and two of the smartest children in school; Bukun had a proud smile on his face. We were happy to visit Bukun’s family, but knew it was time to depart from H#60.

Our final stop was the top of Devis Falls. Nowadays it would be hard to stumble upon the falls as there is an admission gate, gardens, and wishing well. I wandered down the concrete path and marveled at the waterfall as it disappeared below us. My natural reaction was to lean over the side of the railing as far as I could; much like when I was 4 years old at the zoo again, desperately wanting to see more, …. except this time I knew what was at the bottom.

An and I went back to town and sat on the edge of the lake to watch sunset over a once again calm and peaceful lake. Watching men set fishing nets and tourists landing after paragliding, I was sad to see such a place tainted with concrete and gasping tourists. I suddenly started thinking of all the attractions I have seen on my trip and started to wonder what they looked like before we made them into the monstrosities they have become… I relaxed and realized how beautiful this place still was. I was still in disbelief of the adventure we had today, but with some fear of my own adventure in the cave being exploited in future years I hope others will caution themselves to keep similar small adventures small and off the pages of guidebooks and tourist maps. Today would not have been such a perfect day without the genuine help of the underground fishermen.

PS Ive been able to finally upload some videos from my trip. Check more of them out on the Photos/ Video tab!