Over Easter I went with 32 other Scouts to Nepal. It was the best experience of my life
so far. I spent 3 weeks in a country completely different to Britain and faced lots of
challenges.
The first part of the adventure was in Chitwan, a nature reserve in the south of Nepal.
Here we paddled in dug-out canoes in a crocodile infested river, rode in oxen carts to several
local villages and even bathed with elephants. I especially enjoyed bathing the elephants because
they would tip us into the water from their backs. On one of our elephant rides, we saw the
endangered one-horned rhino, peacocks, water buffalo and other interesting animals. It was my first
experience of real jungle.
The main part of the trip was the trek in the Himalayan Mountains. We spent 10
days in the Annapurna Conservation Area climbing up to Machhapuchhre Base Camp at 3700m and our
ultimate goal - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 4130m. At this altitude the air is much thinner so it
is more difficult to breathe. We had fantastic 360 degree views of the mountains and it was an
amazing experience camping on small plateaus surrounded by gigantic snow-capped mountains. It was a
challenging climb, but I got a huge sense of achievement reaching 'ABC'.
After the trek we went white-water rafting on the Seti River, which I really
enjoyed. It was another challenge as I had never done anything like that before. Going down
one rapid, we got stuck in rocks and had to force ourselves out whilst our raft was filling with
water! Although we got soaked, we soon dried in the hot sun.
Back in Kathmandu, we did some sight seeing and visited a school set up by EPHC
(Education, Protection and Help for Children). This was one of the main reasons for our trip. EPHC
provides education for street children and teaches them English so they can work in Nepal’s
staple industry, tourism. We gave the school some English books we had brought from home as
well as some clothes and toys. It was great to see the children’s smiling faces and we spent
time in their classrooms talking and playing games with them. It was also very interesting to see
the extension to the school building that had been made possible by our scout fundraising.
My Nepal trip has been a once in a lifetime experience that I will keep with me
forever. It was amazing to see such a different country, culture and way of life and to have had
the chance to make a difference.