Champawat

A little while ago (man I’m bad at keeping this thing up to date!) I ventured up to the mountain city of Champawat, and what an experience that was! Along with Kelsey (Canadian girl), Rick Shipway and the farm manager Eugene, we took a three hour drive through the mountains to reach the town. It’s a huge winding way around mountain after mountain, up and down. At one point we were going up and then suddenly we were descending to the most magnificent valley I have ever seen. This drive was picture perfect India. The mountains with layers built into them for farming, complimented by incredible greenery and tiny houses scattered across the mountains.


One village we passed the kids have to walk 10km up the hill every day to go to school, as do the adults if they need to go shopping or anything else. What a life that would be! So secluded from everyone, unless you take a 10 km hike! Another town built onto the side of the mountain was a ghost town! A couple of years ago a bus carrying soldiers fell off the side of the cliff just across from this village and at night the villagers said they became so frightened of the screaming and loud noises that the soldiers spirits would make, they abandoned the village altogether. Now the hoses just lay in ruin, but still during the day people come to farm the land. Insane what superstition will do to people. The roads are extremely dangerous, very narrow and slippery especially during the monsoon. As we were driving we saw how the roads had just been washed away by the rock slides and flooding. Rebuilding is a constant happening on this road with men and bulldozers scattering the roads all the way up! Last year a bus carry 40 passengers rolled off the side of these huge cliffs, such an incredible tragedy…

From a lookout in these hills we could see the mountains in Nepal, and the river line that separates India and Nepal. Such incredible beauty!

Past this is Nepal

Eugene, Kelsey, Me and Rick

This road is where the bus fell off the edge at..

The ghost village