Langbouche no more

I had a really bad day yesterday, spent 2 days in langboche with not so much as a print which is fine, it’s part of tracking animals, especially illusive ones. But then I went all the way to Thame with the intention of going to Thangmo, a small town 3 hours west of Thame to find a carcass that someone said was eaten by wolves. When I got there, I was told that there were no sightings of wolves which was weird because 2 people told me that they had heard that wolves were sighted.

I turned around and headed back to Arya where I have been seeing all the prints, except this time I decided to walk the east ridge up the valley rather than walking the west ridge where the trail is. There was good and bad that came from that idea. The good was that I found fresh prints heading down so finally I’ve now discovered their route. I left the night vision camera well hidden in a spot that I do believe I’ll get a good shot of her and hopefully with her small posse, when they return from a hunt. The trail then disappeared as I had to navigate my way through shrub, thorns, and landslides on the steep slopes; it was slippery and full of scree. I was hungry, tired and I became more and more angry. By nightfall I hadn’t a clue where I was; I was dripping with sweat and by now I hated myself beyond words. I was angry at everything and everyone, the wolves, myself, and then just life in general. I keep hoping that good things would happen, I keep having faith that I will succeed in something but again, it’s one failure after the other.

I eventually got to the lodge around 9pm, jumped on my computer (what was left of the battery) and distracted my thoughts with making changes to the script “Waiting on the devil”. It was a hard night. I could feel I had done some damage to myself internally, I couldn’t sleep and when eventually I did, I had strange dreams. One dream involved me with a group of friends. I crossed the road at night somewhere where I shouldn’t have and my friends followed me. A fast BMW came speeding uncontrollably around the corner with no lights on and hit one of my friends, I don’t know who it was, I woke up as soon as it happened so I’m not sure if she lived, but judging by the speed that car was going, I can’t imagine she would have even known what hit her. There were kids with us and as soon as it happened I remember thinking “thank god it’s not a kid” I had other weird dreams but not worth mentioning.

I’m getting tired of this game with the wolves, I’ve almost had enough but my conscience won’t allow me to walk away until I know I’ve done my best. So far I know I have but I have ten more days, anything can happen. Of course, even if I do find them I won’t have time to develop story elements of the wolves but at least I’ll have a completed documentary of “the man who cried wolf”. If I don’t find them, I guess I’ll be back next spring. At least I can leave most of my equipment here and just trek down with one bag and the drone and the tripod. It’s going to be back breaking but I’m not doing the trip twice so I’ll just take it slow.

Today I have found her tracks much higher up heading downwards with 2 pack members, which match the tracks I saw yesterday on the east ridge of the valley so now her route is confirmed, and I know more or less where her den is. It’s somewhere in an area as long as a football field, wether it’s one den or many is something I’m yet to find out but at least I’m closing in. I obviously don’t want to get too close because she has a pup with her or at least a juvenile. The print is smaller than hers and she wouldn’t take a pup on a hunt but certainly she would a juvenile.

A juvenile is still young enough for her to get aggressive about if I accidentally ran into them so now it gets tricky. Ive had an encounter once with a leopard and a juvenile in South africa when I almost landed up with a mother leopard on my lap. A camera saved my life but I was filming from a landrover. Here I'm on foot completely exposed to the elements and completely alone. I think if I bumped into her and her posse, i'd be in a bit of trouble.

There’s a bitter wind out and I really don’t feel like going out tonight, but I need to keep reminding myself that "As a boy, this is the kind of adventure I would have killed for so let’s not forget that Ryan". I’m almost sorry I left the night vision camera lower down but hopefully it captures something. I know she will return iether tonight or tomorrow night and when they reunite with the rest of the pack they generally make some noise, no different to humans really, but that’s what I’m listening for. A few moments of noise will allow me to pinpoint the den.

Tonight, is the first night that I ate myself full; it wasn’t even that much food but maybe my stomach has shrunk somewhat. I usually always feel a little hungry after I’ve eaten but I have to ration my food otherwise it won’t last. I guess I put too much pasta in the water in the dark but it’s ok, today was a hard day and tomorrow is also going to be hard. I trekked from the tent at high altitude back to the lodge, grabbed some batteries for the night vision camera, and then walked all the way down to Thame to check the camera. There was nothing on it unfortunately but I did put it in a better place. I put it so that the wolves have to pass it, there’s no going around, I basically made a channel and I know they will go through because there’s thorns on either side of the channel. Unless the red lights from the night vision camera scares them and they back up, but by then I would have gotten something on camera.

I then tracked back all the way up to Arya lodge, grabbed the drone then trekked back to high altitude where my tent is, packed up the tent in the dark and moved another km or so higher. I have to keep nudging along this ridge until I pick up something. I know they're here somewhere, I can feel it. Tomorrow I have to fly the drone to get some final shots, then wrap everything up, and go down to the lodge. It takes about 2 hours to get to the lodge but then I have to take the drone to Namche; that’s a full day trek. I also need a few supplies and I have to order a part for my car so that it will be there when I get to LA.

Last night I fell asleep looking at the half moon through my tent window but I had some pretty strange dreams. Some lady broke down so I offered her a ride, next thing I was stranded. She had taken my car from me but it broke down so we were both walking. We arrived at this farm and long story short, turns out the guy was some murderer and was putting something together in his workshop to kill us with. I woke up feeling pretty weird.

Now that I have a full belly maybe I’ll sleep better, although I have 4 drone batteries in my sleeping bag with me; I have to keep them warm or the drone won’t fly. My cell phone also sleeps with me every night so every time I turn or move I have to adjust the cell phone because it slides under me. It’s going to be great to sleep in a bed again and without having to move a bunch of batteries around. Also without being wrapped up in clothes, I absolutely hate it, maybe that’s why I don’t sleep well. But I have to stay dressed because it’s cold, and also if I hear the wolves I have to jump up and go.

When I set up camp this evening it was dark but wow, so beautiful. I felt like I was going to get snatched up by the stars. I did a long exposure and it looks awesome. It reminded me of when I was on Yacht Shandy on our way to Inhaca islands. I would sit on the stern by myself admiring the phosphorus line caused by the bouts rudder and when the dark sky blended into the dark water at night, it felt like I was flying through space... it was magical.

I’ve arrived at Namche today to get the last supplies and noticed the underneath of my feet are bleeding. During my descent trek, I felt some pain under my feet but just ignored it, now I know what it was from. I guess it's from too much walking and too much time in my boots, I’m excited to get some sun on my feet when I get to Katmandu and then again in LA. Something to look forward to... I can't wait.