Samikshya Gautam After two days of informative and wonderful IT4D conference event, came the day of fun filled and adventurous hiking. I reached Deerwalk premise at around 8.45 am and had breakfast with the hiking team. At 9.43 am, we boarded the bus and took off with full of excitement and thrill. We reached Sankhu at 10.58 am, carried our bags and started the beautiful and adventurous hiking journey to Jaharsingh Pauwa. The team was led by Surendra sir and hiking was going quite well when the adventure actually started after he got confused on the path and the team got separated. It was actually kind of ‘into the wild’ type of situation then as we had to make our way through the dense forest.

The situation got even scary when we faced the problem of leech in our skin. Thanks to Samjhana who had bought salt to get rid of leech.

The situation got even scary when we faced the problem of leech in our skin. Thanks to Samjhana who had bought salt to get rid of leech. After walking for around 5 hours, we reached Jaharsingh Pauwa where the bus was waiting for us. After all the team members arrived, we boarded the bus again and headed towards Lapsiphedi. We reached the resort, freshened up and took some rest. Everyone was tired and hungry after such a long walk. All the hiking team got seated together and started conversations. We were then served with delicious snacks and drinks. After some snacks and rest, we had lunch. As we took long time during hiking, we didn’t get the chance to stay for long in the resort. So once everyone had their lunch and a little rest, we were set to go back to Kathmandu. We boarded the bus one more time and headed back to Kathmandu. It was really fun while returning back. We sang songs and danced in the bus despite having very little space. Dr. Gokul Bhandari sir also joined us and made the journey more interesting. We finally reached the Deerwalk complex at around 8 pm. Everyone thanked each other and left but the journey didn’t stop for me. I had the opportunity to sit, have a conversation and drink a cup of tea with professors Dr. Gokul sir, Dr. Rudra sir, Hitesh dai and others. It was really memorable day for me as not only did I had the most amazing hiking of my life, but also got on opportunity to know people of various fields and got to learn a lot of things. 

Tanis Thapa My father (Devinder Thapa) invited me to hike together with his crew from the IT4D conference, this event was put together by the nice and welcoming people from the deerwalk association. Naturally, exploring the nature has always been something that I’ve been fascinated by therefore I accepted the offer, with an eagerly expression on my face.

As I’ve hiked several times before in Norway and Sweden, I had a set expectation believing that hiking in Nepal would be very similar to those country.

As I’ve hiked several times before in Norway and Sweden, I had a set expectation believing that hiking in Nepal would be very similar to those country. However I realized after the hike that the outcome was vastly different than my expectation. So in this essay, I will briefly compare and contrast the hiking experience between Norway and Nepal. The first and the biggest difference was the terrain that we hiked on. In Norway the mountains are rocky and therefore easier to grip on and climb and there is more friction involved therefore lessening the chances of slipping or falling down and such but at the same time more demanding when it comes to using strength and requires overall more endurance. In contrast to that Nepal was more rich in mud (correct this if i’m wrong) than rocks. This led to more slippery paths and ultimately made me more focused and adaptive to the environment. It had rained not long before the hike to, therefore making it more slippery. The trees and the branches were my best friends when I came to climbing situations as I used them as tool to keep my balance well. This was a striking difference which made for a new and refreshing experience hiking. Leading on to the next point, another major difference was the presence of other creatures, whether they were tiny insects or intimidating snakes. Surprisingly the insects were the loudest and this is according to it being the mating season of the year and the females are focusing on attracting the males and vice versa. In contrast to this Norway is more peaceful and encountering other wildlife is very difficult as they lack variety in species of different animals and they are very shy. In fact there is more chance of finding another human being then an animal. Finally the last and the biggest difference are the existence of the annoying leeches. This was a completely new experience for me and it was my very first encounter. Despite me not being afraid of them I had to regularly check for them as it would sting and itch once they bit and sucked me. Despite this being a minor substance for people who are used to hiking here in Nepal, it’s a pretty funny difference. To conclude this short essay, This was an amazing and refreshing event organized by Deerwalk community. I delivered it every way packing out an amazing experience, and it gave me a new look in Nepal’s natural beauty. This is something I would definitely like to try again and I definitely didn’t regret my decision of going with my father. The people in this event were amazing and very fun to talk to. They taught me many things about nepal and even met someone who was from the very same village as my dad. If it was possible I would maybe apply for internship later if the subject still interests me, and Finally thanks to everyone in the deerwalk community for organising this immersive and fun event.