Prabin Gyawali Finally, the day had come for my first hike from Deerwalk. It was Saturday, August 18, 2018 and I was so excited to hike from Kalanki, Kulekhani to Markhu along Kulekhani Dam. Despite of heavy rain in the morning our hiking schedule wasn’t affected. Around 7 AM, deerwalk van departed from office premises. I joined the hike team from Tripureshwor and felt a warm welcome from everyone. Most of the members were picked on the way until we reached to Balkhu. So our real journey starts from Balkhu. Being with my colleagues for the first time in the hike was fabulous for me. The environment inside Van was ecstatic. Anib was playing different songs and Kamal Dai was relating those songs with real life. This moment was awesome. We stopped at Pharping to have some breakfast. After a while we continued our journey by singing songs, cracking jokes and clicking the picture. We were so pleased to see Pear trees beside the road containing lots of Pear.

We were so pleased to see Pear trees beside the road containing lots of Pear.

Finally, we reached to the Kalanki, Kulekhani which was the starting point of our Hike. We grabbed our things and started hiking. We were so happy to discover nature’s beauty. After a while we felt like the beauty of nature have a profound effect upon our senses, those gateways from the outer world to the inner, whether it results in disbelief in its very existence such as awe, wonder, or amazement. Despite of muddy road due to heavy rain we continued our hiking. Dense forest, small rivers and sky reflection on Kulekhani dam were making our hike more interesting. Suddenly we found some leeches stuck on some of our friend’s feet. We were surprised to find leech at that location. We became more careful and continued our hiking. Around 2 o`clock we reached to Markhu. All of us were extremely hungry so we decided to have lunch. Food was delicious and taste of local fish was unforgettable, absolutely delicious like often we say mouthwatering. When we were about to climb to One tree hill, weather started to change suddenly. Due to this reason, we couldn’t climb to one tree hill which really disappointed us. But we didn’t want to spoil our precious moment so, we went nearby places and started sightseeing. We also went to hanging bride above the Kulekhani reservoir. The bridge was so perfectly placed above the lake which made us to feel relaxed. We spent some time over a bridge and took group pictures as well. We left Markhu around 4 o’clock. While returning we saw school kids returning to home. I don’t know why they ran away from us at the beginning, when we called them, but later on they came near to us. They were so happy when we gave them Dairy and Pen which were provided by Deerwalk. We distributed diary and pen on two more locations on the way. This hiking was truly a remarkable experience. Thanks Sanjaya for such a nice coordination and to all the members for the precious memories. Lastly, I would like to suggest all to visit Markhu at least once. Trust me, you won’t regret it.