“Colleagues make trips better”. This was my first trip with my colleagues since my coalition to Deerwalk. I was very excited about the trip and curious too since I had the enthusiasm to know about my colleagues and I wanted to know about the flora, fauna, the culture and the ethnicity of the place we were going to visit.
On November 23, Saturday, the Hiking Club organized a day hike from Shivapuri National Park to Nagi Gumba. We gathered on the premises of the Deerwalk complex at 8:30 am to begin our second hiking experience. We were very excited about the hike. Our bus departed at 8:45 am with 16 Grade XI students, a teacher and 4 Hiking Club Members of Grade Xll.
Multiple thoughts kept leaping through our minds as we eagerly looked forward to the two-day hike to the Australian Base Camp (ABC). Before the two-day hike began, the changing weather was challenging us with heavy rainfall, but the morning started very beautifully. In the morning, the weather was extremely cold. Everyone was shivering as well as excited at the same time. The journey began after we left the Deerwalk complex at about 6:30 am. Everything was perfect. We started our journey with mesmerizing views of natural scenes, along with happy faces, and on top that with some entertaining music.
This was my first 2-day hike, and this was also my first trip to Jiri. Since Jiri was quite far away, we all gathered early at dawn and started off our trip. We stopped at Banepa at about 7:30 am and had some breakfast. From there, we started our long drive in the Winger. The weather was clean and fresh. We could see beautiful mountains and hills on our way. We stopped at Sindhuli for a while to take some pictures from the top. At about 12 pm, we reached Manthali, where we had our lunch. From there we climbed uphill to reach our final destination. The road to Jiri was on maintenance. In many places, bulldozers had dug the road and made it difficult to drive. Because of the road condition, we were late when we reached Jiri. It was about 5 pm. We decided to hike for at least an hour that day, so we started our hike of a few kilometers before reaching Jiri. That night we were all exhausted due to long travel. So, we decided to stay in our hotel and hike the next morning.
The first question that comes to mind when we hear ‘Australian Base Camp’ is if the camp’s in Australia. Pfff no it’s in Nepal.
We started early at around 6 am from Kathmandu, had breakfast in Malekhu and reached the outskirts of Pokhara by 12 noon before being stopped by the Armed Police Force. We were told that due to the local elections, the traffic will be allowed to pass by only after 5 pm. Right at that moment, we all thought that our trip had already ended.
“Oh, it was mesmerizing to see the morning sunlight spread over the snow-covered mountains. In that ecstatic moment, we felt as if the rhapsodic mountains were calling each one of us out loud.”
It was a cold Saturday morning on November 30, 2019—the day for the Squad D DeerClean II. However, it wasn’t cold enough for the volunteers of Squad D to put the effort into Corporate Social Responsibility initiative—started last year by Deerwalk wherein a group of Deerwalkers clean a government school with the goal of providing a neat and tidy environment for the students who are in dire need.
For the Deerclean on 16th November, our destination was Adarsha Kanya Niketan Higher Secondary School, located at Mangal Bazar, Patan, Lalitpur. This was my first experience participating as a volunteer for Deerclean. We reached Mangal Bazar at around 7:00 A.M in the morning. All the required equipment like aprons, buckets, mops, brushes, brooms, gloves, and masks were brought to the school.
A day hike was organized by the Hiking club of DSS+2 on November 16, 2019, for Grade XII students. As per the plan, our hike started from Panauti passing through Naya Gaon to Phulchowki and down to Godawari. Everyone was instructed to gather in the Deerwalk Complex by 7:20 am sharp. Our bus left the premises at 8 am with 19 students and 2 teachers.
On Saturday, November 9, 2019, Deerwalk Services Pvt. Ltd. organized its annual picnic at Godavari Village Resort. It was a misty Saturday morning at the height of autumn, and as the Deerwalk shuttles lumbered up a worn-out Godavari street, all of us were already giddy with the prospect of the upcoming excitement. When we reached the venue, a mild sun had risen, and the mist was already fading away. A bunch of outdoor patio umbrellas with tables and chairs spread along with the lawn. A buffet table was also laid out in one corner. We kicked off the most-awaited moment with a small but mouthwatering breakfast of tea/coffee, cookies, and sandwiches—ambrosia for our hungry bodies.
