Quest for the Bon Manchi

“…the name given to the wild men varies according to the area. The Chitrali call them Jangali Mosh ('man of the forest, wild man'). The name Almasti ('the one who eats a lot') is rare. The most common name in the South is the word Barmanu ('the strong or muscular man') and is etymologically close to the Hindi word Ban Manus, meaning 'Man of the forest'… “- Jordi Magraner, North Pakistan Expedition


The Quest Begin

After countless black americanos with Himalayan veteran Robin Banerjee, in a coffee bar in Esplanade area of Kolkata, it was finally happening. We were off to North Sikkim for yet another adventure of the unknown. An exploration trek was ahead of us in the uncharted catchments of the upper Ringi Chu valley. In to a great valley guarded by the Eastern flanks of a so called beauty- Siniolchu and Lama Ongden, the mountain in meditation. Only this time our goal was not reaching a summit or crossing a high mountain pass. This time our goal was elusive. This time we would follow myths, old lamas’ tales, legends, folklores and some first hand accounts of locals among some of North Sikkim unseen or less known valleys, ridges, glaciers.

Escaping the hectic, humid Kolkata (used to be called ‘Calcutta’) is always a pleasure. A 12 hour overnight train and a good 5 hour drive on the Himalayan Mountain roads took us to Burtuk, in the outskirts of Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. Everything started to cool down after an evening in Burtuk. We were hosted by friends Binuka Dungmali and Karma Lepcha. Karma works for the Sikkim Police department while his wife Binuka is a school teacher in the village of Bay (the last village on way to Tholung Monastery) in Dzongu. After a few rounds of Tyongba (a mildly alcoholic warm drink made from using ‘kodo’ millets), everything started to fall in to their respective places. I could see clearly now. I could think straight and I could plan the job ahead. This is what I call detoxification. Detoxification of one’s soul from the toxins of our mundane lives (well...if we can call it a life!). It was not just the drink, you see, it’s the fresh mountain air, the thought that we will be away from the social toxins for the next few weeks, had their synergistic effect on me. And I was ready!




Dzongu: the Lepcha territory

The next step was a drive. A drive to Mangan, the district head quarters of North Sikkim. 3 hours on dusty, bumpy, winding roads and we were in Mangan bazaar. The area where we were venturing in to is locally known as Dzongu. And to enter we needed a special permit, yes, even for us Indians! A few hours passed, and we had that invaluable piece of paper called the “Permit”! We were all relieved as without that piece of paper our adventure could very well end in Mangan bazaar. Sharing our joy of relief was Zamyong Lepcha. Zamyong, an old friend is the son of Bhutia Tsering Lepcha. I knew Zamyong from the 2 previous visits to this valley, in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Bhutia Tsering is the head master of Lingzya village school, our road head for the trek up Ringi Chu Valley.

Some shopping in the Mangan bazaar and we were off in Zamyong’s jeep towards Lingzya village. To drive 25 kms took 1 hour. It was like returning home. The warmth in our host’s hearts reflected in their hospitality. Next morning after a hearty breakfast, we were ready to take on 20 km uphill track up to Tholung Gompa. A long & sweaty day, starting from less than msl 4000ft. at the end of the day we were at 8160ft. 7 hours later we left Lingzya we reached the ancient monastery of Tholung. Had a very interesting afternoon spent with the Head Lama; popularly called as “Myong Thiung”. In Lepcha language Myong Thiung means the ‘Old Man of the Village’. Our Myong Thiung is actually a very high priest in the Gyelukpa sect in entire Sikkim.

Sips of ‘Chhang’ and stories dating back decades infused enough mystery and charm immediately into our drinks and to the unknown days ahead.
Our discussions moved around Yeti to Wildman, Migou to Bon Manchi.
From unknown Zumthul Phuk river catchments to Kishong la. At night, before hitting the sack, I was lost in thought. I thought and wondered about the Valley we were about to explore and what lay ahead. Needless to mention that I only fantasized about nice rewarding experiences to come and no misadventures at all!

The Plan Divine

Talung - the name itself is fascinating. It brings an air of the unknown. The mystery; the thrill; the magnetism; the challenge of the unknown. Perhaps that’s why we were there. The Zumthul Phuk Glacier, which only exists on a map. Kishong la, a rarely visited high mountain pass! Tholung Gompa- an eighteenth century Buddhist Monastery where ancient relics of Guru Rimpoche is protected along with a mummy of a dead King! Of Lama Ongden (also spelled Lama Angden), the mountain that crowns the head of the valley overlooks the pristine Kishong Lake, in meditation for ever. Everything seemed like parts of a divine plan! Next morning, the sky was clear. We trekked thorough real dense greenery. The jungle became more and more awe inspiring. It seemed as if it kept so many secrets from us. We the tiny dots soon became refreshing blood suppliers to the thousands of leeches. Tell you what; these blood thirsty creatures did not fit in my divine plan at all! No way!


After 4½ hours we reached Temrong and soon we crossed a log bridge on Zumthul Chu and found our nights shelter in a Yak Hut (locally called as ‘goath’). Soon we had a fire going and to our extreme relief, no more leech! Thank God!

Zumthul Phuk: Of Guts and Glory

Back in Tholung Gompa, we had heard about a barrier, a big black rock wall that guards all possible entrances to the unknown Zumthul Phuk valley. The story of this “Wall” had dampened some of our spirits, but we did not give Zumthul Phuk a ‘walk over’ as yet. Because, from the maps we knew, that a big glacier exists at the head of this roaring Zumthul Chu (the word ‘chu’ means a river) and that glacier is born from the SE flanks of Siniolchu. No human being, including the Lepcha hunters of Dzongu has ever dared in to this valley! That evening Zamyong’s uncle joined us and strengthened our small team.

Next morning, we prepared ourselves with food and gear and entered the virgin forests of Zumthul Phuk. The basic idea of navigation was to stay close to the river course and go upstream. Simple it may sound; but it turned out to be an extremely dangerous and difficult affair! We crossed 19 streams as we forced our way up the true left of Zumthul Chu. We traversed numerous rock bands. Moist, damp rock bands, some of them were exposing us strait down hundreds of feet to the mighty river. And then we faced the ‘barrier’. With the very first glance at the rock wall we could chalk out a route. And we climbed that blasted rock with great zeal. The monster of the ‘barrier’ seemed to be kind to us. We peeled off thick layers of moss from the rock surface and found our foot and hand holds. It was interesting! May be that was an under statement. Doing a free climb in an uncharted territory is definitely more than just ‘interesting’! But from a rock climber’s point of view it was a scramble, not a climb (after spending a few days with Alan Tees in Donegal, North Ireland!).

For eight long hours we forced our way upstream. Sometimes tackling the wet slabs, sometimes hanging shakily from the rhododendron branches and finally building a log bridge over Zumthul Chu; we managed to reach a point from where we could see the peaks of Zumthul Phuk. I took bearings and could spot ourselves on the map. Standing on top of a big boulder on the true right bank of Zumthul Chu; we could see that how close to the snout of Zumthul Phuk we were. I took some snaps in steadily deteriorating weather and visibility. One of the members had a nasty fall and a miraculous escape from getting blown away by the cascading river. Another 5 hours, and we were all back safely in the Yak hut. A long day indeed!

What we discovered from our short adventure in Zumthul Phuk is precious! A glacier is out there, waiting for explorers and climbers to play for the very first time. The climbers or explorers whosoever they are; will of course need a load of guts to reach the glacier. And then only they can expect glory! Because all the rock faces, buttresses, gullies and at the end of it all, summits are awaiting their first ascents.

Darkness came. With it came peace. As if our aspirations also needed a bed to crash. But a big animal came very close to our shelter that night and was curious about us inside. Next morning from its droppings we could figure that it was a Himalayan Black Bear! We were glad that the bear did not decide to explore our shaky shelter! We felt like trespassers in their sanctuary. It was time to move toward our next destination- Kishong La. But we came across no Bon Manchi. No trace of him, yet!


Kishong La: The Pass of Demons and Demigods

Rain, rain, and more rain. The time we had chosen, may be was not just right! But who the hell cares; especially when you are drenched to the bones. We pushed ahead, ignoring the continuous shower. No matter what, we will give it a go! And that was it. The trail conditions worsened. Uphill all the way for 2 hours and reached small meadow called Labyok (11000ft) - an abandoned Yak Hut. Another hour of uphill struggle and we were in Thijom. Lower portions of the Dawathang Valley and a glimpse of Ringi Lama were visible. Thijom is around 12000ft. We looked beyond and a big rock wall guarded our view. It reminded me of the Great Baranco Wall of Kilimanjaro. Our route lay ahead up that giant wall. But as we approached the wall, a narrow, serpent trail appeared. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a nice walk up the wall. A steady gain of 1500 ft and we reached the alpine meadows of Thalakpe (13600ft). A night was spent in the log hut of Thalakpe. To the locals it is also known as the Kishong Hut. It was nice to be in dry clothes and enjoy a nice warm dinner by the fire.

Our senses became wide awake next morning; as we waded knee-deep icy stream of the Kishong Chu. A great green wide alp was ahead of us. An hour later we reached the camping grounds of Dikithang. We pitched our small 2 person tents beside the Yak herdsmen’s rather big camp.

Next morning, we headed for Kishong La. The higher we climbed; the weather worsened. The word ‘visibility’ sounded like a big fat joke! No point exploring, right? Wrong! We decided to move on. It was difficult to stick to the right path; especially when there isn’t any! But we managed to stay on course and after 4 hours of confusion and determination, reached Kishong La (15600ft).The cairns on the top, a gentle slope rising towards Lama Ongden and the Northern slopes rolling down to the Zemu Chu valley (towards yakthang/zaktahng). I took some useless foggy snapshots. My friend Zamyong was more than happy to be able to reach Kishong La. From this day I declare you ‘guide’; I joked. Zamyong was a proud Lepcha! He can now boast about in Mangan bazaar for the rest of his life and may be get free booze!

It was time to retrace our steps back to Dikithang camp. My tired, wet pair of legs brought me back to my tent. Soon we were all together, circling around the shepherd’s fire; sipping strong black coffee. The valley wind had risen considerably. We could hear it howling over our rolling laughter. The Shepherd’s wife said, the mountain spirits are not happy, as you humans have ventured in to the sanctum sanctorum of their temple!


A visit to the Yeti Pass

But the next statement coming from her (the shepherd’s wife) was not that easy to ignore! “There’s another mountain pass here. It’s called Mige La, very close to this Yak shed even. Migou (also spelled ‘Migoo’ or ‘Migo’ sometimes) –s used to whistle from that pass overlooking this yak shed; that’s why we shepherds have named it Mige La (‘La’ means a mountain pass in Bhotia/ Tibetan language).” And there was not a shadow of doubt or hesitation in her words when she spoke of the Migou. All the others present in the yak shed nodded to their approval. Yeti, or Migou or the Bon Manchi exists; there was no denying the fact.

Now I just learnt a couple of new things from the nomadic Shepherd’s wife. One, there exists a mountain pass in the Himalaya named after the famed Migou or Yeti. Two, Yeti’s call is like a whistling note. It may look abominable (!); but it does have a big foot!

So, next morning there I was climbing towards Mige La. Not that I was expecting to make a sudden discovery; the thought of venturing to an uncharted mountain pass was exciting enough for me. It took us two hours to reach Mige La. At an altitude of 4600m, it was snow clad in April. There we found very old cairns on top of the pass, built by the yak herdsmen. Old pile of small boulders and rocks. Old, but prominent. Visibility was as poor as it could be! In spite of that I took some pictures with the cairn and my companions Zamyong and Sukhraj. On the way down Sukhraj pointed towards a strange impression on the snow. It was not big. I thought it might be of a snow leopard, or even a bear. But my companions were quite familiar with leopard or bear pugmarks. They insisted it belonged to none other than the Migou! Well, I still don’t know what it was. But at that moment it felt nice to believe in their words. May be we should and we would come back one day soon with a scientific expedition to this area and find out. But on the way back to my tent, I realized that I have started to believe in the stories of the Shepherd’s wife.

It won’t be completely out of place if I quote another traveler’s account from the same region. Carsten Nebel who is a keen Himalayan trekker and has particular interests in less known Sikkim ranges, shares his story in an email to me. He was traveling in the same area later that year in 2006. His email is as follows:


“Hi Raja …I just realized I haven't typed in the detailed travelogue yet, so here is anad-hoc report but I'm afraid it will not help you much. Mid-November 2006 I crossed the Kishong La from the Zemu-side. I had ten porters from Lachen plus a cook from Nepal with me. We started from Yaktang (aka Zachen) and walked up the rhododendron-covered slopes. Snow became knee-high in the afternoon and we set up camp in the valley an hour before the pass. There were quite a few animal tracks around.
I went to my tent after dinner, and must have slept for an hour or so whenthe guide woke me up agitated, and told me to move the tent closer to thefire. When I asked why, he told me they heard noises and laughter from theridge above. Since no other human being is up here, it must be a yeti, hetold me. I personally did not hear any noises the entire night, and if I hadwould probably have assumed that it was just an animal. But since he wassincerely worried about me (and the crew and himself of course), I did movethe tent closer to the fire. The porters threw tsampa and salt in the fire,muttered some prayers, and did not sleep well or much that night.The next day we cleared camp, crossed the pass in deep snow and stayed inthe first hut high up in the Tholung valley. There again were many animals’tracks, but no more worries about yetis.Personally I'm very, very skeptical about yetis, but I'm sure it is worthinvestigating the area more closely, even if just to spend time up there andseeing all the wildlife. I'd love to do it myself one day, the upper Tholungvalley must be wonderful, but I guess you know that already since you spentmore time there then I did ;)If you have new information, let's stay in touch.Regards,Carsten18 November,2007”
Excerpts from Jordi Magraner’s North Pakistan Expedition
“…No animal in Chitral is able to produce such sounds. Even the jackal living in this country cannot produce such a powerful whine, and this is important. Moreover jackals howl during long periods, sometimes all night long. The whines also call to mind the moan of certain marine birds such as Laridae (gulls) or Procellaridae (Shearwaters), but no such birds live in the Kashgarian Mountains, even during migration periods. Gulls and Shearwaters keep away from forestland. The next day, shepherds who had heard the cries, maintained it was a "Forest Man" (a wild Man).”
(Note: the detailed findings of Jordi’s expedition in North Pakistan is included at the end of this article for the reader’s reference)
Tosa: a hidden haven for the Bon Manchi?
The bit of information above from the North Pakistan Expedition makes it even more interesting for my trips in North Sikkim. In June-July 2006, a friend of mine Arjun Saha from Kolkata went in to Tosa lakes region. He was scouting for our expedition which was coming up later that winter. He had quite an interesting story to share on his return from Tosa. Here are a few lines from Arjun’s journal:
"The sky became glittering blue removing the layers of cloud after the night's rain and wind. We took our way back under the soft sunlight of the morning. The returning was on the same route. When we reached Mayal Patam (a campsite and yak shelter in the Tosa Valley) we saw that, the yak shelter owner was present. A big hairy dog was accompanying him. The old man was sad. The bears had taken four of his sheep. The bears attacked his sheep during last night's storm. We spent some time in his shelter and started our journey towards Gaon-tar. We reached there in the afternoon.

Here two Goaths (Nepalese for ‘yak shelters’) are situated nearby. We took shelter at the Nepalese boy's Goath. …I don’t know when I got to sleep, but suddenly I woke up. I could see that, everybody was sleeping and the goath's door was absolutely open. Actually there was no such thing called a 'Door'. Just two wooden planks were used to block the entrance. But it was not there now. Out side was nicely visible under the soft moonlight. I could remember that the next day was ‘Laxmi Poornima’, a full moon night. I set the planks on the entrance and got into the sleeping bag. But sleeping was not being possible for me. Something strange was haunting me. As if somebody was walking outside the yak shelter. There was about one to three inches gap between the wooden planks of the goath wall. So outside was partly visible. I tried but couldn't see anything. Suddenly a loud, long whistle like sound came from the upper slopes of the forest. And after that, some short whistles started in regular intervals.

I thought that, the whistles might have been coming from the night birds of the jungle. Now sound of movements inside the goath. Figu has waked up. I could even hear voice of Tsering and Tashi. I realized that my friends were all waked like me. Have they heard anything? The wood fire was still alive. Figu poured some dhoop (incense) into it and the scent spread all over the room. I tried to sleep, but again the sound of movements outside. Some cattle of the goath owner were scattered outside the goath. I saw them in evening not interested at all to move around. Now it was midnight and cold air was blowing outside. And they would move around, was simply not acceptable. Yet I tried to see through the goath wall and saw a few of them were at a stand still. Was it a bear? Then an agitation should have come from the cattle. But nothing happened like that. So it was not a bear. Then 'who' or 'what' it was? I kept thinking and finally got asleep at late night.

When I woke up, it was morning. The kettle was set on fire. Quite naturally the incidents of the last night came into our discussion. My friends all agreed that, somebody was walking around the goath last night. Tsering's comment made me thinking .He was convinced that from the upper jungle, something or someone had walked down and circled our hut. Tsering's sense was very strong. I was very much aware of that. It was his statement that, the creature who was whistling from the jungle, invisible, walking around the goath, was nothing but 'Bon Manchi’.”
The Tosa Valley
We went in to Tosa valley twice (first during November 2006 and then in the following Christmas) and the lakes that lie at the very end of the valley. We climbed two peaks in the 4500m range near the Tosa lakes. As both were first ascents we could not resist christening them! One was called the ‘Spirit of Tosa’ as it overlooked the entire Tosa valley and the other was called ‘Jameri’. After our two visits to Tosa, I had prepared a proposal to the Government of Sikkim regarding recognizing the trekking potential there. This proposal went to the Department of Tourism and the Chief Minister’s office through my friend Karma Lepcha. I am quoting a few lines from that proposal here to give some idea of what lies there:

“The only potential trekking route in Sikkim that offers the greatest panorama of almost all the Himalayan giants located in Sikkim. While trekking to Dzongri-Goechala circuit one has to be satisfied with partial views of Kangchendzonga group of peaks only; here one can gaze at the distant Gurudongmar Range and Dongkya Range Mountains as well as the familiar Singalila Range. The trek also offers great opportunity to experience the lush green vegetation of moist, temperate forests as well as alpine meadows. From orchids to tree ferns, Tragopans to Snow Leopards the flora and fauna is rich and diverse. Starting from as low as 5000ft, one can hike up to 13000ft in about a week’s time, with plenty of camping grounds to choose from en route. Most importantly, these camping areas are free from crowding hikers, as this trail is still almost unknown; thereby making the trail a bird watcher’s and nature lovers paradise! The high point of the trek is the holy Tosa lakes. Protected by snow clad peaks, Tosa lakes have been known to the local nomadic shepherds for ages. But for some unknown reason no outsider is reported to have ventured in to the beautiful valley.”
The most striking thing about the journey to Tosa happened the very first day of our trek from the village of Phamtam. Phamtam is about an hour’s drive from Gangtok. After spending a night in Phamtam and chatting with some of the villagers, we were fascinated by the stories of the Bon Manchi. We spoke to the village school teacher, farmers, hunters, and our porters. All of them were convinced of the existence of the Bon Manchi. According to them this creature is about 4-5 feet tall. Hairy, biped and can vanish into thin air! Its capability to go invisible has given it some sort of Godly status. The invisibility thing is probably due to camouflaging capabilities of this creature in question. But whenever they spoke of it, a certain sparkle of conviction and truth glittered in their eyes.
In the first day of our trek we had to climb from 4000ft to 9000ft in 7hours (as there were no suitable campsites in between) and one of our porters gave us some yak hair. He told us to keep that bunch of yak hair in our pockets to protect us from the Bon Manchi! We came across countless pugmarks from leopards, bears near our campsites everyday, while exploring up and down the valley. While spending a night in a yak hut near Mayal Patam we also saw a red panda in the wild. That indeed was a rare privilege. My friend Kevin was able to photograph it even as it was soaking the afternoon sun. We also spent nights in the yak shelter where our friend Arjun had his memorable night and reported to have heard unknown whistling calls! Our porters, especially Tsering was not keen at all to spend another night in that Yak Shelter. We had the same batch of porters as Arjun had and they were telling us about that night. They were convinced about the existence of the Bon Manchi. They never cause any harm to the humans or cattle according to them.
We collected more accounts of Bon Manchi related stories from Tsering and his lads. And to our greatest excitement we came across a fresh track made by some unknown biped animal near Anden top. The tracks looked like footprints! More like footprints of a kid walking bare feet on snow. It was early hours in the day and we were climbing from our camp at Bushpatey towards the high point of Anden. I took some pictures of the track that seemed to have crossed our trail and went into thick bamboo clad slopes of Anden.



Directions for the future
Stories of Bon Manchi are living and actual in many Lepcha villages In North Sikkim. According to their stories it seems like a hairy, biped, which is able to camouflage itself very well. Their anatomical description has some similarity with the Pakistan Wildman and the Orang Pendek. No one describes it as an ‘abominable snowman’ or a ‘big foot’. The level of conviction in these peoples mind whenever they refer to the Bon Manchi is striking. This makes me somehow connect to the stories told by the locals of a Sumatran Island regarding the Orang Pendek. Even though, the first recorded sightings of Orang Pendek in Sumatra dates back to 1295, it took a few hundred years for the scientific community to start acknowledging that there might be an undiscovered animal in the islands of Sumatra.
Ms Debbie Martyr, former editor of a south London newspaper, has already spent two years in search of orang pendek - literally "short man". Her expedition is being carried out with the help of the Indonesian government. She is in awe of the beast and the task ahead of her. "The first time I saw it I was so shocked I didn't take a picture," she said. "I saw something I didn't expect to see and something so totally new contrary to what I expected. Here was a generally bi-pedal erect primate." Its colours correspond to those of the forest floor. "It's beige, tawny, rust red, yellow tan and dark chocolate brown. If he freezes, you can't see him."
Now this all seems very identical with the descriptions of the Bon Manchi that we came across.
Author’s note: I have added some more information and essays below on the Orang Pendek, Ebu gogo and Homo floresiensis. I am sure readers will find that enlightening and can help understand the quest for the Sikkim Bon Manchi better!

Ebu gogo to Bonmanchi: can there be a connection?
Reported from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, the orang-pendek is described a red-furred bipedal ape-man about four feet tall. It is supposed to be attractive and graceful, and has been sighted by many natives. Westerners have seen this creature regularly since 1923, but numerous expeditions have failed to find anything better than footprints and hairs that don't test as any known creature. Some people think the orang-pendek is a new species of ground-dwelling bipedal orangutan, while others favor the idea of a very primitive human.
Recently, much more attention has been focused on legends of the orang-pendek because of the discovery of the Indonesian "hobbit" or Homo floresiensis on the nearby island of Flores in 2003. Homo floresiensis is an extremely small species of human that was known to have survived at least until 12,000 years ago, which means it likely co-existed on the island with modern homo sapiens. According to local legend, which names Homo floresiensis the ebu gogo, it survived until at least the year 1900, and may still be alive today. Some researchers think that the orang-pendek is the same species as the ebu gogo. The orang-pendek is often classified as a proto-pygmy, a type of smaller, more human-like hairy humanoid.
This renewed interest, coupled with the extremely remote area the orang-pendek is supposed to inhabit, has caused even mainstream scientists to label the orang-pendek as the hairy humanoid that is most likely to be a real creature. There had been very little investigation of the orang-pendek before 2003. Like many cryptids, it was categorized as a legend early on, without any professionally funded expeditions to see whether there might be any good reasons for the legends. It often happens that when a creature has been categorized as a myth for long enough, everyone just assumes a scientist must have done the work to properly disprove its existence at some point. Now we know that the earlier investigations were little more than folklore-collecting expeditions, generally self-funded, that nevertheless managed to bring back some circumstantial physical evidence that has proved genuinely puzzling to experts. Now that the spotlight has singled out this little cousin of Bigfoot, there is a chance that it might receive enough attention to settle the mystery once and for all.
Time to pay some attention to Bon Manchi

The days in the Kishong, Tholung and Tosa valleys were like opening new windows to our conviction and beliefs. The vastness of unknown ground humbled our pride. It was about time and we were already questioning the pre conceived notions that we have, that we carry in our heads. Is Bon Manchi just a wild imagination? But the recent studies and findings in Indonesia and even in North Pakistan; suggest otherwise.
May be some day soon a ‘hominid’, an ape, or a species like the Orang Pendek will be discovered in some less known Himalayan valley. After centuries of climbing and exploring across the Himalaya, vast majority of its glaciers, valleys, small river catchments are still unseen, unknown. It is true that no big mammal was discovered for a long time; but with the latest findings on the Orang Pendek; and the discovery of the Homo floresiensis in Indonesia, its time to rethink and reconsider our judgments may be. So its time to pay some serious scientific attention to the Bon Manchi; or may be not! Because we don’t want the Bon Manchi’s existence and survival threatened as a result of its discovery, like it happened with the mountain gorillas of Rwanda!

Team in Dzongu expeditions: Rabin Banerjee, Rajeev Ranjan, Subrata Bhattacharjee, Zamyong Lepcha and Sukhraj Gurung, Anindya Mukherjee

Team in Tosa expeditions: Raghav Mukherjee, Kevin Hynes, Thendup Sherpa, Phurtemba Sherpa, Tsering Lepcha, Anindya Mukherjee

Expedition area & period:
· Talung Valley, North Sikkim, India- March & April 2006
· Tosa lakes area, North Sikkim, India- Nov & Dec 2006 - January, 2007

For further query please contact: Anindya Mukherjee (Raja): anindya.adventuremania@gmail.com

Website:
www.adventuremania.com
www.himalayaraja.co.in


Information on the Orang Pendek can be found at the following links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3734946.stmhttp://www.jambiexplorer.com/content/orangpendek.htm