Straight From A Story Book: Part II

When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. In other words, I don't improve, in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.- John Steinbeck

Photo: Dinesh Korday

The morning I left home I had high fever. It was a legacy of a recent respiratory tract infection. A kind flight attendant offered paracetamol and the  temperature was under control. Thankfully some some infections in life are still remediable or should I say medicable. Reaching Mumbai I was glad to meet my friend Dinesh Korday. While together we enjoyed coffee I showed him the book that was taking me back to Africa, once again after 3 years. Good coffee, a close friend and a good book; was certainly a lot more than I had asked for in those few hours in Mumbai. While all the 3rd or 4th generation antibiotics fought a courageous battle inside my physical system, my spirits rose high. I was ready for another adventure. Boarding the evening flight to Nairobi I could identify myself with what John Steinbeck once said, 'once a bum always a bum' and I was glad that this disease of mine was 'incurable'. 

The empty terminal

Reaching Nairobi somehow felt like homecoming. My flight to Mombasa was not leaving till next morning. So I decided to spend the night in the terminal ( Terminal 1-D) itself. Pretty soon, around 11 pm, the whole terminal became empty. The airlines staff, the janitors; everybody left. Only 4 security men and myself stood guard. I was in peace and almost felt that I could start living there in this terminal. The security guys were super friendly and after I spend a few weeks here I will be like Tom Hanks in the movie 'Terminal'. My thoughts must have been corrupted by the movies I watched on the Kenya Airways flight and the super dull food they served. I dozed off putting an untimely end to my 'terminal fantasies' only to be woken up next morning with the arrival of passengers and crew of the first flight to Mombasa. 

Arab style coffee near the old port of Mombasa

Afternoon football next to Fort Jesus, Mombasa. A glimpse of Indian Ocean beyond

Mombasa felt humid and suffocating. But my fascination for its history helped me keep walking through the lanes and alleys of the old town. The history of Mombasa is not without its vicissitudes. Egyptian idols, Arabs, Portuguese, British; everything of each period has left their marks. I was engrossed in these thoughts and even felt partly hypnotized while walking the by-lanes of the 'old town'. It was then, a stranger approached and warned me of dangers of walking alone in certain areas. I understood the threat was real. Activities of Al Shabab is yet to be eradicated from here. The scars and blood stains in people's mind here are still fresh. I took his advise. Other than this incident I could roam freely and talk to people near the old port area and Fort Jesus. 

Finally sitting by the bay and sipping aromatic black coffee ( with lots of cardamom, cinnamon and sugar I guess) I thought this must the 'death of distance'. Once it took people months to sail and reach here. And today, it took me just a few hours from the banks of river Ganga to this ancient port city of East Africa. I remembered, that it was at this very place, in 1498, the great Vasco da Gama, nearly lost his ship and life through the treachery of his Arab pilot, who plotted to wreck the vessel on the reef which bars more than half the entrance to the harbour. I remembered, that it was at this very place Shankar arrived with Prasad Das Bandyopadhyay to find a job at the Uganda Railway. 

Old Town of Mombasa

Like it? Keep reading. Watch out for Part III in my blog. Don't know when I will manage to write it though. :)

Straight from a Story Book: Part I

It all started with a story book. In 1937, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay, one of the leading writers of modern Bengali literature penned 'Chander Pahar'. It is a story of a 22 year old young man from rural Bengal who sets out to Africa on an adventure of a lifetime in 1909.

(If you have not read the book already you can read the plot summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chander_Pahar )

Like millions of Bengali readers I had read this adventure story when I was a kid and then as I grew up, as indicated by its publisher (juvenile literature); it became a thing of the past, a childhood fantasy for me.  It is only in recent years, after I climbed Kilimanjaro (2005), I picked up 'Chander Pahar' again. It is then, the book started opening new meanings and fresh directions for me. It is then I began to understand the meaning of the Swedish proverb- 'In a good book the best is between the lines'. 

My repeated readings of 'Chander Pahar' turned into a close inspection, followed by investigation and that lead to my re-discovery of many elements embedded in the pages of the book. Elements such as, names of people, places and incidents. I found that those elements mentioned by the author were factual. Names such as 'Ruwenzori' ( now spelled 'Rwenzori), Duke of Abruzzi, Harry Johnston, Rosita Forbes, were whispering secrets in my ears about their real life adventures in the last century. 

From that point on, the book became a coded guide to me. A guide that would inspire a journey in real life in today's Africa. A journey from fiction to facts. From imagination to inspiration. From a childhood fantasy to a curious, real life adventure. I wanted to see how far could this book, an adventure fiction, a juvenile literature; actually take me?

Uttar Banga Sambad (http://uttarbangasambad.com/), the largest circulated daily newspaper of North Bengal extended the vital helping hand and became part of this adventure. One fine morning I was all set to retrace Shankar's (the protogonist of Bibhuti Bhushan's novel) trail.  For the next few weeks I kept sending dispatches to the daily as I progressed slowly from ancient port city of Mombasa, Kenya, to the border of Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. 


I have shared two youtube links below, one in Bengali and the other in English. Here I try to explain why I felt a strong urge to undertake such a journey. Please do check them out. I am thankful to Dream Wanderlust team for their interest in this project and help in this recording.

I outlined my route in two stages. The first stage was from Mombasa, Kenya to the shores of Lake Victoria. Here my focus was the Uganda Railway. In the novel ( Chander Pahar) our protagonist gets a job in this historically significant railway in 1909. From the author's description it becomes clear that he first gets appointed as a store keeper in Tsavo ( though the author never mentioned it), works as an assistant to the engineer in charge. During this period he gets to taste the wrath of the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Later, he gets transferred to a remote railway station near Kisumu. After reading both Bibhuti Bhushan and 'Man Eaters of Tsavo'; it became obvious that the author of 'Chander Pahar' was inspired by the writings of Col. John Henry Patterson and his adventures in 1898 while constructing the Tsavo bridge. So in Stage-1,my prime interest was to see and experience the present state of the famous railway, how it is functioning and the condition of some its stations that are so much steeped in history.

The second stage was, entering Uganda through the Busia border and proceed to Kasese, the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains-Ptolemy's fabled 'Mountains of the Moon' and climbing Mt. Stanley massif.  Below are the two hand drawn route maps. They are not to scale.

Watch out for the next episode here in this blog where I outline the Stage -1 of my journey to the Mountains of the Moon-Chander Pahar. 

Stage 1

 

Stage 2

To the Mountains of the Moon: A Journey from Fiction to Facts

In 1937, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay chronicled the adventures of a Bengali boy named Shankar. This novel was named 'Chander Pahar' (English: 'Mountains of the Moon', as the fiction refers to a range of mountains and not a single standing mountain). 'Chander Pahar' went on to become one of the most loved adventure stories in the Bengali literature. In his lifetime, Bibhutibhushan wrote 16 novels and over 200 short stories. Interestingly, even though most of Bibhutibhushan's works were largely set in rural Bengal; in this particular novel the writer chose the setting of 1909 Africa.

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950)

In the story 'Chander Pahar', our protagonist Shankar gets a lucky break to go out from his little riverside village in Bengal to work for the Uganda Railway. Thus begun his sudden and long journey from the mundane to the extraordinary. A roller coaster ride through adventures involving the infamous man eating lions of Tsavo, close encounters with the Black Mamba, and a shadowy, mythical creature lurking in the heart of the mountains of the moon. From the agonies of crossing the Kalahari and getting lost in a tropical rain forest to the ecstasy of discovering a treasure of yellow diamonds hidden in a lost cave in the Richtersveld mountain range.

More about the novel Chander Pahar can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chander_Pahar

Cover of the book Chander Pahar. Cover artist: Satyajit Ray

Being a Bengali myself, I found 'Chander Pahar' deeply fascinating as a boy. But for a long time this remained just a juvenile adventure story to me. It is only in the recent years, when I climbed Kilimanjaro (2005), I started to gain fresh insights from the book. I realized Bibhutibhushan wrote the novel based on the publications of real life explorers and adventurers of the African continent in the late 19th and the early 20th century. The book indeed was not entirely a fruit of Bibhutibhushan's imagination. The story had serious, fact based, realistic connections with the Africa of the early 1900s. The author himself had mentioned in the foreword of his book that while writing 'Chander Pahar' he was inspired by the works of Sir Henry "Harry" Johnston and Rosita Forbes. And when one reads the Tsavo lion episode in the book one can not help but relate to Col John Henry Patterson's personal accounts.Now being a wandering pilgrim, explorer, travel writer and mountaineer ( the order does not necessarily remain the same always), 'Chander Pahar', thus raised fresh questions in my mind. Curious and inspired questions.

I am suddenly very curious to know about the status of the Uganda Railway where Bibhutibhushan's Shankar got a job under a British engineer. Is this historically significant railway still functioning healthy? Or is it becoming irrelevant entirely? At least 28 Indians and countless locals fell victim to the Tsavo lions while building this railroad.

To read more about the Uganda Railway, which was also called 'The Lunatic Express' and the 'Iron Snake' visit : http://www.theeagora.com/the-lunatic-express-a-photo-essay-on-the-uganda-railway/ 
Tayiana Chao is doing some great work here.

How are the Maasais doing? Are they still as bold and non-interested warriors as they were described by many authors before? Or are they being pushed out of their own lands? Pushed out and cornered with the fast paced development of a new Kenya? How are the new age Europeans looking at the growing economy and opportunities in what used to be the British East Africa not so long ago? Questions are many and I can go on listing them here. But instead I choose to write them in later episodes. Because, to me, at least to the Bengali mind, the most important question raised by Bibhutibhushan's 'Chander Pahar' is simple. Is there a real mountain named 'Chander Pahar' or the Mountains of the Moon in Africa?

In 150 CE, a high snow capped mountain range in the heart of Africa, was named by Ptolemy as, 'Selenes Oros', latinized as 'Lunae Montes', and in English 'Mountains of the Moon'. Did this name inspire Bibhutibhushan in christening his novel? Today this mountain range is known as the Rwenzori Mountains and it is the highest mountain range in Africa. In the book Bibhutibhushan set 'his' Mountains of the Moon' in the Richtersveld range. Richtersveld in reality is arid and semi desert in nature.
You can read about Richtersveld here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richtersveld

But the descriptions of the jungle through which Shankar, his protagonist travelled was certainly of an equatorial rain forest and which entirely matches with the Rwenzoris. You can read more about Rwenzoris here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwenzori_Mountains 

A 1937 aerial view of the Rwenzori mountains. Source: Wikipedia

But how can we be so sure that it is Ptolemy's christening that inspired  Bibhutibhushan? Well, one can start exploring Google and visit local libraries to cross check facts. But there is another way. To go there. To ask questions and seek answers for oneself. To take the journey that Bibhutibhushan's Shankar took. Starting from Mombasa, following the Uganda Railway to Lake Victoria and then to the mountain range which for the last 2000 years has been known to the rest of the world as the 'Mountains of the Moon'. 

1655 map of Africa showing location of Mountains of the Moon by Athanasius Kircher

This time again ( like in 2012, when I was cycling from Nanyuki, Kenya to Walvis Bay, Namibia) my partners in this journey will be the millions of readers of Uttar Banga Sambad (http://www.uttarbangasambad.com/).

I sincerely hope to keep sending dispatches and photos as I progress from the port town of Mombasa to the Rwenzoris. As Uttar Banga Sambad is a Bengali newspaper it is obvious that those dispatches will be in Bengali language. But I hope to put updates in social media and post reports in my blog here. 

I can be followed in Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/anindya.adventureyogi

and Twitter: https://twitter.com/indianhimalaya

An Indian Explorer in North West Yunnan

Exploration of the Jidege Shan

Author's Note: this particular article outlines my exploration of a small mountain range on the second bend of the Jinsha River. Exploring this mountain range was only a small part of the trip. I was especially thrilled to meet the diverse ethnicity of this region and was deeply fascinated by its history that indicates Yunnan's deep rooted connection with ancient India. Given an opportunity I want to write about those experiences in detail. Somewhere, someday. 

Introduction

I went to China to do nothing heroic or extremely dangerous. I believe living in a city like Calcutta has been serving that purpose for me already. After some study of the mountain ranges of North West Yunnan and consequent interactions with explorers and climbers who have been working in this region I understood that in spite of the recent Chinese mass tourism to North West Yunnan; many of its secrets are still hidden.

An old Naxi lady walks the empty streets of Li Jiang Old town

Thankfully, the inherent character of mass tourism, irrespective of countries or even continents; is that it is always centered around a few points on the map. With my own experience of working across the Indian Himalaya it will be safe to comment that this theory applies on trekking and mountaineering as well. Over the last few months with the help of a few friends within India and across the globe I came in touch with a few old hands in Yunnan exploration such as Tamotsu Nakamura, John Town, and Mike Dobie.  Nakamura San suggested me the circumnavigation of the Meili Snow Mountains. John Town pointed towards the mountains at the head of Nu Jiang (Salween) and Du Long (Irrawady) rivers on the borders of Yunnan and Tibet. And Mike Dobie suggested me to check out the smaller peaks that are north and east of the Yulong and Haba Snow Mountain massifs. In his email he wrote, “there is a standalone 4500m peak that would actually have quite an adventure to get to” and then after sharing Google Earth co-ordinates he continued, “as far as I know it hasn’t been climbed.” Haba and Yulong Snow Mountains are very close to the extremely touristy city of Li Jiang and after going through many blogs by travellers passing through, one would expect nothing but thousands of Chinese tourists within a 50 mile radius. But thankfully again proving the mass tourism theory right, all of them tend to gather around the old town of Li Jiang and a  fraction of that crowd visits the famous ‘Hu Tiao Xia’ or the Tiger Leaping Gorge nearby.

Yulong Xue Shan as seen from somewhere between Li Jiang and Ming Yin

While circumnavigating the Meili Xue Shan or exploring the mountain ranges of Du Long region seemed extremely interesting I had to be realistic while planning. To try and reach any place off the tourist map in this region meant having a private transport and a local guide along with horses or mules to carry essential items for days. I had about US$ 600 as the expedition fund and 2 weeks at my disposal. The area suggested by Mike Dobie seemed to be within 2 days of walk from its east or even south and thus a financially feasible adventure.

By plugging in the coordinates given to me by Mike Dobie, in Google Maps I noticed a small mountain range ( not just a ‘standalone’ peak) stretching more or less north to south . The peak suggested by Mike stood at the very north of this mountain range . I also noted that the Jidege Range is actually part of the watershed ridge located in the middle of the loop created by the second bend  of the Jinsha River. While the first great bend of the Jinsha is a popular tourist destination from Li Jiang these days, the second bend somehow remains unnoticed. Further magnification of the Google map image revealed a tiny village located on the western aspects of the southern end of this mountain range. It was marked ‘Jidege’ . I realized that this village can serve as my strategic base.

The first great bend of Jinsha at Shigu

Approach

The flight from Kolkata to Kunming was short and uneventful. The new airport (Changshui) is at a considerable distance from the main city and took me about an hour to get to my dormitory bed even in the early hours of the day. Later that day, I went to the railway station and bought myself a sleeper ticket in an overnight train to Li Jiang the next day. The railway station was big and impressive. It seemed efficient and clean considering the huge number of passengers it handles every day.At night I was treated to a lovely meal by my friends Eric and Malavika.

The train took me to Li Jiang . Untill the communist takeover in the 1940s the dominant people of the Li Jiang valley were the Naxi ( also spelled Nakhi), one of the 56 'nationalities' officially recongnized by the PRof C. They were an entirely independent people until the thirteenth century. The old town of Li Jiang is a reconstruction after a 1996 earthquake. In 1999, Li Jiang old town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. The mass domestic tourism soon followed. But this ancient Naxi kingdom was essentially brought to knowledge of the West by American botanist Joseph Rock and Russian Peter Goullart only as recent as early twentieth century.

Li Jiang old town

Finding Jidege

I spent three nights in Li Jiang firstly to gather authentic information on my proposed route and then to organize the logistics. During this span of days, my concern was to get an idea as to how to reach Jidege, which, I thought to be far from being a tourist destination. That was a horrible understatement. With the help of the manager (who spoke some English) of the backpacker guest house I was staying, I could make several inquiries over the curious names that I had in my Google Earth print outs. Many of the names of villages or settlements marked on the Google Earth image were either incorrect or unrecognizable . Finally, we could speak to someone in Baoshan who recognized the name Shanggaohan (27°28'17.06"N - 100°17'47.92"E, 10697 ft) and stated that it can be reached by car from the Li Jiang- Lugu lake road. Shanggaohan is a bigger village (as observed in Google Earth) located due south of Jidege and is approximately 130 kilometres drive towards north from Li Jiang. To be able to drive to Shanggaohan in a day meant a big logistic advantage. If we could reach Shanggaohan, we would find a way to reach Jidege, or so we thought.

The hidden valley of Shanggaohan

Reaching Jidege

I managed to hire a local from Li Jiang who agreed to double as my driver and interpreter. The manager of the backpacker hostel I was staying expressed his desire to accompany me. I agreed as I saw no harm in this. On 13 April, 2015 we drove to Shanggaohan village via Ming Yin. The village had an elementary school and upon our arrival we were told to go back immediately. We were warned that we could be attacked at night as some villagers think we could be drug traffickers and strangers are not welcome anyway. We were left with no choice but to backtrack to Ming Yin and spent the night there. Next morning with renewed hope we drove to Shanggaohan again. This time we were lucky to meet a teacher who helped us get in direct contact with a farmer in Jidege village itself. The farmer named Lu agreed to host us in his house and we suddenly felt welcome in this beautiful land. We took our bags and started hiking uphill by an unmetalled road. It took us about 2 hours to walk to Jidege (27°31'18.21"N - 100°17'44.54"E, 11736 ft) from Shanggaohan and Mr.Lu came down to meet us halfway. Jidege is a Yi minority village and very Himalayan in appearance. I was told that I was the first foreigner in their village. A rare reward for a modern day explorer! Thus, for the next two days, Mr. Lu’s abode became my base camp. In the afternoon, I took out my Google maps and had interesting discussions  with Mr.Lu and his brother who was also the village headman.

Our route of first ascent on Peak II. Also showing location of Pass II and III

Exploration and Ascents

For the next two days we explored the Jidege Shan. On 15 April, 2015, we hiked up North keeping the main range to our East. After crossing two beautiful meadows we reached a locked u-shaped valley with a series of rocky summits forming its head. We climbed a pass (PASS –I: 27°32'59.08"N - 100°18'19.56"E, 13363 ft) from this valley and a rocky projection (PEAK –I: 27°32'58.70"N - 100°18'14.28"E, 13934 ft) to the immediate south of it. This pass and the adjacent peak is located on a ridge emanating due SW from the main Jidege range and gave me a good opportunity to photograph the mountains of the Jidege Shan. A series of unclimbed peaks were waiting for their first ascents and many of them I am sure will offer excellent rock climbing. I decided to come back the following day to climb at least one peak on the main range further up North and retraced our steps back to Jidege.

Next morning, we crossed Pass-I and reached the small valley to its west. We noticed very old settled moraine like features in this valley. After traversing this valley, we climbed up another pass (PASS II: 27°33'21.81"N - 100°18'33.73"E, 14001 ft). We were now on the main range. This gave us direct access further up north to another col. We were soon on top of this col (PASS-III: 27°33'29.82"N - 100°18'46.93"E, 14290 ft). It was a moderate to steep uphill walk on scree for the last stretch. Reaching Pass-III, we saw the Jidege Shan dropping down north into the deep gorges of the Jinsha. Only one glimpse of the mighty river came into our view to our NE. Rest of the course of the second bend of Jinsha  were well hidden from us as the gorge system is simply too deep. The wind was picking up and cirrus clouds quickly gathering to form an ominous grey blanket. I decided to climb the peak on the immediate east of Pass-III. Another half an hour, and we were on top of the rocky summit.

From top of the rock peak (PEAK-II: 27°33'23.23"N -100°18'50.13"E, 14500 ft) our vision opened up 360 degrees. To our south we saw the Yulong Xue Shan and Haba Xue Shan. The missing horizon between Yulong and Haba indicated the obvious depths of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. To our West we saw the mountain ranges of Deqen and Shangri-La  near the border of Tibet. To our North and East we saw mountains of Sichuan. We could see roads on the northern slopes of Jidege Shan, winding down to the river, probably to one of the Hydro-Electric stations nearby.

After climbing Peak –II, noticing that we still had a good amount of daylight in hand I decided to go down to another pass like feature located due north of Pass-III. There were patches of snow on scree which we had to descend to reach this Pass. Once there, I could see a faint trail winding down towards the motorable road further down the valley. I decided to stop moving further at this fourth pass (PASS-IV: 27°33'36.19"N - 100°18'57.42"E, 14164 ft) as it was evident that we had reached the northern ends of the Jidege Shan.

A sense of satisfaction engulfed me. I did not reach the exact coordinate point as suggested by Mike Dobie, but I was very close. I tried and in the process I have explored a completely unknown mountain range and made a first ascent of one of its many peaks. I was standing on the mountain range that I once longed to see and explore. The quest that began in a computer screen a few months back was now suddenly over. It was time to head back.

“...at each step I experienced that subtle thrill which anyone of imagination must feel when treading hitherto unexplored country. Each corner held some thrilling secret to be revealed for the trouble of looking.” –Eric Shipton, Nanda Devi, p.131

Note:
• All coordinates are based on Google Map and hence may not be accurate
• We found a forest trail used by locals from Jidege to Pass-III. This trail is used for hunting and collection of Yarshagumba (Caterpillar Fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis, Chinese name: Dōng chóng xià cǎo, meaning ‘winter worm, summer grass’) and other herbs used in Chinese Traditional Medicine. We came across one such group in the pine forests above Jidege

At Jidege village, Mr. Lu, interpreter cum driver Li and author