Flying with Kevin - Himalayas beyond - 2013

Possibly my most memorable day - well recently anyway.  How does one judge?  Graduation, first job, getting married, giving birth, delivering someone else's baby safely on a mud and dung floor in Nepal - I could go on and on.  What a wonderful thing is memory for you can cut out all the miserable things at a stroke and just feast on the rest.

The day I flew with a vulture was such a thrill and such a magical experience to be in a thermal, rising high with another tandem paraglider and an Egyptian vulture called Kevin. Well, what else?

Kevin and Bob are two Egyptian vultures that were tossed out of their nests – vultures can usually only raise one at a time so the weaker is expendable but as Nepal's vultures are dying out in their millions these two have been rescued and taught to fly with paragliders as part of an ongoing raptor rescue program. Many birds are rescued each year which are successfully rehabilitated and returned to the wild. Some cannot be released for a variety of reasons and these are cared for and trained for paragliding or falconry and the money raised goes towards conservation projects.

The reason the birds are dying out is the veterinary drug call Diclofenac which is an anti inflammatory. Nepal is basically Hindu and cows are considered sacred and not killed even when old and ill. When they are given Diclofenac to ease their suffering this is not expelled from the body. So when the cow eventually dies and vultures come to dispose of the body they die of liver and kidney failure. Because of this the white backed vulture is dangerously close to extinction.