Of Ancient Caves and Bat-sh*t Crawl

The day started like all our travel days- deciding on the itinerary for the day. This can be tricky, (because the man and I tend to be vocal about disagreeing to agree) but this time around, the twain met easily.
We both like history and historical footprints, and because ancient cave sites offer both, spanning hundreds of years, we try not to miss a visit. Pokhra, Nepal, offered two such sites.
Mahindra Cave- presumably named after a king.
Bat cave- presumably named after the inhabitants.
That was Agenda 1 for the day.

Agenda 2- Purana (old) Bazaar.
Pokhra was on the historical trade route to Tibet, and the internet spoke about a well preserved old city from that time- with traditional Newar-style buildings, and a distinct way of life that had stayed unchanged in a couple of centuries.

Going by our varied experiences with ancient caves we went into Mahindra Cave thinking it would be a gentle tour of rock paintings and carvings by Buddhist monks from the BC.
In retrospect, all I can say is- how presumptuous of us!

The cave was pitch dark. Naresh, our guide’s small flashlight lit up a small patch of rough uneven ground under our feet, and a few minutes in, we were hunched, avoiding the low cave ceiling, almost crawling on fours across a rocky surface, water dripping from crevices above us. Darkness blinded us.
Stalecites and white quartz stared down at us, resembling angry creatures that did not want company.

Twenty minutes of treacherous navigation up and down, bumping our heads above, and scrambling to find footholds to climb higher rocks, the air turned putrid. It smelt like nitrogen. And then we heard the squealing- high pitched, buzzy and moving closer in the dark.

“Bats! They have been here for centuries” Naresh said with pride, pointing the torchlight right above us. We were in a tiny rocky cavern with hundreds of bats centimeters away from us, flying all around us in disturbed agitation caused by the torchlight and 4 human intruders.As we scrambled to climb through a tiny crevice, trying to heave up a 5 ft high foothold, my shoe slipped, and I sank into a soft heap of soft mud. Relief. I had not hurt myself!
It was shortlived.

This felt like an Indiana Jones adventure going wrong.

The next half hour was grueling. We scrambled up rocks many feet high, at least two of us needed support in hauling ourselves up through narrow rocky spaces, slipped a couple of times more, fearfully jumped across a deep crevice, and lots more… with bats circling around and the air thick with something evil.

This adrenalin rush was not in the itinerary, and all four of us were sweating, trying to focus on locating steady footholds over slippery rocks.
I think the bats smelt it- they circled around us in tighter circles now.
Did they smell fear?

An hour later it was good to see the light at the end of the unexpected adventure. It felt good to breathe in the mountainous Pokhra air again.
In keeping with the spirit of Nepal, is this what it feels to summit Everest and return home safe, I wondered aloud smilingly.

And then we looked at ourselves- All those falls, head bumps with low ceilings, crawls through narrow crevices… had left us covered in a mishmash of slush and clay and something green.

Turns out that all the “soft” of our soft landings were on centuries of bat poo. Turns out bat poo mixed with other such slush in ancient deep rocky caverns is the color green!!

Needless to say, all that we wanted to do is head back to the shower. Quickly, desperately.

However, our guide Naresh would have none of it. He insisted we walk down another way, via a gentle pathway, back into the other end of the cave to pay our respects at the old Ganesha temple which has been hidden here for centuries.

PS:

1. The old bazaar is now hardly that. Except for a few Newari red buildings, nothing of the old trade route to Tibet settlement remains.
2. Naresh, our guide, wanted us to have this adventure, and ensured we came out safe.
3. We gave the 2nd Cave- called Bat Cave- a miss. Such close encounters with a few hundred bats were enough for a lifetime.