When the darkness ruled!

I still remember the day that came like a nightmare. I along with LRPs (local resource person) from Solukhumbu district was heading to our destination Khirauli, Solukhumbu, where we had to find our plot and accomplish the task. After two days of walking the hilly trails, we reached Himalayan lodge at mid day (2544m). After some rest, we headed towards the plot, which was still 3 -4 km far.
On the way, we entered the thick jungle and realized that the GPS was not working properly as it lacked enough satellite signals. We reached the plot with difficulty but the plot was surrounded by thorny bushes, and was muddy as well as swampy, we could not even stand properly. All of a sudden, it started to rain. We spent a few minutes in confusion whether to start sampling or not. But we did not lose our courage, we got into sampling. It was already 5:15 pm when we finished the measurement and there were leeches sucking our blood and wounds due to the thorny bushes. Raining continued and the sun was almost set, darkness descended. We checked what lighting equipments we had. To our disappointment, all we had was a single torchlight with low charge. We started to move here and there searching the main trail. We almost got stranded inside the forest. That moment, we even thought of spending the night inside the jungle. But what about the wild animals? We had nothing that could be used for defense. Without enough lights, and with no sleeping bags and any tent, it would be very difficult to spend the night there, we thought. Meanwhile we saw a man walking down; he was a local guide returning home from Namche. Thank god, we traced a way back to Khirauli, where our luggage must have been waiting for us. We followed the man. It was still raining and the trail was too much slippery, and we were walking down a sloppy terrain. A small misstep could be life taking! However, walking slow and steady, we reached back to hotel. The long, tedious and challenging walk inside the dark forest came to a halt after about 4 and half hours. Wound marks due to thorns and leeches, blood lines, torn paints and shirts, these were the rewards we got for our forest adventure! Despite all these, we were ecstatic realizing the fact that we had survived!!!! We were very much obliged to the man for the help we got from him.
The incident gave us the following learning: (1) Do not enter a thick jungle unless you have enough information about it or without having a local guide. (2) Get back from the jungle to the nearest settlement prior to darkness. (3) And make sure you carry the materials that might be useful inside the jungle.
Sanej Prasad Suwal
Forest Carbon Inventory Crew Leader
Solukhumbu district, Nepal
Date: 26th November, 2011.