Summary - SAVE MANASLU’S FROGS! Research Expedition

‘We’ve made it safe and sound this time,’ I expressed with joy to my friend on the last day of our expedition while we stopped by in a local hotel at Soti. From here, one could easily get a local bus around to return back to the city. Those of you who have little idea of what I’m talking about, please grab a coffee first and allow me to explain my position. We have recently completed our 21 days (March 1-21) ‘SAVE MANASLU’S FROGS! Research Expedition’ trip to Manaslu Conservation Area, Gorkha district, the northwestern part of Nepal. This expedition was a part of the amphibian research and conservation work I’ve been carrying out in Manaslu since early 2016, ‘Saving Mountain Frogs (Paha) Before It’s Too Late; Conservation Effort at Manaslu Conservation Area, Gorkha District, Nepal’ (http://www.rufford.org/projects/biraj_shrestha).

Taking-measurements-of-an-unidentified-tadpole-at-Yuwang-River

Stream frog (paha) habitat in Manaslu

I worked in the remote landscape of Manaslu in April-May 2016 for over a month doing the amphibian survey, celebrated 8^th Annual Save The Frogs Day with the local community and did school awareness programs. Then, I revisited Manaslu in September 2016 for a follow-up visit but as we reached Tatopani at 8:30 in the morning, a great tragedy struck in the form of the landslide. We escaped death by an inch but unluckily a group of Spanish trekkers who were just ahead of us met the terrible accident. Four people died at the spot and multiple injured individuals were flown to hospital via chopper. Well, Manaslu is one of the most dangerous remote montane amphibian habitats in Nepal. The only trekking trail runs through the deep gorge with a raging torrent of Budhi Gandaki River below fed by the melt of the world’s eighth highest peak, Mt Manaslu (8,163 m asl).

Budhi Gandaki River flowing swiftly

The disastrous earthquake of 2015 whose epicenter Barpak (south of Manaslu), has made the mountains unstable. After the landslide during our second field visit, I was so traumatized and spent days agonizing whether I should resume my incomplete tasks or not. But call it sheer stupidity or the love of frogs! We geared up, boosted morale, and set out to achieve the mission of frog conservation in the Himalaya. This recent expedition, which happened to be my third quest, was able through precious donations that came to SAVE THE FROGS! from frog lovers all around the world. Thank you once again for that!

A narrow eroded trail at Tatopani

Our journey began from Hetauda, we took a local bus to Gorkha and collected research permit from Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP) office in the city. I met the newly appointed project coordinator of MCAP and briefed him about our project in Manaslu. On the next day, we took another four hours bus ride to Arughat, NE from Gorkha and from there another two and half hours bus ride until we reached Soti. This is the point where the motorable road ends, and then you're all on your muscle power. We stayed overnight at Soti, saw a bunch of tourists (trekkers) with their guides, mules grazing around and raging Budhi Gandaki River nearby, which was the ambiance of Manaslu calling, I know!

The mule train

Early morning the following day, we started trekking and let me tell you it’s a very strenuous every day 8-10 hours walk. We tramped through the narrow rugged trail at the banks of Budhi Gandaki to enter Jagat (entrance of MCA) from Soti (579 masl) to Liding, Lapu besi (775 masl), Machikhola (918 masl), and Tatopani (956 masl). I had the jitters while crossing the Tatopani trail where we witnessed the landslide in September 2016. Also, there are plenty of landslides or rockfall areas in the Manaslu circuit after the earthquake.

Landslide signpost installed by MCAP

After Tatopani, we crossed Dovan, Syaulifedi, Thadodhunga, Yarubagar, and reached Jagat (1,351 masl). Since we led our expedition at the start of spring, we hoped for pleasant weather in the mountains, but you never can tell. It rained cats and dogs from the day we entered Manaslu while the northern reaches snowed continuously until our final day of depart. The temperature was down throughout our expedition with frequent storms and strong winds. Crikey, it was only the pre-monsoon season?

Snowy mountain tops

That unpredictable weather hugely affected our amphibian survey. We walked a transect of 45.6 km from Jagat to Lokpa, Dyang, and Prok village doing Visual Encounter Surveys (VES), did stream surveys, and 10x10 sq. meters quadrat surveys. We didn’t see any frog/toad this time nevertheless, we found egg masses and tadpoles.

Local boys helping stream frog’s survey

Trying to shoot paha egg mass in clumps

We saw clumps of stream frog (paha) eggs clinging underneath of rock in small streams, while the toad eggs (Duttaphrynus sp.) were found in a different fashion. Toads laid their eggs in a long chain of the jelly coated membrane and found floating in stagnant water. The tadpoles are unidentified but easily observed at bottoms of mountain brooks. We did quadrat study in forests and agricultural lands but no success. Locals said the unfavorable weather and coldness could have restricted amphibian's sighting.

Paha egg mass in clumps

Developed paha tadpoles inside the jelly coated egg mass

Toad eggs in a long chain

We conducted other activities like Amphibian Conservation Dissemination Workshop, frog conservation posters distribution, the formation of Amphibian Conservation Group (ACG), and ethnoherpetological study along with the survey. We held the Amphibian Conservation Dissemination Workshop in Philim (1,431 masl) of Sirdibas VDC, Lokpa (1,910 masl) of Chumchet VDC, Dyang (1,914 masl) of Bihi VDC and Prok village (2,436 masl).

Amphibian Conservation Dissemination Workshop at Philim, Sirdibas

MCAP Office at Philim with Amphibian Conservation Group

Amphibian Conservation Dissemination Workshop at Lokpa, Chumchet

The workshops saw participation from all segments of the community members; youths, students, teachers, local and religious leaders, villagers, MCAP staff, Mother’s Group, and Conservation Area Management Committee (CAMC).

Local kid displaying paha conservation poster

Amphibian Conservation Group at Pemathang monastery, Lokpa

We sensed local people care about paha frogs in their region but saddened by the fact that amphibians around the world are facing unprecedented declines and Nepal could be no exception. People were motivated to check paha (stream frogs) collection in their villages and expressed determination to take collective actions against those found guilty. In coordination with the local community and MCAP, we supported the formation of Amphibian Conservation Groups in Sirdibas, Chumchet, Bihi, and Prok VDCs.

Tourists being a part of our workshop in Dyang, Bihi

Amphibian Conservation Dissemination Workshop at Prok VDC

Locals discussing about paha

On March 21, we returned to Gorkha city, where I gave ‘Amphibian Conservation Talk’ at Choice FM, 90.4 MH, highlighting our conservation effort at Manaslu.

URL: http://ujyaaloonline.com/news/72670/paha/

Choice FM 94.0 MHz studio

Snow crest at Prok

Manaslu panorama

Meet the himalayan people

Farmlands of Prok

9th Annual Save The Frogs Day

Mural Frog Art

Amphibians around the globe are in real danger with some 250 species that have gone extinct forever in the last forty years, while one-third species of total diversity (over 7500) are seriously threatened with extinction. These historically resilient animals that emerged very long ago (300 million years old) on this the planet has been facing so much trouble recently due to human actions knowingly or unknowingly. 

Habitat fragmentation, land-use change, pesticide use, over-collection for food and pet trade, pollution, dissection classes, climate change, disease, and so many other factors acting either individually or synergistically have challenged the survival of amphibians. Large populations of the general public are still uninformed about the importance of amphibians in the ecosystem and the threats they face, which have also contributed to the fast decline of these species. That’s why every year on the last Saturday of April, there’s a special day where all the amphibian lovers celebrate ‘International Save The Frogs Day’ in different parts of the world. The reason behind it is to educate the uninformed public about amphibians and spread the message of frog conservation.

Participants of Save The Frogs Day Session I

This year's 9^th Annual Save The Frogs Day was marked in Nepal on April 28 at Resources Himalaya Foundation (RHF), Sanepa, Lalitpur with the financial help of WWF Nepal and support from SAVE THE FROGS! USA and EGH. The frog filled event had wider participation of school kids, university students, conservationists, academicians, and professionals. Mr. Biraj Shrestha, Research Officer of RHF and SAVE THE FROGS! Taskforce member was the event coordinator and supported by a bunch of volunteers from EGH executed the event plan into action. There were stalls of frog face painting, frog tabling, merch, bake sale and other activities that captivated the visitors.

Froggy volunteers

 ACTIVITIES

 Mural Art - Artists, Mr. Karun Dewan and his friend led the mural frog artwork on huge white cotton cloth with designs of flowers, mushrooms, plants, and amidst was a resting tree frog with a happy face. Later the coloring session was joined by every participant of the event from school kids to students and volunteers. The outcome was splendid.

Face painting - Ms. Sabita Gurung with other volunteers represented their artistic frog designs on the body parts of visitors.

Frog Tabling and Merch Sale - This stall was the information center for amphibians with frog info cards, paha conservation posters, t-shirts and other merchandise for sale. All the proceeds go to amphibian conservation endeavors in the future.

Photo Exhibition - Total of 17 amphibian photographs representing over eight species were exhibited with their general information and the locality they are known.

Short Video Clips

a.       Life history of Frog (02:34)

b.      Disappearing Frogs (03:47)

c.       Frog, Chemical, Water, You (17:28)

d.      The Thin Green Line (Chemical Runoff) -06:36

e.      Amphibian Ark Appeal (04:59)

f.        Disappearing Frogs (03:47)

Bake Sale - Yum! Cream and cherry topping cupcakes designed to resemble a frog head was at the bake sale. All the proceeds go to amphibian conservation endeavors in the future.

Frog Talk & Felicitation - Dr. Dinesh Raj Bhuju, General Secretary of RHF, highlighted a much-neglected fact that people have not actually understood frogs are real friends of humans as they help farmers by controlling farms insects and checking the population of vector insects. 

We had also announced an open call for ‘SAVE THE FROGS! Junior Art Competition’ with a deadline on April 25. We received a total of 39 submissions from grade III to IX students. The top three were awarded froggy gift hampers from Dr. Kamal Adhikari, Director of RHF. Later our guest of honor, Mr. Ugan Manandhar, Deputy Director, WWF Nepal, shared his few words about how necessary it has become that we need to think about frogs and not forget these tiny creatures while conserving the charismatic animals.

Video Message from Dr. Kerry Kriger - Ecologist and Founder of SAVE THE FROGS!, US-based amphibian conservation nonprofit, Dr. Kerry Kriger sent a 12-minute video message especially for the Nepalese people for helping to spread out amphibian conservation message in Nepal through  Save The Frogs Day events and greeted the organizers of this year’s event at RHF. He shared the history of Save The Frogs Day and how big it has grown in these years, with more than 1000 events held since 2009 involving 60 countries.

Closing Remarks - Prof Dr. Ram Chhetri, Chair of RHF had his concluding remarks about how anthropogenic activities have ultimately affected every species on this planet, including frogs. Later, he handed certificates of appreciation to our volunteers whose tireless efforts have brought this event into froggy fruition.