Kathmandu:

It was foggy on the morning of February 3 and the organisers were frantically running around preparing for the day’s programme.

The event was the Taudaha Jamboree organised by the Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN)and Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) in association with 17 other wetland conservation organisations on the occasion of the World Wetland Day under the theme ‘Fish for Tomorrow’.

It was evident that the crowds were impatient to commence on their nature hike. Groups of school students from more than a dozen schools of Kathmandu and Taudaha were also in the similar state of mind for the art competition.

And the events finally began at around 11:40 am.

Nature hike was perhaps the most popular event as it had the maximum number of participants. A long train of people — young and old, local and foreign — walking uphill was quite an exciting sight to behold. No wonder a second group also went for the hike later in the day.

“It was a memorable day!” said Kapil Pandey of Khopa College, who was the first one to complete the hike.

“I’m loving it,” said from Jupiter school’s Priyesh Shrestha, another participant who had taken part in the art competition. The theme for this contest was also ‘Fish for Tomorrow’.

Some of the visitors also enjoyed a stint at watching the winged creatures who had flown from as far as Siberia through a telescope that had been placed and managed by BCN.

And there was Nepal Dangol displaying his skills in the Mithila Art Workshop. Mithila art is a shadeless representational art form popular in the plains of Nepal and parts of India.

All the art competition and hike participants were given gifts.

Though there was no rush of visitors, Sanjeevani Yonzon of WCN said that people trickled in throughout the day.