Birendra P Kandel received Pakistan’s prestigious Director General Gold Medal for topping in Bachelor of Science (B Sc) in forestry from Pakistan’s University of Peshawar.

Kandel is the first Nepali scholar to obtain the prestigious award from the reputed University. He has completed a course in forestry in 2002 under a WWF Scholarship program. Working as a forest ranger with Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation(DNPWC) for the last 10 years and based in Royal Bardia National Park, Kandel now moves from the terai to the mountains at Shey Phoksundo National Park in Dolpa region to continue his job.

He says that his time at Pakistan has been not so memorable, especially living during such a violent situation in Afghan-Pakistan border following the international campaign against terrorism.

"At a time when things were getting really worse, my university did all to protect its students," says Kandel.

He also says that Peshawar University was one of the few universities that opened during that intense situation. He was then living just 130 km from the Afghan-Pakistan border.