my travelogue of my month long cannabis preservation collections project in nepal nov 2008
nepall has changed alot now that the war is over, tourism is back in full force, moderization and road building is changing the landscape, power is being supplied deep into remote areas, and cheap chinese goods are flooding the market. the people are as friendly as ever, but the charm of a forgotton mountain kingdom is rapidily fading. pollution is reaching critical levels. but if you put in the time and get way up into the mountains all this dissapears. it was a little late for a collections trip, as most plants are harvested around diwali/tihar in late october in nepal. it was a good time for mature seeds as the plants that were left were nice and seeded, ive tried to collect earlier in the season but the seeds were immature and collections from villagers of the seeds from the prior season were usually non viable. many of the trekking areas have been cleaned up for tourism, plants and handrub was much harder to come by this time, my last trip was 2 years ago during the war and was alot different. it seems that commercial sifting from plots outside the kathmandu valley has replaced mountain handrub, and pressed handrub blocks as the common street hashish. most of the best collections came from off the beaten path, in secluded valleys, although there were some stunning plants along some trekking routes. all collections were done with maximum respect for the communities and villagers, no money changed hands, cannabis seeds were traded for heirloom vegetable seeds (10,000 were distributed) and school pens, i know bringing non native veggie seeds into a new ecosystem is a no no but the himalayas are being flooded with cheap chinese hybrid vegetable seed. some collections were not done out of respect or if it was a strange situation. the collections were done in a months time from 4 seperate regions, much more time and energy could be spent in the far east and far north aswell as the everest regions. the amount of hiking really kicked my ass, especially over passes and up mountains, i felt like the indiana jones of seed hunting. this is by no means a deffinative report on nepali cannabis, as much more can be done and much more data collected, these are my own views and collected info, i have a degree in religious anthropology not botany so bear with me. my current map does not show all the names and elevations so this post will be edited as info becomes availible, and more will be added, please feel fee to ask questions. all in all, it was a huge success, and represents one of the most indepth collections to date. i encourage everybody that loves this plant to go on simmillar seed safaris accross the planet to save the landraces and better the future of cannabis preservation and to reinvigorate the genepool.
nepall has changed alot now that the war is over, tourism is back in full force, moderization and road building is changing the landscape, power is being supplied deep into remote areas, and cheap chinese goods are flooding the market. the people are as friendly as ever, but the charm of a forgotton mountain kingdom is rapidily fading. pollution is reaching critical levels. but if you put in the time and get way up into the mountains all this dissapears. it was a little late for a collections trip, as most plants are harvested around diwali/tihar in late october in nepal. it was a good time for mature seeds as the plants that were left were nice and seeded, ive tried to collect earlier in the season but the seeds were immature and collections from villagers of the seeds from the prior season were usually non viable. many of the trekking areas have been cleaned up for tourism, plants and handrub was much harder to come by this time, my last trip was 2 years ago during the war and was alot different. it seems that commercial sifting from plots outside the kathmandu valley has replaced mountain handrub, and pressed handrub blocks as the common street hashish. most of the best collections came from off the beaten path, in secluded valleys, although there were some stunning plants along some trekking routes. all collections were done with maximum respect for the communities and villagers, no money changed hands, cannabis seeds were traded for heirloom vegetable seeds (10,000 were distributed) and school pens, i know bringing non native veggie seeds into a new ecosystem is a no no but the himalayas are being flooded with cheap chinese hybrid vegetable seed. some collections were not done out of respect or if it was a strange situation. the collections were done in a months time from 4 seperate regions, much more time and energy could be spent in the far east and far north aswell as the everest regions. the amount of hiking really kicked my ass, especially over passes and up mountains, i felt like the indiana jones of seed hunting. this is by no means a deffinative report on nepali cannabis, as much more can be done and much more data collected, these are my own views and collected info, i have a degree in religious anthropology not botany so bear with me. my current map does not show all the names and elevations so this post will be edited as info becomes availible, and more will be added, please feel fee to ask questions. all in all, it was a huge success, and represents one of the most indepth collections to date. i encourage everybody that loves this plant to go on simmillar seed safaris accross the planet to save the landraces and better the future of cannabis preservation and to reinvigorate the genepool.
Last edited:
