Nepal - Vulture Restaurant

Nepal's vultures are big beautiful soaring birds. Due to widespread use of a livestock anti-inflammatory that is toxic to the birds, the vulture population in Nepal has plummeted at alarming rates. For more info on the Himalayan vultures and the efforts to keep bird colonies going, click here.

There are a couple vulture restaurants in Nepal. They are places where sick cows can find refuge in their final days and where vultures can get a tasty and, more important safe, meal when said cows pass on. We parked at the edge of a small village and walked down to the river bed. Here was a sign that we were walking the right direction.


Attendants at the vulture restaurant skin the animal and set it out for the birds.


After the paragliding tour was technically over, but still before the guys had left to bivi fly, our guides got a call from the Parahawking folks that a cow had died. We left the hotel crazy early in order to see the vultures and still manage to fly from Diki Danda the same day.


A guide to the vultures of Nepal.


We heard that some groups have waited an hour for the vultures to arrive at a carcass. We had no such wait. Almost the moment the carcass was out, the birds began to arrive.


We were rapt, watching the birds from our position in the blind. The 30+ birds who came to eat made quick work of the cow.


Within 30 minutes or so, only clean bone remained.


When the birds seemed finished, we walked out to take a look at the bones that remained. Several of the well-fed birds flew away at our approach. With their heavy stomachs, they flew sluggishly and didn't always achieve the height they seemed to be going for. A few flew across the river and landed several feet below the lip of the bluff, rather than at the top. With a hop, hop, hop, they could get there.