2015年ネパール春調査（5）カトマンズ大学にて(2)

2015年ネパール春調査（5）

カトマンズ大学にて(2)

１）ネパール地質学会

写真１　ウプレティ前教授とのスナップ（ホテルYak&Yetiにて）

　　ネパール地質学会が４月７日から９日にカトマンズで開かれました。会場は前回報告しました国際氷河学会と同じホテルYak&Yetiで、２会場に別れた発表とポスター・セッションがあり、参加者は200名ほどでした。まず最初に、トリブバン大学を退官されたウプレティ前教授（写真１）が総括的な報告を行い、ヒマラヤの地質研究に功績のあったヨーロッパのガンサー博士などとともに、日本の木崎博士グループの業績を高く評価していたことが印象的でした。

写真２　シワリーク（Chure）地域の環境改善担当のRameshore Khanalさんの発表

　　会議の共通テーマは“Geosciemces in Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities”で、このテーマに直接関係する発表としては”Reversing the Chure degradation: analysis of the issues and measures underway for correction”　の題で、ネパール南部のシワリーク（Chure）地域の環境改善担当のRameshore Khanalさん（写真２）が報告しました。マラリア撲滅で移住者が増え、開拓による熱帯雨林消滅が危惧されるなか、侵食されやすい砂地の多いシワリーク地域の地形保全や環境保全のための農業や牧畜指導を住民と一緒になって総合的に行っているとのことでした。彼はもと大蔵省のセクレタリーをされていたそうですので、今後の指導力に期待されます。また、シッキムのVinod Tewariさんからは”Potential of geopark development in the Sikkim Himalaya, India: some suggestions”の題で、重要な地質フィールドの保全と博物館構想が報告されました。シッキムには古生代のゴンドワナ大陸の氷河遺跡や植物化石があるなど貴重な露頭を保全し、観光にも生かしていきたいとのことでした。

写真３　山形大学の八木浩司教授のポスター発表

　　さらに山形大学の八木浩司教授（写真３）は”Critical slope angle inducing landslides on dip slope by each geological type in central western part of the lower Nepal Himalaya”のポスター発表を行い、現地調査に基づく地滑り地形の詳細な地図に注目が集まっていました。八木教授によれば、衛星写真を解析する研究が増えているが、それでは実際の現象を見落としている可能性があるとの主張には賛同しました。というのは、ネパールの最近の五万分の一地形図でも、実際には氷河のないモレーンの谷に氷河があるように書かれている地域があるからです（写真４）。この地図を見ると、氷河中央部に沢山の大規模な氷河湖が分布する不自然な形態になっていますが、おそらく、航空写真に映った雪などの影響で氷河地域を拡大解釈したのでしょう。この地図の氷河分布は、あたかも16世紀の拡大期の氷河を見ているような感じです。ただ、氷河湖については正確に表現されているようですが、この五万分の一地形図はよく利用されているので、氷河地域での利用に当たっては注意が必要です。

 写真４　1963年のシュナイダー地図（左）のモレーンの谷「Hongu Valleyの字」の部分が1996年のネパール測量局の地図（右）では氷河域を示す水色の等高線で描かれている。

　　学会の責任者の１人であるVishnu Dangol教授（写真５）は、前便でお知らせしたように学会参加費を半額にしてくださった方ですが、教授からは会議後、次のようなメイルが送られてきました。

Dear Fushimi sensei

I express my heartfelt gratitude to you from the bottom of my heart for making the 7th Nepal Geological Congress a success. Your active participation and support was instrumental for us to organize the Congress.

Thanking you once again

Vishnu Dangol, Ph.D.

Convener, Seventh Nepal Geological Congress

写真５　ポスター会場のスナップ（右から２人目がVishnu Dangol教授、左端が八木浩司教授）

   このネパール地質会議では下記の題で発表しましたので、その要旨を添付します。
記
題：Environmental changes of Nepal Himalaya in terms of GLOF phenomena

要旨　Due to the global warming, many glaciers are receding and glacial lakes are expanding and the Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) have been occurring in Nepal Himalaya. For example, Mingbo GLOF in 1977 (Fushimi et al,1985), Lagmoche GLOF in 1985 and  Saboi GLOF in 1998 were occurred in the Khumbu region. All of the reported GLOFs occurred in the region are smaller glacial lakes which area are less than 1 km2.and no larger glacial lakes showed any GLOF.

　　The Tulagi glacial lake is located at the upper part of the Dana Khola in the west of Mt. Manaslu. The water level of Tulagi glacial lake has been lowered due to the outlet erosion at the end moraine since the 16th century glacial advance that indicates to lower the GLOF risk. At the same time, the lake level continuously lowers in recent years since 1990’s.

　　The end moraine structure of a large glacial lake is strong enough to prevent the occurrence of the GLOF that is completely different from a small glacial lake with steep cliff at the upper part of the lake producing avalanches directly dropping into the lake causing TSUNAMI to destroy the fragile ice-cored moraine. We must be very careful about the small glacial lakes developing in the Hong Khola around Mt. Chamlang which have steep cliff in the upper part of their accumulation area, so they must be taken to mitigate against GLOF. However, the large glacial lakes such as the Tulagi and the Imja are safe against the GLOF, as the ICIMOD (2011) reported “Imja Tso has less likelihood of outburst than Tulagi lake”.

References

Fushimi et al, 1985 Nepal case study: Catastrophic Flood. IAHS, 149, 125-130.

ICIMOD  2011  Glacial Lakes and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in Nepal. Kathmandu: ICIMOD.

Environmental changes of Nepal Himalaya in terms of GLOF phenomena

Hiroji Fushimi
Kathmandu University

1. Introduction
In 1965, I saw Nepal for the first time. I recalls those days when the Kathmandu valley breathed fresh crisp air and the sight of towering Himalaya as well as various species of fishes in the clear Bagmati River simply took my  breath away. However now days, the mountains and hills are hidden by thick air pollution and choking dust and in the name of Bagmati are the waste, stench and filth. I would like to remind you to think seriously about the causes and dangerous effects of this environmental deterioration. In 1960’s and 1070’s, there were many cows and dogs in streets clearing up the waste and raw vegetables where there were almost no plastic products and there was fortunately a sustainable circulation in　the Kathmandu life environments that is now completely destroyed.

Fig.1   Changes of Kongma Glacier, Khumbu region, east Nepal.                                                        　　

Fig.2　Changes of Gyajo Glacier, Khumbu region, east Nepal.

We will find the similar kind of the great change in Himalayan glacial phenomena. I would like to show you two typical pictures taken in Khumbu region, east Nepal. Figure 1 is the Kongma Glacier located near the Khumbu Glacier of Mt. Everest, the ELA (Equilibrium Line Altitude)  located in the middle of the glacier indicateing a heathy glacier in 1970’s, but it raised higher than the glacier altitude meaning all part of the glacier being an ablation area. That is why the glacier melts very fast. Figure 2 is Gyajo Glacier near Namch Bazar, it was also a healthy glacier in 1970, but it retreated very rapidly and became no more glacier to have been a parennial snow pacth in 2009 just like Kongma Glacier (Fig, 1). These glaciers located below 7000 m will be desapear in the middle of this century.

Fig. 3　Construction of the water pipe from Gyajo Khola, Namche Bazar area.

The Gyajo Glacier is an important water resource for Namche Bazar and the near-by villages in the Khumbu region and that is why they are making a hard work to construct a water pipe from Gyajo Glacier (Fig. 3), but people will lose their water resource in near future. It is really happened 5 years ago in Mustang, north central Nepal where people had to leave their villages as an environmental refugee due to the lack of water resource caused by the disappearance of glaciers (Myrepublica, 2010-06-01). This kind of the environmental refugee will happen not only in Nepal, but also in many parts of the South Asia where the Himalaya fed mighty rivers flow down and the level of the river lowers but the ocean level raises due to the global glacier melts as well as oceanic temperature rise, consequently the salt sea water penetrates into river as well as ground water. What will happen then, several hundreds millions people will be environmental refugees in the end of this century in order to get fresh water. I think the change of the Himalayan glaciers will be an important key for the Asian environmental issues in terms of water resources.
This is a report from field works since 1970 in the Nepal Himalaya, and not from desk work.

2. GLOF characteristics of the Nepal Himalaya

Fig.4　GLOF map of the Khunbu region, east Nepal. Yellow circle shows the GLOF small lakes, red dashed line the large lakes and yellow dashed line the small lakes wit the high risk of future GLOF.

   Since 1970, many glaciers are receding and at the same time, glacial lakes are expanding in the Khumbu region of east Nepal, and the Mingbo Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)　occurred in 1977. After that, the　Lagmoche  GLOF in 1985 and the Saboi GLOF in 1998 were occurred in the Khumbu region (Fig. 4).
   The reported GLOFs occurred in the region are smaller glacial lakes which area are less than 1 km2 and no larger glacial lakes such as Glaciers Imja and Tso Rolpa  showed any GLOF phenomena. Why is the small glacial lake susceptible and a large glacial lake safe against GLOF in Nepal Himalaya?
   All of these valleys eroded by GLOF are clearly seen even in the satellite image shown by the white line due to the eroded valley topography (Fig. 4). 　However, ther are no such eroded valley topography are seen along the river sides of  the larger glacial lakes, Imja and Tso Rolpa.

2-1.  Small glacial lake
2-1-1.  1977 Mingbo GLOF 

Fig.5　1977 Mingbo GLOF In the left phot, Mingbo valley eroded, Ice coreed moraine and newly formed lake are shown, and the vacant lake and Dudh Kosi hydrograph in the right figure.

   The Mingbo (Nare) glacial lake was located in the south of Mt. Ama Dablam, Khumbu region. On 3 Sept., 1977, the lake caused the GLOF (Fig. 5) when we had been making glaciological surveys in the region. So, we went up along the eroded Minbo valley caused by the GLOF (Left photo) and observed the vacant lake 300 m long, 200 m wide and 30 m deep with the terminal moraine destroyed (Upper right). There was an ice-cored moraine (Left photo).
   Due to the large amount of debris caused by the GLOF, a new lake was formed in the Imja Khola near Pangboche (Lower left photo), while the river level of Dudh Kosi raised abruptly about 1 m at Raswa Hydrological Station (Lower right). So, the GLOF disasters, such as destruction of roads, bridges and houses near the river bed, were occurred along Dudh Kosi (river).

2-1-2.   1985 Lagmoche GLOF

Fig.6　Lagmoche (Digtso) glacial lake near Thame in the western part of the Khumbu region. End-moraine was destroyed at the 1985 GLOF and the GLOF disaster was reported along the Dudh Kosi river.

   The　Lagmoche (Digtso) glacial lake  near Thame in the western part of the Khumbu region has the steep cliff  causing avalanches and rocks directly falling into the lake and huge waves (Tsunami) possibly destroyed  the end moraine (Upper right photo) and villages along the river (Lower right photo) by the 1985 GLOF.

2-1-3.   1998 Saboi GLOF

Fig.7　 Saboi glacial lake is in the south-eastern part of the Khumbu region and has a steep clif in the upper part of the lake.

   Figure 7 is the picture of the Saboi glacial lake as well as its glacier taken from a plane and in field survey I 1976. The Saboi glacial lake in the south-eastern part of the Khumbu region locates in Hinku Khola and  has also the steep cliff in the upper part of the lake (Fig. 7) was thought to have destroyed the end moraine by a kind of Tsunami due to the avalanche or rock fall from the steep cliff at the time of the 1998 GLOF.

2-1-4.  Gabche  GLOF

Fig. 8　 Gaptse glacial lake is located at the south face of Mt. Annapurna. Gapche Glacier is fed by avalanche which causes a large wave called  “TSUNAMI” to form Glacial lake Outburst Flood (GLOF).

   The Gaptse glacial lake locates at the south side of Mt. AnnapurnaⅡ in the central Nepal Himalaya. Manoj and others (2005) reported that “the field verification was not done regarding the nature of glaciated region”  So, the field observation was carried out in May 2012 and we found that it is the lowest glacial lake with altitude of 2,500 m a.s.l. in Nepal Himalaya and there is a quite large cliff, which altitude difference is about 4000 m, in the upper part of the glacial lake.
   We noticed frequent avalanches from Mt. AnnapurnaⅡand Lamjung Himal, and such avalanches and rock falls create a Tsunami to cause GLOF when they fall directly into the lake. The GLOF disaster occurred along the Madi Khola in 2003, 2005 and 2009 according to the local residents.

2-2.   Tulagi glacial lake as a large glacial lake

Fig. 9　The Tulagi glacial lake is located at the upper part of the Dana Khola (river), one of the Marshangdi’s tributary river in the west of Mt. Manaslu and Mt. P29

   The Tulagi glacial lake is one of the large glacial lake and located at the upper part of Dana Khola, the Marshangdi’s tributary river in the west of Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Peak 29. Ther is no eroded valley topography caused by GLOF along Dana Khola below the river mouth of Tulagi glacial lake.

2-2-1.  Glacial changes

Fig. 10　 The changes of the Tulagi glacial lake and its glacier terminus

   The changes of the Tulagi glacial lake and its glacier terminus were determined by air photos and field surveys.The lake size is 3 km long, 0.5 km wide and  expanded at yearly rates of 31 m from 1975-1992, 47 m from 1992-2005, 68 m from 2005-2008, 60 m from 2008-2009 and no significant change from 2009-2014. The recent changing rate had been accelerating with active calving from 1975 to 2009, but it seems to be settled down and show no remarkable calving phenomena since 2009. The terminus of Tulagi glacier was thought to have stranded on the lake bed.

Fig. 11　 Tulagi glacier terminus

   The Tulagi glacial lake has the huge debris covered glacier in the upper part receiving  avalanches and rock falls from Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Peak 29, which is completely different from the small glacial lakes having the avalanches and rock falls dropping directly into the lake.

2-2-2.  Recent changes of the lake level

Fig. 12　The above yellow arrows show the lowering of Tulagi lake level form 1996 to 2009.

As Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) made a glaciological survey in 1996, the topographic characteristics were compared with the photographs of 1996 and 2009 in the lower part of the lake, and the lowering of the lake level is clearly shown by the yellow arrows and a clean pond is newly formed due to the sedimentation of glacial clay (glacier milk) at P point (Fig. 12).

Fig. 13　The shore line without vegetations is 2.5 m above the present lake level and the 1996 water gauge has been left higher than the lake level

   The shore line without vegetation is 2.5 m above the present lake level (Lower and upper right photo in Fig. 13) and the 1996 water gauge has been left higher than the present lake level (Upper left photo in Fig. 13). The lake level lowered 2.5 m from 1996 to 2009.

2-2-3.  Glacial history of the neoglaciation

Fig. 14　Glacial history (glaciations) in Khumbu region, east Nepal.

   The plant remnants were sampled from the moraine basement of the Thuklha stage in the Khumbu region. Since the 14C age of the sample is 410±110 yr B.P., the age of the Thuklha stage is the 16th century, beween 15th and 17th  century in the neoglaciation (Fushimi, 1981).

Fig. 15　 Topography of the terminus of Tulagi glacier lake

   Fushimi (1981) reported that the Tulagi glacial lake was formed after the glacial advance in 16th century in the neoglaciation and there is no evidence of the GLOF occurrence indicated by a newly formed river terrace with an eroded valley topography along Dana Khola. At the  end-moraine of Tulagi glacial lake between the lower part of the lake and the most upper part of Dana Khola, the river mouth (outlet) is eroded about 30 m from the top of the end moraine formed in 16th  century. So, the water level of Tulagi glacial lake has been lowered at the average annual rate of 5 cm due to the outlet erosion at the end moraine since the glacial advance of 16th century that indicates to decrease the GLOF risk.

2-2-4.  Moraine structure

Fig.16　 Moraine structure. The end moraine structure of Tulagi glacial lake is strong enough to prevent the occurrence of the GLOF

   The end moraine structure of Tulagi glacial lakes is wide and strong enough to prevent the occurrence of the GLOF. The lake level of the Tulagi glacial lake has been continuously lowered by the outlet erosion at the end moraine to decrease the GLOF risk and it is occurred without having a man-made canal. The Tulagi glacial lake is thought to have a kind of an autonomous property to prevent the GLOF.

2-2-5.  Imja glacial lake

Fig. 17　 Changes of the Imja glacial lake from 1975 to 2013.

       Figure 17 shows the Imja glacial lake taken in 1975 by plane, and in 2002 (Upper left photo in Fig. 17) and 2013 (Lower left photo in Fig. 17) taken at the field study. The size of  Imja glacial lake expanded from 1975 to 2002, but reduced in 2013. The end moraine structure of Imja glacial lake is also wide and strong enough to prevent the occurrence of the GLOF.
   Though the Himalayan Times (2013) reported that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Nepal government made an agreement to build a man-made canal, I would like to recommend to make necessary field observations before taking such project to construct a man-made canal in the pristine nature of the Himalayas.

3.   Conclusion

Fig. 18　 The small glacial lake, developing in the Hong Khola around Mt. Chamlang.

3-1. GLOF
All of the reported GLOFs occurred in Nepal Himalaya are smaller glacial lakes and no larger glacial lakes such as Glaciers Tulagi, Imja and Tso Rolpa showed any GLOF phenomena before.
    Why is a large glacial lake safe against GLOF in Nepal Himalaya? What is the higher risk of the GLOF? It is not a large glacial lake, but a small glacial lake. We must be very careful about the small glacial lakes, for example, a small glacial lake developing in the Hong Khola around Mt. Chamlang  (Fig. 18)  which have steep cliff to cause avalanches and rock falls that create a Tsunami destroying the end moraine and forming the GLOF, so they must be taken to mitigate against GLOF.
    Due to the outlet erosion at the end moraine of the larger glacial lake since the 16th century glacial advance, the lake level has been always lowering and reducing the GLOF risk without having a man-made canal.
    As the ICIMOD (2011) reported “Imja glacial lake has less likelihood of outburst than Tulagi lake” and Tulagi glacial lake is safe against GLOF due to an erosion at the end moraine, so both the large glacial lakes such as Tulagi and Imja are safe against GLOF.

3-2.  Environmental changes
The International Mountain Museum in Pokhara gets about 1.5-lakh visitors annually and more than a half of them are students coming with school buses from all over Nepal. I prepared a corner section in the Museum dedicated to showing the changes of Himalayan environment, such as glaciers, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), Global Warming and the problems created out of it. I want all the Nepalese people especially the younger impressionable minds to be aware of the fact that Nepal’s environment is also changing rapidly and its effects on the future of the country. I shared my future plans of wanting to make a picture database, about one hundred thousand massive image collections that I donated to the museum.

Fig. 19　The big bats migrated, then what will happen to the crow kingdom! Is this an omen of the Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"?

    As the upper Mustang people already migrated few years ago due to the shortage of water resources caused by the disappearance of glaciers and most of glaciers located below 7,000 m will disappear in the middle of this century, then several hundreds million people in the South Asia living along the mighty rivers of the Himalayan origin will lose the fresh water and they have to migrate as an environmental refugee just like the Mustang people. There are now no big bats used to be in the forest of the old palace in Kathmandu (Lower left photo in Fig.19) and they migrated somewhere. They may be a kind of the environmental refugee indicating our future, then what will happen to the crow kingdom (Fig.19) now seen not only in Kathmandu but also all over in Nepal. If there is nobody living in Kathmandu, the crow can not get foods and they also become an environmental refugee. Finally, will the so called, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” come to Kathmandu in Nepal Himalaya? From that point of view, I am now delivering my lecture “Environmental Changes of the Nepal Himalaya” (Fushimi and Hoshiba, 2015) at Kathmandu University with my hearty condolences to Nepalese people suffered from the huge earhthquake happened on 25 April, 2015.

References
Fushimi et. Al. (1981) Glacial history in the Khumbu region, Nepal Himalayas in relation to upheavals of the Great Himalayas. Symposium on Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) plateau (beijin, China), 2, 1641-1648.
Fushimi et. al, (1985) Nepal case study: Catastrophic Flood. Techniques for prediction of runoff from glacierized areas, International Association of Hydrological Sciences, 149, 125-130.
Fushimi H. and Hoshiba S. (2015) Kathmandu University Lecture.
http://environmentalchangesofthenepalhimalaya.weebly.com/
ICIMOD  (2011)  Glacial Lakes and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in Nepal. Kathmandu: ICIMOD.
Manoj Kr. Ghimire1, Shreekamal Dwivedi and Subhrant K. C.1 2005 Glacial study in Madi watershed with special reference to GLOF of 2003. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, Vol. 32 (Sp. Issue).
Myrepublica 2010-06-01 Nepal's first climate refugee village in Mustang.
http://archives.myrepublica.com/portal/?action=news_details&news_id=19341
Rachel Carson  (1962) Silent Spring.
The Himalayan Times (2013-07-15). Nepal, UNDP ink deal on cutting flood risk.
 http://southasiarevealed.com/2013/07/16/nepal-undp-ink-deal-cutting-flood-risk/

２）カトマンズ大学の講義

写真６　干場悟さんの講義風景

　　現在のところ当初の予定通り、月・水・金曜日の午前中２時間の講義（＊１）で、全体の半分ほどを終えていますが、今回のネパール地質学会の期間中は、干場悟さんに講義をおこなっていただきました（写真６）。干場さんはコンピューター“IT”の専門家ですので、”How to get the skill of computing”（＊２）のテーマで、学生が大いに興味をもっくれました。

（＊１）http://environmentalchangesofthenepalhimalaya.weebly.com/

（＊２）http://easymycomputer.weebly.com/

３）ネパール山岳協会とモンゴル山岳協会関係者

写真７　モンゴル山岳協会の歓迎会（ネパール帽子をかぶって中央で踊っている文化観光省次官のSuresh M. Shresthaさんと一緒の踊っている左の方がモンゴル山岳協会長のZaya Sanjaaさん）

　　ネパール山岳協会副会長のサンタ・ラマさんは国際山岳博物館担当でもありますので、去年暮れにアジア山岳協会広島会議の時に東京で関係者が会い、博物館の課題について議論しました。今回もカトマンズで４月８日に会うと、バンダ（ゼネスト）も中止になったので、モンゴル山岳協会の方の歓迎会を行えるようになったとのこと、ついては参加しないかと誘われました。歓迎会場はネパール・レストランで、広島会議にも参加し、多少の日本語を話すモンゴル山岳協会長のザヤ・サンジャさんも踊りだすほどの楽しい会（写真７）になりました。

４）バンダ（ゼネスト）の影響

写真８　バンダ当日の旧王宮前の通りの車の状況

　　ネパール新憲法の成立は、６年前にJICAのボラティアーとしてポからの国際山岳博物館に来て以来の課題になっていますが、今回も野党側が中心になって与党側へ圧力をかけるために、当初の予定では４月７日から３日間、産業活動停止（緊急車以外の車使用禁止）などのバンダをすることになっていましたが、前述のように、第１日目の夕方５時でバンダは終了しました。４月７日からはネパール地質会議が始まっていましたので、カトマンズ中央部のターメルにあるホテルから会場のホテルYak&Yetiまで２０分ほど歩く途中で、バンダ前後の車の様子を観察しました。

写真９　バンダ終了後の旧王宮前の通りの車の状況

　　　４月７日のバンダ当日は車はほとんどなく、もっぱら力車と自転車が我が物顔に走っていました（写真８）。バンダ中は車の排気ガスの影響がなくなりましたので、空気がきれいになり、マスクも必要ないほどでした。ところが、バンダが終了すると車がこぞって道路に出てくる（写真９）と、たちまち元の木阿弥で、空気が汚れ、マスクが必需品になりました。バンダは、産業活動にとっては打撃ですが、空気をきれいにする環境問題解決にとっては寄与していますので、車を禁止しなくとも、東京でやったような車の排ガス規制ができれば良いのだが、と思いました。といいますのは、ネパール地質会議が終了した４月９日にカトマンズ大学に戻る時、黒々としたすさまじい煙状の排気を出すトラック（写真１０）の後ろを追従する羽目になったからです。そのため、していたマスクはたちまち黒くなってしまいました。トラックの直後を走っていたバイクの運転手が気の毒になるほどでした。

写真１０　黒々としたすさまじい煙状の排気を出すトラック

５）ビスケット・ジャットラ祭り

写真１１　バクタプールでビスケット・ジャットラ祭り。左下の日本の山車を引っ張る祭りのルーツかも。

　　４月10日にリジャンさんの家のあるバクタプールでビスケット・ジャットラと呼ばれる山車を引っ張る祭り（写真１１）が開かれました。名前のビスケットとは食べ物ではなく、ネパール語ですが、意味はりジャンさんもよくわからないとのことです。意味はともかく、幸運を呼ぶ祭りのようです。山車を綱で引っ張る様子が祇園祭や大津祭りなどとよく似ているので、日本の山車を引っ張る祭りのルーツかもしれません。

写１２　祭りを空から無人操縦の小型ヘリコプター（Drone）が撮影

　　　その祭りを空から無人操縦の小型ヘリコプター（Drone）が撮影していました（写真１２）が、さっそく「youtube」にでている画像（写真１３）を見ると、（日本の首相官邸にも落ちたそうですが）このようなDroneによる撮影画像は氷河調査などでも有効ではないかと感じました。

写真１３　 Droneの「youtube」画像（https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwJsH0UWrB4）

６）大学周辺の散歩コース

写真１４　大学周辺の散歩コース（GPSの軌跡がそれぞれのコースを示す；ほぼ中央のKUがカトマンズ大学）

　　ネパールの休日は土曜日ですが、それ以外にも４月１４日は新年を迎える元旦でしたし、また４月１７日は元首相が亡くなられたので休日になりました。このような休日の時には、大学周辺のハイキングを楽しんでいます（写真１４）。カトマンズ大学（KU）を中心にして歩き回りましたので、東西南北ほぼ５キロ周辺の土地勘がつきました。大学が田園地帯にあることは前便でお知らせしましたが、周辺の山地はかなりの森林が残されており、のんびりと森林浴にひたれますし、４月はじめならシャクナゲを見ることもできます。森の中には祠や寺院がありますので、住民がお寺とともに森林も大切にしていることがわかります。大学周辺の森の伐採は禁止されているとのことですので、水資源の供給地としても森林は大切です。しかし、お寺の近くまでも道路をつけて観光地化し、大音量の音楽を流しているところがあるのにはがっかりもします。
　　ところで、上記の新年元旦はネパール歴で2072年とのことで、ドゥリキヘルのバグマティ寺院背後からのぼる日の出の写真を使って、ネパールの友人たちには年賀状（写真１５）を送りました。

写真１５　ネパール歴２０７２年の年賀状

７）これからの予定

５月３日から９日にポカラに行き、国際山岳博物館の展示更新をしますので、その期間の講義は、干場悟さんにしていただくことになっています。当初は５月末に講義を終了する計画でしたが、ポカラ行きが早くなりましたので、講義期間は１週間のび、６月５日まで行う予定です。