2008 nepali cannabis collections project travelouge

[bodhiseeds]

my travelogue of my month long cannabis 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.

it seems there was 4 main types of cannabis that i encountered. the classic highland sativa christmass tree, a large tall himalayan hashplant, a hardy highland indica (did not see any, but did do a two day hike straight up a mountain to a place they were spotted), and a lowland jungle sativa. there were a few anomalies, that were maybe hybrids, heirlooms, or extreme phenotypes, and a vast spectrum of color, smell, structure, and effect.

here they are:

location: shivapuri national forest
village: mulkharka
elevation: 1900m
classification: medium christmas tree shape dense floral clusters mountain sativa
aroma: spicy citrus menthol fading into jasmine/neroli
notes: my nepali friends favorite from the dry samples, smooth, tasty, hits hard and surrounds the head like an inflatetable joy helmet.





location: shivapuri national forest
village: mulkharka
elevation: 1900m
classification: big bushy foxtail hashplant
aroma: floral, soapy, green
notes: seeds came pre cured by the women of the land, seeds were also collected right off plant by me aswell to insure viability.











location: helambu
village: pati bhanjyang
elevation: 1770m
classification: tall tight christmas tree shape mountain sativa
aroma: green, floral, borneol, camphor, spicy.
notes: these came from my favorite shiva baba who lives two days walk into the mountains, we call him happy baba, he loves to garden and says his plants are superior to hashish. spicy mind inspiration, clear, motivational high.








location: helambu
village: upper gyalthun
elevation: 2100m
classification: medium tall christmass tree sativa
aroma: overwhelmingly grapefruit
notes: beautiful golden bud and nice trich formation



location: annapurna national forest
village: ghandruk
elevation: 1940m
classification: giant bushy foxtail hashplant
aroma: sweet lavender, geranium, aftershave.
notes: found this one on the day of the chopdown, not many seeds, biggest hasplant ive ever seen.













location: annapurna national forest
village: lower chhomrong
elevation: 2170m
classification: bushy sprawly hashplant that even grew along the ground
aroma: green, fuely, oily.
notes: lost to the fine folks at the US customs.

no photo



location: annapurna national forest
village: lower chhomrong
elevation: 2100m
classification: stretchy sativa with small tight sparse buds
aroma: honeysuckle
notes: sublime aroma

no photo


location: annapurna national forest
village: middle chhomrong
elevation: 2170m
classification: long full red armed christmass tree sativa.
aroma: spicy, soapy
notes: unique branching




location: annapurna national forest
village: mileche
elevation: 2000m
classification: big bushy tall classic himalayan hashplant
aroma: watermelon, tea rose.
notes: totally classic himalayan watermelon hashplant











location: annapurna national forest
village: mileche
elevation: 2000m
classification: classic highland mountain sativa
aroma: himalayan mountain flowers
notes: classic, big, tight, full, christmass tree, nepali highland mountain sativa.






location: annapurna national forest
village: chuile
elevation: 2500m
classification: tall mountain sativa
aroma: floral green
notes: pheno 1 tight sparse floral clusters



location: annapurna national forest
village: chuile
elevation: 2500m
classification: tall mountain sativa
aroma: floral green
notes: pheno 2 tighter sparse floral clusters, the green one in the photo.



location: annapurna national forest
village: chuile
elevation: 2500m
classification: very tall purple mountain sativa
aroma: grape bubblgum
notes: big, purple, crystally, and super grape bubblegum smell







location: annapurna national forest
village: upper chuile
elevation: 2500m
classification: tall mountain sativa
aroma: pure spicy
notes: most of the plant was gone but managed to collect some seeds, this was my nepali friends fav plant structure wise from earlier in the season but it was chopped before we got back to it.



location: annapurna national forest
village: banthanti
elevation: 2500m?
classification: possible highland indica
aroma: n/a
notes: very large seeds simmilar to deep chunk seeds, these plants had been done long before we arrived, village woman had kept them safe.

no photo

location: annapurna national forest
village: banthanti
elevation: 2500m?
classification: tall wispy mountain sativa
aroma: my guide says orange (i had the flu during this time so i could not smell)
notes: very wispy, nice crystals, low yeild.





location: annapurna national forest
village: chitre
elevation: 2200m?
classification: tall purple christmass tree mountain sativa
aroma: purple, grape, nag champa, burgandy, rich urkle like aroma.
notes: very simmilar to the chuile purple, except smaller seeds and stature, and a deeper more sublime aroma.







location: annapurna national forest
village: chitre
elevation: 2200m?
classification: medium tall fat leafy colas, classic breeders highland sativa
aroma: spicy, hazy, kitchen herbs, menthol, floral
notes: smells just like a bangi haze pheno i have, and looks like some phenos of satori.



location: annapurna national forest
village: upper ulleri
elevation: 2100
classification: small hashplant christmas tree sat hybrid
aroma: skunky, catpiss
notes: small with large pistils



location: chitwan national park
village: sauraha
elevation: 150m
classification: full on lowland terrai jungle sativa
aroma: temple ball, soapy, green, spice
notes: this plant is extremely stable and almost indestructible, i have had 5 females in 12oz cups in my mom room for over a year, they dont seem to care if theres no water, light, root space, pm, etc... they are prone to spider mites though, but they dont impact the plant that much. i have also bushmastered (pgr) them into bonsai sativas. should be a unique breeding tool.







and look what i found in the elephant poop


fresh cubensis
(made a sore print)


my nepali friends collections:

location: annapurna national forest
village: birathani
elevation:
classification: mountain sativa
aroma:
notes: bagseed



location: annapurna national forest
village: chuile
elevation: 2500m
classification: mountain sativa
aroma:
notes: bagseed


location: annapurna national forest
village: sikha
elevation:
classification: selected highland nepali
aroma:
notes: bagseed from the capt of cannabis in the annapurnas. he usually has the finest array of flower products.

location: langtang national forest near the tibet border
village: rimche
elevation:
classification: tall wispy wild to semi wild
aroma: green to spice
notes: ive collected in langtang before, cannabis grows wild all over the valley, offering a truly unique handrub product, very clear, up, dreamy but focused. all my collections in langtang have been sterile so far, im crossing my fingers on these.

location: kathmandu valley
village: thangot
elevation: 1900m
classification: semi commercial kathmandu cultivar
aroma:
notes: bagseed

25 totall collections......




disclaimer: i busted this out as fast as i could so misspellings, typos, etc... will be still present, i will edit the post as time goes on and add scanned maps, more photos etc....