The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 2 - Part 4

Chapter 2: Part 4: Do wolves and yaks walk together in the rain?

Dawa and Brother Tameng watched in wonder at the sight of the yaks walking down the lower trail from the direction of the Dirapuk monastery in the heavy rain. They could spot them only when the lightning in the upper mountains cast some light into the Lhachu valley. The herd walked tightly together, in a close bunch. Each individual in the herd seemed to be of the same age and of equal size. They knew their way and kept walking confidently.

Dawa whispered, “Let us not disturb our attention from the circle of stones. Keep your eyes at the pilgrims who are sitting it out in the rain. Those are wild yak and they are probably walking away from all the pilgrims and disturbance at Dirapuk and Dolma La pass. They must have been blocked and they are trying to get out of the valley and on to higher ground. Do not look away from the circle of stones.”

Brother Tameng nodded in the dark night, and tapped Dawa’s hands, knowing that they could not see each other. He kept watching the pilgrims, and on occasions when he could watch their silhouette, he knew that they continued to sit there. Had they seen the herd of wild yaks approaching them? Did they know about them? Were they connected? In this place, under the shadow of the Kang Renpoche Mountain, Brother Tameng felt, anything could happen. He kept moving his line of sight from the pilgrims to the herd of wild yak.

They were certainly larger than the domestic yak that he was familiar with, thought Brother Tameng. These were larger, much larger. The span of their horns was also wider, indeed, much wider, larger and heavier. It was amazing that the herd could walk so tightly together, in such a dark night, in a rainstorm and yet not have the horns get entangled with each other. Realising that he was getting distracted, Brother Tameng turned again to watch the circle of stones. He could see the huddle below the plastic sheets. Did the pilgrims sitting out there know about the wild yak herd that was walking towards them in the lower trail?

Dawa whispered again, “Brother, you watch the pilgrims and the area around the circle of stones. Be careful. Anything can happen at any time. I will keep watching the wild yak herd and the areas away from the circle of stones.” Brother Tameng tapped Dawa’s hand in agreement. The rain was getting heavier and more intense. The thunder had started in the valleys nearby, and the lightning was brighter in the Lhachu valley. The sound of the thunder in each valley seemed to echo against the other valleys, and seemed like the roars would never stop.

The wild yak herd moved across a rain-laden fast flowing stream that crossed the lower trail. The waters were rising, and the yaks walked through the fast stream without stopping. Their speed seemed slow, but Dawa knew that the perspective in this dark stormy night could be extremely deceptive. The wild yak herds were known to move rapidly on steep slopes and charge through the cold plains. The domestic yak stayed away from them and so did the sheep and goat herders. The Changpa nomads had many stories of wild yak herds in the high mountains. After each narration, the stories only got wilder and fascinating.

Dawa wondered about this herd. This was unlike any wild yak herd that he had seen in all his years in the valleys around the Kang Renpoche Mountain. This herd seemed larger than the largest wild bull that he had seen five years ago on the banks of the hill stream river near the Drolma La pass. That bull had been larger than most other yak bulls that he had seen elsewhere. He had been able to estimate the height of that large bull because it had moved against an old stone stupa, and there had been a prayer cloth hanging over the higher parts. It had been useful as a marker and Dawa had been able to understand that the bull was about 7 ½ feet tall.

This wild yak herd that was moving down the lower trail was uniquely different from other yak herds that he had known. All individuals in this herd seemed equal in size, and he sensed that each individual was a massive bull, and each could be about more than eight feet in height. It was not so much about the height. Dawa felt that the bulls seemed to be much larger than other wild yaks. They seemed to be really huge. More than 1.5 tonnes in weight, he thought. This could not be so much as real, he wondered. Was it really happening?

He knew that the wild yaks did not mind the rain, but could they really withstand this intense rainstorm? He looked at the circle of stones, and could make out the pilgrims sitting under the plastic sheets. What was happening? How would this night move? What would the pilgrims do? Had the wild yak herd come down this trail on earlier occasions also? He wished that he had had the courage and presence of mind and initiative to come out in the rainstorm at night and had tried to find out what was happening. He felt grateful to Brother Tameng for his courage.

The wild yak herd was almost near the circle of stones. They were walking on the lower trail from Dirapuk towards Choku. The pilgrims were sitting at their spot on the middle trail. Brother Tameng and Dawa were hiding behind the low wall at the dilapidated stone stupa on the higher trail. The rainstorm was beginning to show a slight drizzle of hail. They were small hailstones and not dangerous. The hailstorm could change suddenly and gather in strength and pour larger hailstones. Brother Tameng and Dawa had a clear view, if it could be called that in this stormy night, whenever the lightning hit the higher mountains.

There was some movement in the circle of stones, they realized. The twelve pilgrims had moved about in the spot. The plastic sheets seemed to have been opened up and rearranged. Perhaps the pilgrims had spotted the wild yak herd. Dawa wondered if the pilgrims would get away from the circle of stones and move up into the higher trails to get away from the animals.

The animals came to a halt below the circle of stones. They were tightly bunched, and stood magnificently in the rainstorm. A strange change took over in the Lhachu Valley in the area around the circle of stones. The rain seemed to have stopped here. Dawa and Brother Tameng could see the rain at Dirapuk, at Tarboche and on the higher slopes of Kang Renpoche and other mountains on the other side of the Lhachu Valley. The clouds cleared over Choku and the moon came out from the high slopes. The valley was bathed in brilliant moonlight and one could see the herd of wild yaks and the circle of stones.

The wild yaks grouped around, turning about, and were now facing the circle of stones. They continued to be bunched very tightly. The animals began to walk up the lower hill slope towards the circle of stones. What was happening, wondered Dawa. He could sense Brother Tameng’s excitement. The yaks walked right to the circle of stones and stood there silently. The twelve pilgrims removed their plastic sheets and continued to sit at the same spot. They seemed to be humming some sort of a prayer hymn. Dawa could see that one among the pilgrims was a holy man, and he had a prayer drum that was being turned about.

Brother Tameng nudged Dawa silently, and pointed with his finger at the lower slope. At the spot where the herd of wild yaks had turned and walked up to the circle of stones, there now stood a pack of wolves, scattered and silent, watching. Dawa counted twelve wolves that were on sight. They had not seen them earlier. It could have been due to the rain and the dark stormy night. Had the wolves come with the wild yak herd? They could have missed seeing them earlier. Or, the wolves could have been waiting in the region for the twelve pilgrims to move. They may have been waiting their time. After all, the wolves were not known to walk with wild yaks. They were known to be their occasional and rare predators. The wild yak had only the wolf to fear on rare occasions.

The pilgrims sat quietly at the circle of stones, watching the wild yak standing on the slopes. They continued with their humming. The pilgrims did not seem disturbed and did not seem to realize that they were watching a strange happening. Or, did they actually expect it to happen? The wolves stood silently at the hill stream on the lower trail. There was no sound in the area, and strangely, the wild yaks were not even grunting. Dawa and Brother Tameng could see the smoke coming out of the yaks’ nostrils. Their tails were upright. They were indeed tall and really large. And then, the night changed yet again. The moon went behind the high mountains. The rain clouds returned. The rainstorm started pouring down the Choku area. It was dark again.