The new international airport in Nepal’s tourism capital of Pokhara lies close to prime vulture sites, raising risks for the already severely threatened birds. But 40-year-old Hemanta Dhakal keeps vigil, monitoring the interaction of vultures with aircraft from his rooftop daily, and working with airport staff to better manage their presence, reports Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi.
Pokhara hosts all nine species of vultures found in South Asia, including the critically endangered white-rumped (Gyps bengalensis) and slender-billed vultures (Gyps tenuirostris), and the endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).
At the same time, Pokhara draws much of Nepal’s tourism air traffic, mostly domestic flights from the capital, Kathmandu. While Pokhara’s old domestic airport was located away from the rivers and cliffs where vultures nest, the new international airport, built with financing from China, is closer to prime vulture sites such as the Bijaypur River and an old landfill, Joshi reports.
The landfill site has since been relocated, but a study published in June found that vultures still visit the old site likely because of food availability and proximity to forests, cliffs and river.
Soon after the airport’s opening on Jan. 1, 2023, a plane struck a steppe eagle upon approach for landing, killing the bird. “Although there were some problems with the old airport as well, the new one brings the problems to the fore,” said Dhakal, a seasoned ornithologist and conservation campaigner.
The new airport’s 2.5-kilometer (1.6-mile) runway, for example, sits right on the flight path of the vultures. The large birds also sometimes rest on the runway, especially during winters when the black tarmac absorbs more heat, Dhakal said.
In a study published in July 2025, Dhakal and his colleagues found that the new airport posed “significant” collision risks for several species, including the Egyptian, white-rumped, slender-billed, Himalayan (Gyps himalayensis), griffon (Gyps fulvus) and red-headed vultures (Sarcogyps calvus). However, the developer’s environmental impact assessment didn’t consider the interactions between aircraft and the different vulture species. Mongabay reviewed a version of the EIA report and found it only mentions the Egyptian vulture.
The new airport also doesn’t have a full-time ornithologist, so the staff there rely on training from Dhakal and his colleagues to identify and monitor birds, Joshi reported.
Dhakal said the ideal solution would be for airport authorities to shut down the airport during the times when bird activity peaks. But since this isn’t practical to achieve, Dhakal continues to record bird sightings, their nesting behavior, and their interactions with air traffic, and shares the findings with bird conservation networks and government officials.
The risk of a fatal collision between birds and airplanes is “pretty grave,” Dhakal said. “We hope the government acts soon to avoid a future tragedy.”
Read the full story by Abhaya Raj Joshi here.
Banner image: A flock of Himalayan griffon vultures photographed on the runway of Pokhara International Airport. Image courtesy of Hemanta Dhakal.
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