So \u2013 be warned. To the eyes of a Nepali Policeman or Nepali Soldier \u2013 a camera tripod is a threat, and if you are not careful, carrying a camera tripod can be hazardous to your Health. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Carrying a tripod in Nepal almost got me shot by Nepal Police, and had Army soldiers walk by with ‘safety off’ on their rifles.<\/p>\n
It all started in Nagrakot (an hours drive north of Kathmandu), while walking through a Police checkpoint. I’d passed through this check point several times before, even with my camera tripod attached to my backpack, and had no problems. On this fateful day, I was carrying the tripod in my hand as I approached the checkpoint. At about 10 meters away the Police suddenly, and without warning started shouting at me, and pointed his rifle at my chest. I could not understand what he was saying \u2013 though the way he was waving his rifle, is seemed to mean …’drop ….drop’. With my eyes locked on the rifle, I slowly moved my arms away from my body, and lowered the tripod and placed it on its legs on the ground. In my right hand, I was holding my camera with a wrist strap. I placed the camera on the tripod, and carefully slid off the wrist strap and backed away. Seconds later, though it seemed like forever, another Policeman came running from behind me. He was angry, really angry and saying ‘camera…click..click’. I thought I was going to piss my pants. The second Policeman ran in front of me toward the first Policeman still with the rifle pointed at me, yelling something. The first Policeman then lowered his rifle (a World War 2 vintage Lee Enfield), then spat on the ground and flicked his thumb toward the path and went inside his guard post !.<\/p>\n
A few hours later, walking along the main road and passing a military base I saw a small hill on the other side of the rood. The small hill overlooked the valley below and had a superb view of the mountains in the distance. I headed over, checked out the view, took a few pictures, had a snack. The moment I unstrapped the camera tripod from my backpack – three soldiers came running over. Fortunately, none were carrying weapons. One said – \u201cYou are not allowed to be here\u201d, to which I replied \u201cI am sorry, there were no fences or signs\u201d. He smiled, and said, \u201cYes \u2013 you are correct\u201d. As we walked back to the road, we talked about Canada, and his memories of eating ‘beaver tails’ in Ottawa. We shook hands and he went back to his guard post.<\/p>\n
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