text: Koshitappu Wildlife Reserve has carved a place for itself as a bird watcher’s paradise. The reserve spreads over Saptari and Sunsari districts in east Nepal over the embankments of River Koshi. The reserve has been recognized as a Wetland Site from 1987. The vegetation of the reserve is mainly grassland with patches of scrub and deciduous riverine forests. The reserve has recorded around 479 species of bird variety, some of which fly all the way from Siberia during winder. A wide variety of ducks, herons, storks, egrets, ibis are seen on the riverbanks. Koshitappu Wildlife Reserve also has one of the few elephant stables of Asia. Other animals found here are wild buffalo, wild boar, hog deer, spotted deer, blue bull and jackal. Gharial crocodile and gigantic dolphin are also found here.
  Many tourists visit this park for bird watching. There are several resorts in the park for accommodation and also camping can be done. Koshitappu Wildlife Reserve can be reached from 40 kilometers drive from Biratangar. It is located about 500 kilometers from Kathmandu. April to June and October to March is best time to travel in this reserve.
  
  Has this been a good festive shopping season for the fashion sector? The jury’s still out on that one. But the latest figures from John Lewis suggest it’s not been spectacular. It seems consumers aren’t exactly rushing to stock up on the sparkly partywear that’s making almost every fashion store into a twinkling wonderland at the moment.
  In the seven days to December 12, fashion sales actually edged down (by 0.4%) with womenswear in particular having a tougher trading week. John Lewis said that was due to the mild weather, which would have dented coats, knits and boots. But isn’t this the time of year when people should be buying climate-neutral party dresses? If the sequin rush hasn’t taken off yet, we’ve only got a few days left for it to happen.
  Consumers were obviously getting ready for Christmas in some product areas as jewellery sales rose 15.6%, beauty services were up 9.8% (pre-party facials or maybe beauty gift cards?), and handbags rose 5.4%, which must have been a relief after all the talk of handbag fatigue for much of the year.