As the rising sun burns away the morning fog in Chitwan National Park, a committee of vultures perched high in the tree branches unfurl their wings to let the first warmth of the day heat their bodies.
In the clearing below, bones from an earlier meal are scraped for sinew by the early risers and a stray wild pig. Inside a nearby cage, Pithauli's cow-keeper, Yam Bahadur Nepali, and his sons prepare a skinned cow for serving.
Yam carts the body into the middle of a clearing in full view of the watching birds. When the previous carcass is reduced to bones, a fresh body is prepared in the cage to attract the vultures.
From a secluded location, Pithauli's vulture guide and community mobiliser, Hewal Chaudhary, counts the different species and their numbers during feedings.
Pithauli is the world's first community-managed vulture restaurant. It was set up inside Chitwan's buffer zone away from busy roads and construction sites. Local farmers sell their sick and injured cows to the restaurant for $3; the animals are then left to freely roam the site until their death.
Vultures feed entirely through scavenging, rather than hunting or grazing. It takes just an hour for them to transform a carcass into a pile of bones. Across many cultures the raptors still bear the connotation of being disease-spreading creatures and an omen of impending death.
'In the beginning, the villagers didn't like the vultures being in the area because they were a bad omen,' says Hewal. 'But now, people are happier because we are supporting the local biodiversity and bringing in some tourism.
Ghachock’s cow and vulture caretaker Khusi Man Gurun watches the birds feed from the hide.
Ghachock's restaurant lies on the Seti River within the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal's largest Important Bird and Biodiversity Site. But despite efforts to protect the vultures, researchers say birds in the region are still suffering from the impact of humans.
Bones left over from the feed are collected and stored. Hewal says they are later sold to be ground up and mixed with chicken feed, providing extra income for the restaurant.
'In winter when it's cold, we'll get more sick cows, sometimes twice a week,' says Hewal. 'We used to test the meat for Diclofenac, but now the area is free, and the vets are all monitored to ensure they're not selling it.'
Cow-caretaker Khusi Man Gurun has worked the Ghachock feeding site since it opened in 2006. Ecotourism is a priority goal for Bird Conservation of Nepal, whose members come from local villages. 'We want to conserve the biodiversity and promote the ecosystem by keeping the vultures safe,' says Khusi.
Dozens of vultures sit along the ridge of a cliff at Pokhara's main waste site, waiting for people sifting rubbish to leave. When it is safe, the birds fly down and pick through plastic and metal to get at any food scraps, consuming toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the process.
A critically endangered white-rumped vulture flies over Pokhara's landfill. The species once numbered in the millions, but the last count in 2016 estimated there are only 10,000 left globally. In 2017 BCN undertook the world's first release of two captive-bred white-rumped vultures. Yet vultures lay and care for only one egg at a time, so rebuilding the species to their former numbers could take decades.