Yeti and Ban Manche
It is said that there are two types of Yeti(Abominable Snowman), the large type and the small type and also said that the large type of Yeti is in fact a kind of Himalayan brown bear whose habitant is on the Tibet Himalayas.
The Daily Mail Yeti Expedition already pointed this in1954, and we have no objection to the theory.
But the Yeti we are looking for is the small type, so called in Nepali Ban Manche (man of the forest) by villagers of Dhaulagiri area.  It might be confusing, but in this article I use the popular word Yeti for the small type.

I guess the Yeti we are looking for is a kind of primates calculating from the witnesses reports from the south part of Dhaulagiri, and also many humanlike footprints were often found in the same area.  We wanted to find out what made those footprints assuming and it would lead to solve the mystery of Yeti.  So, we left to Nepal for the search of Yeti.

Yeti Project 2003
In 2003, I led a seven members team and headed to Dhaulagiri once again. We arrived in Nepal on August 10th, hired Nepali assistants, 17 staff and 124 porters. Then we left Beni on 17th. We arrived at the site on 31st after 14 days of our caravan, and set up base camp (BC) on a grassy plateau about 4320 meters above sea level, just south side of the ridge line connecting the 6273-meter Myagudi Matha peak and the 4625-meter Mulbas peak.
Overlooking the southeast ridge of Gurja Himal, the camp site is a good place for the search and for the stay. We also set up three observation camps, located at the 4751-meter point on the southeast ridge (A camp), on the 4340-meter Kohnabon Khola plateau (B camp), on the 3400-meter point above sea level (C camp) and started our search.

Observation and Sensor-activated cameras We set up 17 sensor-activated cameras on the southeast ridge because four spots where I had seen the foot prints were scattered in this area, 5100-meter up A camp. We did camera maintenance once a week and kept waiting. Days passed without any findings though. Then, near to the end of our stay, on September 27th, it happened.

{ Sighting of Humanlike Creatures }

A camp morning September 27
All members climbed the 4800-meter peak with good visual range, they started their last watch after breakfast.  At 10:00 it got foggy in Konabon Khola, then at 11:00 the visual range got very bad. At 11:30 we gave up the watch and went back to A camp. At 12:30, all members were in the kitchen  tent for lunch, then Koyama called from the BC.

Base Camp  12:25   September 27
At the BC, people were relaxing outside the tent, enjoying the rare nice weather. When Koyama went outside, Nepali staff pointed toward the ridge and said, Look, "our member is up there". Koyama spotted the figure with her own eyes, on the path between A camp and the observation cameras.  Koyama called A camp on a walkie-talkie.  Koyama said,  " We can see you from the base camp. Who is walking there?" At A camp, Murakami answered, "No one is walking outside.  All of us are here in the tent".  Koyama said, "But we see someone walking on the ridge"

A camp 12:30  September 27
It suddenly got heated in A camp. "We spotted three figures at the 4790-meter peak , 300 meters westward of A camp. They climbed the ridge from Tareja side and disappeared," she said. Koyama also said they may have walked up to direction of the former C1 site of 1975 expedition.  I took the walkie-talkie from Murakami and continued talking with BC. Meanwhile, Kino, Murakami and Tobita hurried to the site.

Soon it got foggy around BC and the sight was blocked.

The visual range was still good at A camp and I kept watching the ridge with binoculars while Shimura watched the monitor screens the surveillance cameras were shooting. It took 12 to 13 minutes for our members to arrive at the site. Murakami further hurried to the former C1 site.  But they found nobody, nor any clue of the Yeti there.

I joined the search at the peak 30 minutes later.  The path on the ridge was
5 to 6 meters wide and covered with snow and we saw nothing but our own trails there.
We searched in vain the upper part of Tareja side and southeast ridge. The weather got worse and we had to stop searching at 14:00 and returned to A camp.

A Muri villager left BC for A camp on the day.  He was visiting us to sell Raksi, local liquor. Watching the man walking up on the ridge, the BC staff said to Koyama, " HeBƒbs going to A camp but the camp should be empty, because they are all up there" That conversation led Koyama to talk on a walkie-talkie.  The distance between the site in question and BC is less than 1.5 kilometers.  With Sherpa and very good eyesight, witnesses must have seen the figures very clearly. But unfortunately the figures likeliness to us deceived their eyes and it delayed this precious information reaching us.  Nepali staff at BC mistook the figures for our members of A camp.

Words of Nepali Witnesses
Serder(Local staff leader)/ Lhakpa Sherpa I saw one figure. It was under the first peak near A camp. That was the area where members usually walk. I thought he was taking a little lower path today. The silhouette was dark and walking humanlike on two feet not four feet.  Calculating from KinoBƒbs height when he stood at the very site some twenty minutes later, it must be about 150 centimeters tall.
Answering Koyama's question if it was an animal, "A bear does not climb that high. It was never a snow leopard because it was not walking with four feet."

Cook/ Pemba Sherpa
I saw three figures for more than a minute. The right figure walked to the left, the center was squatting down, and the third figure was on the left ridge. Each of them was climbing upward separately.

Staff/Nima Ongel Sherpa
I saw one figure under the ridge. It was near the snow beside the rock, walking right to left.

Labeling the three figures Pemba sighted from right to left A, B and C, for instance, Serder must have seen B, Nima A, and Koyama must have seen C.

Analyzing Information, evening   September 27th

We checked over all the information that evening at A camp. We hurried to the site but found no trace or clue. What did the BC staff seen?
Animals?  A snow leopard or a bear?  No. The witnesses said they looked like a human and walked like a human.
Local hunters?  No.  When the call came from BC, A camp members had been on watch for more than two hours and we had not seen anyone approaching the site.   They appeared near the ridge out of blue after we went back to the tent. They must have started their climb from the rocky stretch. Otherwise, we could have spotted them approaching the ridge.  The location of the site, the Tareja side of valley, is so dangerous that no local hunters want to take that route.  If they were hunters, they would have visited our base camp, would have dropped by A camp, and would have walked on our trails on the ridge.  But they just disappeared without contacting any of us. No local hunters would do that.

The figure looked like a human, and walked like a human Nepali staff told us.  Granted that is true, I guess it may have been the Yeti"Ban Manche we've been looking for.  I asked the witnesses to draw pictures what they saw.

Base Camp,  evening   September 27
After the interview with witnesses, BC members tried to further pinpoint the site.
Witness Serder remembered the site very clearly, and pointed on the zoomed picture of the site.

Finding Footprints,   morning  September 28th This is the last day of our search. Half of members of A camp went up to collect sensor-activated cameras we had planted in August. Collaborating with BC, Shimura and I started the investigation on the site. Serder gave us from BC very detailed information of the site where he had spotted the humanlike silhouette yesterday. It was actually in the steepest area and one ridge east from the place we had searched yesterday.  No one could be able to climb the ridge.  The silhouette climbed the vertically angled Gully and walked to the ridge according to Serder,.  The last 10 meters of its path was not snow covered. We looked into the Gully, and saw the trace of someoneBƒbs climbing. We never expected someone or something might pass this area, so all the surveillance cameras were set at least 150 meters away. The creature walked through the camera free areas.

At 08:30 Orikasa called from BC.  Being a photographer, he was filming the scene with a high-vision camera.  He saw on the monitor screen something like footprints on the snowy slope, 80 meters off the gully. He wanted us to check them out.

Shimura and I went down toward the gully, but carrying no equipment on hand, we had to stop descending in front of the steepest slope.  We saw the footprints on the snowy slope 20 meters below us. We saw 13 footprints, rather clear and well preserved since yesterday.
It was two-legged walking, landing all part of its foot, heel
-and- toe,
each time.
The size of the foot measured by my eyes was 20 centimeters in length and 10 centimeters in width. Its stride was 30 to 35 centimeters from toe to toe.
Right footprints and left footprints were on the same line.
This unique
pattern was the same as those foot prints which had been found in this area past time.
From the pattern of 13 footprints, I figured they belong to one person or a single creature.

It is obvious that the silhouette climbed the ridge from Tareja side. Later I found more footprints descending the Konabon side. Did he cross the ridge from Taraja side to Konabon side?  The width of the ridgeline was 5 to 6 meters. There was no footprint on the snow. It led us to search the wrong areas yesterday.  We never guessed the creature might have crossed the ridge and descended the Konabon side.

We found one trail on Taraja side, two separate trails on Konabon side, but no trace on the snowy ridgeline where it/they must have crossed somehow. Did they jump over this wide ridge path?  Anyway, the creature disappeared here, and we were unable to follow them any farther.

Footprints on Konabon side  September 28th Konabon side was a steep 40-degree slope. We found two descending trails on the snow. The trails tell that there were at least two creatures. They descended half sliding, leaving long footprints about 50 centimeters. They belong to two-legged creatures, landing each foot alternately. Four-footed animals cannot walk like this. We could not observe this area from A camp yesterday, since the creatures walked the blind side.

Observation from the base camp  September 28th While A camp members were working on the site, witness Serder in BC was checking the Tareja site with binoculars to find out if there was any trace of hunters.
Finally, he said," there is no route a man can climb". Monitoring the conversation with Konabon he said, "Hunters never take such a dangerous route. It must have been non human"

Resuming the search on Tareja  September 28th We started the search on Tareja side at noon.  Tobita descended to the snow slope using fixed ropes.   The snow had melted during these three hours and the footprints got less clear. He measured the footprints. It was 20 centimeters in length, 10 centimeters in width, with a stride of 32 ~ 35 centimeters.  It walked with very short steps.  The toes were not very clear, but the deep marks indicated that the creature walked putting much weight on toes.

Judging from the footprints, I am confident that these footprints never belong to a human.

Pictures
Unfortunately, the Yeti was not filmed. All the creatures taken by censor activated surveillance cameras are small animals. Those pictures are very clear, so batteries and sensors must have worked without fail.

Conclusion
On September 27th, BC staff saw three humanlike figures in the distance and we, including myself, found footprints on the thorough investigation.  We reached a conclusion that there are two-legged creatures inhabit in the area. It is not a bear nor a monkey but some unknown creature who walk two feet.  I am quite sure this is the Yeti we've been looking for. This was my fifth visit to the site, and I found footprints on the ridgeline every time.
It means a lot that we identified both the creature and the footprint on this expedition. Unfortunately, we were not able to film the Yeti as I had hoped, but according to the witnesses, it was about 150 centimeters tall and walked like a human.  Their footprints also showed the creatures are two-legged, not quadruped.
Moreover, the footprints and trails were definitely different from those of humans.
Above all, the yeti does exist and I want to continue my Yeti search.

Yeti Expedition 2003, Yeti Project Japan PurposeBƒFto know what the Yeti is PlaceBƒFDaulagiri range south area PeriodBƒF10 August, 2003 -- 14 October, 2003 Consisting Member: Yoshiteru Takahashi, Kuniaki Yagihara, Kazuo Tobita, Kazunari Murakami,
                 Nobuko Koyama, Osafumi Sato, Mayumi Shimura