February 2, 2012 Tsum Valley Festival → "As mentioned in the article (at the top) it was cancelled due to ill health. They're working on the same for this year. ..."
February 2, 2012 Interview with GHT Hiker Shawn Forry → "Fabulous and inspiring trek! If one adds the Pakistan portion of the GHT, I wonder how many more miles/kms they would ha..."
January 24, 2012 Tsum Valley Festival → "So, how did the Tsum Valley festival go? I would like to know what all happened there too. Do they conduct such festival..."
January 23, 2012 Great Himalaya Trail Calendar 2012 → "Very nice, but can I download this in high resolution? Is it possible to get printed copies and if so, where? Thanks!..."
January 22, 2012 Request for Proposal → "am secretary of Alpine club of Azad kashmir pakistan.we trying to make a proposal of defrent places of our mountain site..."
January 10, 2012 GHT_Republica_30th Dec → "Sorry about my last comment. I think I was still asleep when I posted it because I did the math wrong. Of course that'..."
After setting a world record by successfully ascending the Mt Everest for 21 times, Apa Sherpa is currently endeavoring to set another record by covering a distance of 1,700 kilometers on foot with a noble mission — to save the Himalayas (The Great Himalayan Trail).
This is one of the world’s highest and longest trekking trails. Apa aims to cover all the 20 Himalayan (east-west) districts of the country in 120 days. Apa’s campaign will be telecast in “Third Eye” on Sagarmatha Television (STV) on Friday at 9:30 pm. The program will be re-telecast on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm. The program will also highlight the views and opinions of Apa and his team besides the impact of the climate change in the Himalayas.
On the 31st of January Apa and team were welcomed in a traditional manner by a score of people at Khandbari. This included the senior officials of the Government of Nepal, FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries), NFJ (Nepal Federation of Journalists), representatives of different political parties and civil society.
Apa Sherpa and his team members who are walking the 1,700 km long Great Himalaya Trail resumed their trek from Khandbari today. Apa Sherpa and his team who is walking entire the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) to promote it and to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas.
Nepal has presented the Great Himalaya Trail on Caravan, Motor & Tourism fair CMT in Stuttgart Germany, taking place on 14-22 January 2012.
The Great Himalaya Trail, Nepal’s latest tourism product, received a lot of attention and positive feedback from German tourists, tour operators and media alike.
For the first time in Nepal, 27 German Marathon Runners are coming together for a short visit. In this occasion Nepal Amateur Athletics Association has decided to organize a running event “Nepal-German Friendship Race 2012″ on Thursday, 26th January 2012, in cooperation with ReiseZeit, Germany.
We expect about 100 runner participation including German guest runners, Nepali and expatriates runners.
The race will start at around 8 am from Hotel Vajra and the route goes around Shoyambhunath and back to Hotel Vajra making 5 km loop. Runners can choose to run one round 5 km or 10 km/ Half Marathon or Full Marathon repeating the course. After the last Marathon runner comes back (about 4 hours) to the finish line, we will have a short Ceremony (at 12 noon) followed by Lunch in Hotel Vajra.
The German Ambassador is invited as a chief Guest and Minister of Youth and Sports will be our invited special Guest and many Sport personalities will be in our guest list for the occasion.
If you want to participate you can register (free) at the NAAA (Tripureshwar – the office is inside the Stadium) or contact
Nilendra Raj Shrestha
President
Nepal Amateur Athletics Association
president-naaa@nepalathletics.org
9803258950
GHT-CSC team members- Appa Sherpa, Dawa Steven Sherpa, Samir Jung Thapa and Saurav Dhakal have reached Taplejung district in eastern Nepal. In Taplejung they were felicilated by Mr.Dev Raj Dhakal (CDO), Mr. Prem Kumar Khadka (LDO), Mr. Bhuwan Devkota ( Major General, Nepal Army), Hemant Upreti ( Nepal Airlines, Station Manager), Leela Bokhim ( NGO Federation Nepal) and Mr. Harish Chandra Chilwal ( GHTDP District Coordinator). During the programme, Mr.Chilwal also gave a presentation on GHTDP-SNV activities in Taplejung.
The Great Himalaya Trail will be featured by Germany TV channel ARD in their travel programme “ARD Ratgeber Reise” this Sunday, 15 January 2012.
Everybody in Germany, please make sure to turn on your TV at 4:30 pm CET.
Der Great Himalaya Trail im deutschen FernsehenDie ARD zeigt am Sonntag, 15. Januar in der Sendung “ARD Ratgeber Reise” einen Beitrag zum Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal.
Zuschauer sollten um 16:30 Uhr einschalten.
Nepal will be presenting the Great Himalaya Trail on Caravan, Motor & Tourism fair CMT starting tomorrow, 14 January 2012 in Stuttgart Germany.
Interested visitors of the fair can get more information on the GHT at Nepal’s stand in Hall 4, No. B13.
His Excellency, Rt. Honorable Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, President, of The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal flagged off Apa Sherpa, 21times Mt. Everest Summiter and his team members Dawa Steven Sherpa, Saurav Dhakal and Samir Jung Thapa who will be walking on 1,700 km and 120 days long The Great Himalaya Trail- Climate Smart Celebrity Trek (GHT-CSCT) today at his office in Sheetal Niwas.
His Excellency handed over the national flag to Apa Sherpa and his team which they will carry on their historic trek that begins from Taplejung in Eastern Nepal and ends in Darchula in the Far West. The trek will commence from the 15th January 2012 and end in May 2012. Today’s event will mark the beginning of this historical trek that would the team to hundreds of villages across 20 different districts of Nepal over a four month period.
Speaking on the occasion Rt. Honorable Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, President, of The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal said, “This trek will help to identify the impacts of Climate Change in the Himalayas, and showcase how sustainable tourism can be used as a tool for poverty reduction and to build climate-resilience among impoverished mountain communities in Nepal”.
The trek is organized to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas and to promote The Great Himalaya Trail as the best tourism trail in the world which offers trekkers to experience extremely rich cultures, breathtaking landscapes and diverse range of flora and fauna.
In his message, Apa stated, “I appeal the lovers of Nepal to join me on this once-in-a-lifetime journey to support Nepali communities that are bearing the brunt of climate change. My effort to walk from East to West in Nepal is to find places and people that need most attention and help of the world in their climate battle”.
GHT-CSCT is organized by Himalayan Climate Initiative in coordination with Government of Nepal, particularly Office of the Prime Minister, The Ministry of Environment, and The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, with the support of DFID, British Council, SNV, NTB,TAAN and other GHTDP Partners. The event has already received support of Corporate partners Geo-Eye, Asian Trekking, North Face and expects to earn the support of several Corporate Partners in the days to come.
In the shadow of Mount Everest and its magnetic lore, a cross-border route with a grand name, the Great Himalaya Trail, is being touted as an epic, untapped alternative to the bucket-list trek to base camp on the world’s highest mountain.
Trekking this trail is an odyssey, not a routine vacation, and even promoters admit that it’s more a theory or consumer product for an untested market than a continuous path. Instead, it’s a web of paths, many unmapped and barely connecting, that meander east to west along the Himalayan range.
Granted, the Great Himalaya Trail lacks the history and utility of the Silk Road, the ancient trade network that linked Asia to Europe, or the cohesion and accessibility of the Appalachian Trail for hikers in the United States.
Instead, it is what trekkers and climbers make of it: a one-time hike through forests and grasslands at lower elevation, an assault on high passes that demand technical skill, or a periodic pilgrimage to sample chunks of the rugged expanse.
Susanne Stein, a 44-year-old German, completed an eastern trek on Nepal’s section of the trail with three guides in late 2011 and is preparing for the central and western leg in February. When it’s all over, she’ll have covered 1,050 miles (1,700 kilometers) in 165 days.
“One thing I like very much is just to move,” said Stein, a health specialist whose assignments for international aid groups have included Sudan’s Darfur region, Pakistan’s earthquake-hit Kashmir region, Afghanistan, and Nepal. “I always have the feeling I want to see around the corner. This keeps me going somehow.”
Stein set out a week after a deadly earthquake in the Himalayan region. Some paths had been virtually wiped out by landslides, forcing her team to crawl at times. In the past, she visited the Everest region on her own. But Stein prefers guides on the Great Himalaya Trail, or GHT, because they motivate her when she is exhausted and they sometimes have to choose a way forward from several options.
“The GHT goes through areas where there is no guesthouse, no food, and no defined trail. So I guess for the average tourist, it is too difficult to do it alone. Besides the fact that you need to be fit. Probably for people with very good navigation skills, and a good map and GPS, it’s possible,” Stein wrote in an email.
A Nepal-based campaign aims to transform the Great Himalaya Trail into a basket of options for adventurers who prefer itineraries without roads and teahouses. It says western districts like Dolpa, Humla and Mugu offer rich scenery and local culture that has little outside exposure.
Promoters have broken the Nepalese stretch into 10 sections that can each be walked in a few weeks. Dorendra Niraula, an official at Nepal’s tourism ministry, hopes repeat visitors will trek parts of the trail over five or 10 years.
“We are in the initial stage of the project,” he said. “It’s a challenge. We are trying to diversify tourism.”
The goal is for people to “go to places they have not thought of going,” said Robin Boustead, an Australia-based trekker who traversed 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) of Himalayan trails and says he has another 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) to go. He charted his trips with GPS, published a guide book and runs a trail website.
Boustead belongs to a loose alliance of trekkers, tourism agencies, non-governmental groups and Nepalese officials who hope a more even spread of tourist revenue can help a poor, politically weak nation that emerged from civil war five years ago.
These marketing pioneers are still finding their feet. Some efforts overlap; some agendas diverge. There are concerns about the commercial and environmental impact on areas unaccustomed to tourism.
Tourist-friendly Nepal spearheads the idea, and a trail section in Bhutan is on the map. There is less development in Chinese-ruled Tibet, as well as old foes India and Pakistan, which share the Himalayas. The goal of coordination across sensitive borders is immense, but Boustead wrote in an email that “the long-term strength of the GHT lies in its international focus.”
About 600,000 tourists visited Nepal in 2010, according to government figures. The largest groups are from India and China, though Europeans, North Americans and Australians account for most trekkers. Well over 90 percent head for the Annapurna, Everest and Langtang regions, which offer tourist infrastructure.
“Access is definitely a real challenge and a difficulty that has to be worked on,” said Paul Stevens, a Kathmandu-based adviser for SNV, a Dutch non-governmental organization that provides funding and job training to communities on the Great Himalaya Trail. “Many of these places have air strips, but they’re quite hairy and you go in small aircraft and you wind through the mountains to get there.”
The trail includes the Everest region, but highlighting remote parts is a hard sell. For some, reaching Everest base camp is among “things to do before you die,” said Dawa Steven Sherpa, a Nepali who reached the summit twice. In mid-January, he and Apa Sherpa, who has scaled Everest a record 21 times, plan to start a 120-day publicity trek across Nepal’s section of the Himalayas.
“The concept itself of walking along the whole length of the Himalayas is not new. What is new is making a package out of this that can actually be promoted for tourism,” Dawa Steven said. Until now, he said, Himalayan treks were viewed in a “very compartmentalized way” and the idea of “one trail to rule them all” was eclipsed by the fabled trails at the highest peaks.
In 1981, a team including Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 led the first expedition to climb Everest, walked between two of the highest mountains, Kangchenjunga on the India-Nepal border and K2 in Pakistan.
Lizzy Hawker, a British endurance athlete, began to run the trail across Nepal in October, but quit after losing her bearings and gear.
“I temporarily lost the path between two villages and got in a bit of a tangle in a big dark forest of Himalayan proportions. Never lost but just needed to take my time to find the safe way down to the only bridge across the torrent below,” Hawker wrote in an online account. “The getting tangled part wouldn’t have mattered — just lost time. But what did matter was losing my small sack with all the important things — satellite phone, permits for my entire journey, solar panel, camera, money, compass, maps for that section etc.”
Then there is Harald Six, an 18-year-old Belgian. In January 2013, he plans to walk from Istanbul to Pakistan, and pick up the Great Himalaya Trail. He wants to keep walking to Southeast Asia, partly motivated by concerns about poverty and climate change.
Six has a sleeping bag, water filter and GPS device, and hopes to save up 5,000 euros from work at an organic waste laboratory. He said his mother is supportive and his father sees the “seriousness” of his plan even though he would like his son to finish studying nature and landscape management at Ghent University.
“A lot of people want to see the world and so on, and they maybe, like, take a plane somewhere and do a world tour if they really are ambitious or are really set behind their plans. But then they see only those little spots of the world, flying from city to city,” said Six, who yearns to immerse himself in the mountains. “My interest in nature is too big to stay here.”
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a leading international organization that specialises in capacity development support to government, non-government and private sector organisations. SNV is committed to reduction of poverty that is consistent with nationally defined poverty reduction strategies and the global MDG agenda. In Asia, SNV is active in Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan and provides advisory services in Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism sectors as well as in Water, Sanitation & Hygiene and Renewable Energy sectors.
The “Great Himalaya Trail” (GHT) is a network of existing paths and trade routes spanning the length of the country from Darchula and Humla in the West to Kanchenjunga in the East, packaged and promoted into one of the world’s great walks. Potentially, the GHT traverses the length of the Himalayan Range stretching through impoverished mountain areas of Pakistan, India and Bhutan.
The Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) is harnessing tourism with a market-led approach to improve livelihoods and bring sustainable development opportunities to remote and poor communities in impoverished Nepal mountain regions through the creation of an iconic and globally significant new tourism product for Nepal. SNV in Nepal requires professional and experienced national individuals or national organisations for:
Strategic Tourism Action Plan (STAP) Formulation announcement code 2012-01
This assignment aims to support Gorkha, Taplejung and Solukhumbu tourism stakeholders to develop a clear picture about tourism product potentials in their districts; market needs and opportunities; and resources available (from government, private sector, development organisations). It also aims to support tourism stakeholders to identify and prioritise tourism development interventions, provide concrete guidance to district tourism stakeholders in channelling public and private investments and increase the capacity of these districts’ DDCs on developing strategic tourism action plans.
The consultant will develop Tourism Value Chain Analyses (VCA) for each district which should form the basis of STAP. Specifically, the consultant will:
Ensure that the tourism action plans are developed within the context of the GHT Development Programme which reflect its governance structures, and branding/marketing guidelines;
Ensure that available policies are integrated with which the poor can benefit directly and indirectly from tourism and outline these strategic direction for each district;
Ensure that the plan outlines concrete short, medium and long-term priorities of interventions, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, recommendations for investment, and monitoring;
Ensure that tourism stakeholders feel the ownership of the strategic direction for developing and promoting tourism in their districts, and endorse the Tourism Action Plan developed;
Ensure that the process followed in developing the Tourism Action Plans is clearly documented (including methodologies, templates and formats developed); and that lessons learnt and best practices are identified and documented in the final report.
Requirements:
At least 10 years working experience in Tourism Development;
Good and practical understanding of Nepalese and Mountain Tourism Industry.
The assignment will be initiated on by 20 January 2012 and will end by April 2012.
Detailed requirements is available through email request. The last date for submission of the proposal which should include: budget, CVs of professionals and profile of relevant experience, is 12 January 2012, by 1700 hours in electronic copy or in hard copy, to the address mentioned below stating the announcement code 2012-01 of the position in the subject line.
PRISTINE REGION OFFERS NEW HOPE TO REVIVE TREKKING IN 2012
ANURAG ACHARYA in TAPLEJUNG
Kangchenjunga, the third highest point in the world, is more a mountain range than a peak. Straddling Sikkim and Nepal, Kangchenjunga is a 25km long ridge above 8,000m and it looks like a slice of the planet has broken off to pierce the stratosphere.
PICS: ANURAG ACHARYA
The mountain dominates the northern horizon, most famously from Darjeeling, and the best access is from Sikkim. However, it is from the western side in Nepal that the approach to the mountain offers the most adventurous wilderness treks.
The narrow, sparsely populated valleys on the upper reaches of the Tamur River have been the refuge of only the most devoted holy men and most driven mountaineers. The foot of Kangchenjunga is the least-visited among 16 protected areas in Nepal. Its location on the north-eastern corner of the country makes it the area with the highest annual rainfall in the country, and hence its richest biodiversity. The pristine coniferous forests, high meadows and wetlands are the most biologically rich areas of Nepal and inhabited by many amphibians, birds, plants and animals found nowhere else. Many of the mammals found here are endangered: the snow leopard, the red panda, or musk deer.
The Kangchenjunga Conservation Area has at least 69 varieties of orchid, 30 types of rhododendron and 15 out of 28 endemic plants of Nepal. Besides rainfall, it is the dramatic altitude variation from deep subtropical gorges to glacial valleys that makes this nature reserve such an attractive destination for trekkers. The Arun Valley cuts right through the Himalaya, and is an important corridor for bird migration from Siberia to India.
“This place is radically different from anything and everything you’ve seen in your life”, says Canadian Glenn F. Miller who was camping in Ghunsa on his way to the base camp. The author of ‘Dreaming Kathmandu’ admitted that the place inspired him to write.
Sylvia Wilfried and her husband Studer from Austria were leading a group of 40 tourists from different European countries. The couple says they have been in Nepal 15 times since 1983 and keep coming back because mountains here are so varied. “Especially the Kanchanjunga valley,” says Sylvia, “it is one of the most beautiful place on earth.”
‘One of the most beautiful places on earth’ sounds like a cliché, but walking along a ridge with the hulk of Jannu towering over us, it is clear there is no other way to describe this trail.
Perhaps Kanchenjunga has remained remote and pristine because it is so inaccessible. The nearest airfield at Suketar is still under construction, and although the road has reached Taplejung it is an arduous 16 hours from Kathmandu via Bhadrapur before you even start the three week trek.
Paul Stevens of The Great Himalayan Trail Program says tourists who come to Nepal have until now been confined to few well-known destinations like Annapurna, Everest and Langtang.
Says Stevens: “If we can integrate all major trekking routes along the east-west Himalayan stretch and encourage tourists to explore new destinations, it will increase the span of their stay or bring them back to Nepal creating more jobs and bringing in money.”
The GHT Development Program, promoted by the government in partnership with SNV Netherlands is working closely with stakeholders in the tourism industry, NGOs and host communities to develop and promote best practices in tourism, generating vital jobs and income for local communities and contributing to the conservation of the country’s natural and cultural heritage.
Road to nowhere
This is the dilemma of tourism everywhere: do you improve access so more people can visit, or do you deliberately limit infrastructure to preserve an area’s natural beauty?
In 2010, over half a million tourists visited Nepal. Their average span of stay increased from 11.3 to 12.6 days but the number of trekkers and mountaineers decreased by half. One reason was the expansion of road networks along main trekking routes.
The undisturbed trails of Kangchenjunga can help to revive trekking numbers. But this needs investment in airports and basic infrastructure. Here in Kangchenjunga, it also means repairing trails and lodges damaged by the earthquake in September.
The Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) along with District Development Committee, Tourism Development Committee (Govt) and Nepal Trust and local NGOs provides skills training to local communities in Humla. With an aim to educate and empower the people of Humla, the specially designed Basic Tourism Training package has trained more than 40 locals in its first phase.
After receiving the basic tourism training, locals were then enrolled in MSME (Medium and Small Micro Enterprise) training. During these trainings beneficiaries acquire skills on accommodation and lodge management, book-keeping, cooking, as well as becoming porters and guides.
Tucked in between the rugged Himalayas, Humla district in far north-west Nepal, is one of the most isolated regions in the world. Perched at an altitude of 2910 meters, it is reachable only on foot or by small aircraft. Locals are compelled to walk for at least four days to reach the nearest markets (Accham, Thaklalot, and Tibet). Crippled by poverty, limited infrastructure and weak market access,Humla ranks last out of the 75 districts in Nepal.
Although last in line in terms of infrastructure and economic development,Humla has immense tourism potential and plenty to offer to its visitors. With its breath taking natural beauty, vibrant culture, and serene atmosphere, Humla can be ranked as one of the best destinations in Nepal. With a gradual increase of tourists in Humla, SNV in collaboration with the local tourism development committee and other stakeholders has been working with community members to provide basic facilities to tourists like cooking, guide service, porter and accommodation.
More than 40 Humli’s, both men and women have received training to become cooks, tea shop and lodge owners, guides, porters and also small tour operators. Today, all of the trained beneficiaries operate small enterprises and are also being employed by big tour operators in Kathmandu. Tourism has lead to job creation and hence income generation along with infrastructure development and improved health services for the local people.
“During the three day training we had a chance to know what tourism is and how individuals as well as communities can benefit from it” recalls Sonam Lama, a local tour operator in Simikot, Humla.
SitaShahi, a single mother of two children used to be an alcohol brewer before she received the BTT and MSME training. Today, she runs a small tea shop along the Simikot-Hilsa trail where she generates a monthly income of Nrs.5,000 to 6,000 each month. “In my tea shop I sell snacks such as pakodas, samosas, omellettes which I learnt to prepare during the training” said Shahi. “I save between Nrs.5000 to Nrs.6, 000 each month and since I am a single mother it has helped me educate my children” she further adds. A famer by occupation, Phunchowk Lama now works as a guide during off harvest season. “After receiving training on becoming a guide, I now know how to deal with tourists which involves; curing altitude sickness, giving oxygen, and also help in leading treks. Working as a guide has not only helped me gain financially but it also helped me generate confidence in dealing with people.”
Tourists have been visiting Humla mainly to travel to Mt.Kailash and Mansoravar in Tibet. Domestic and regional tourists, mainly pilgrims going to Kailash/Manasarovar, use local teashop-style ‘hotels’ for food and lodging. In addition, a single tourist uses two to three support staff (guides, cooks/kitchen staff, porters, pack-animal drivers).
In the past decade, the total number of tourists visitingHumla has risen from785 in 1999 to 1,177 in 2009. The increasing number of tourists travelling to Humla each year clearly portrays its potential of becoming a major tourist destination in the coming years.
On the occasion of World Tourism Day on 27 Sep 2011, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies’ Association Nepal (TAAN) organized an event at the Nepal Tourism Board premises.
On the occasion, TAAN officially unveiled five new trekking trails from the Lower Solukhumbu region in Eastern Nepal. The event also highlighted the endorsement of the newly drafted Marketing Strategy for the Great Himalaya Trail Development Program (GHTDP).
The strategy was developed in consultations with MoTCA, TAAN, NTB and the private sector after comprehensive research into the tourism practices and trends in Nepal. One of it’s focus is on ways to promote GHT destinations locally and internationally.
The five year marketing strategy emphasises on the branding and promotion of GHT hotspots to attract tourists to these destinations. The marketing and promotional activities will be jointly implemented by MoTCA, NTB, TAAN and SNV.
The launch of the five new trekking tails, the documentary and the Marketing Strategy took place at the Nepal Tourism Board from 13:30hrs to 16:30hrs on the 27th of September 2011.
To get more people enthusiastic to walk The Great Himalaya Trail or parts of it, a top of the bill marketing strategy has been developed. The strategy has been launched on 27 September, World Tourism Day by GHTDP’s implementing partners MoTCA, TAAN and NTB at NTB head office in Kathmandu.
Presentation of the GHT marketing strategy by Mr Ganesh Raj Joshi, Secretary of MoTCA & Chairman of NTB
A summary of the strategy has been published, which you can download using the following link:
Shortly we will also upload the full version of the marketing strategy on this website. Please send a mail to marketing@thegreathimalayatrail.org if you want to receive a copy of the publication or if you want us to mail you the full version of the strategy.
The China Daily just did a nice feature on the Great Himalaya Trail. Nice because it was presented with a five minute video and a slideshow with some beautiful photographs rather than a lot of text. The mountains of Nepal and it’s people are famously photogenic so this is arguably the best way to capture the essence of the trail and trekking in Nepal.
Photojournalist D J Clark visited Dolpa and the Annapurna region for his reportage. Click below to see the video and photographs from his trek report.
Video
Click to play the video on the China Daily website
Slideshow
Click to view DJ Clark's 20 photographs from Nepal
Nepal's Great Himalaya Trail trekked in a single season
On February 14th of this year, the first commercial Great Himalaya Trail expedition left a rainy Kathmandu heading east to Taplejung to start walking the full length of the GHT. The good news is that they have completed their expedition successfully having reached Hilsa on the 16th of July 2011. It’s a great achievement.
While it was misty approaching the border with Tibet and it was hard to see the view. Toni recounts on their blog that:
“… on the descent the clouds lifted to reveal a stunning landscape of orange hued sandstone slopes weather, beaten into exquisite shapes – it was breathtaking.”
Returning from the border, the trekking crew presented the pair with silk Khatas for completing the trek. Toni said, “It meant a lot to us as each of these men have played an important part in helping Greg and I across the roof of Nepal.”
The final day of the trek was coincidentally Toni’s 50th birthday and the cook team baked a delicious chocolate cake complete with candles.
It goes without saying they’d like to thank their team for their immense amount of hard work: Ngawang Dorji Sherpa, Ongchhu Sherpa, Bir Singh Gurung, Bhuwan Singh Rana Magar, Phurba Tamang, Pratap, Manzoor Ahmed.
The pair are travelling back from Hilsa with their group for a celebration in Kathmandu.
Some news from the GHT Development Programme which launched in Salleri, Solukhumbu. The programme here aims to boost many aspects of tourism, from marketing to attract more visitors, to trail development, to training local people to provide quality services to trekkers. The key role is to develop a local Tourism Development Committee (TDC) to manage these activities in a sustainable way.
GHTDP District Launch in Salleri, Solukhumbu
29 May 2011
Salleri, Solukhumbu- The Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) was launched in the Solukhumbu district on the occasion of Everest Day and Solukhumbu Tourism Festival 2011 organised by Friendship Youth Club in association with District Development Committee and Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN). The Young Star Club facilitated the district launch. With the aim of developing tourism in this region, GHTDP along with the Young Star Club will work to build the capacity of the Tourism Development Committee (TDC) within the District Development Committee (DDC).
Honorable State Minister of Physical Planning and Reconstruction Ms. Devi Khadka inaugurated the festival on 29 May 2011. Amongst those that attended the festival were Chief District Officer, Local Development Officer, local leaders of the political parties, Board Member and Director of Nepal Tourism Board, 1st Vice President of TAAN, representative from Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and other various tourism organisations as well as other dignitaries were present during the inaugural of the 4th International Everest Day and Solukhumbu Tourism Festival 2011 at local level.
In the mean time, Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) through the Young Star Club organised a three days capacity-building training programme at Salleri for the members of Tourism Development Sub-committee under DDC as well as local stakeholders and other representatives of local communities. On 28 May 2011, TAAN in association with the festival organiser Friendship Youth Club and District Development Committee organised a half day interactive workshop on Potentiality of Tourism Development of Lower Solukhumbu: Importance, Problem and Challenges. Sixty representatives were presented in the workshop where Chief District Officer was the Chief Guest.
“Tourism in Solukhumbu is currently primarily confined to Khumbu region, which covers only three VDCs (Chaurikharka, Namche and Khumjung) out of 34 VDCs of the district. Besides the Khumbu region, lower Solukhumbu has incredible potential for tourism,” said Bachchu Naryan Shrestha, 1st Vice President of TAAN. “Lower Solukhumbu is extremely rich in its heritage as it a melting pot of Sherpa, Rai, and Tamang cultures. Each of these ethnic groups has their own traditional customs, festivals, dresses, languages and cultures. Furthermore, the Lower Solukhumbu region also offers breathtaking views and if new trails were established it would have the prospect of attracting many tourists.”
The lower belt of this region (Solu) has remained far behind for a variety of reasons- including limited opportunities for education, lack of employment opportunities, migration to other areas and relative economic isolation from the upper belt due to inaccessibility. Due to lack of accessibility, people in the lower belt are deprived of getting opportunities to share the benefits from the tourism from the upper belt which is the major source of local income in this entire mountain region.
The Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) will accelerate tourism development in the Lower Solukhumbu region, raising the profile of the area as an exciting trekking destination, while also providing vocational training to local communities and support for local businesses. In so doing, tourism will stimulate job creation and income generating as well as infrastructure development and improved health services for local people.
SNV is supporting Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), and other stakeholders to implement the GHTDP in Dolpo, Gorkha, Humla, Solukhumbu and Taplejung.
On the 31st of January Apa and team were welcomed in a traditional manner by a score of people at Khandbari. This included the senior officials of the Government of Nepal, FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries), NFJ (Nepal Federation of Journalists), representatives of different political parties and civil society.
