Training on sustainability of tour operators concludes

The training on ‘Sustainability of Tour Operators’ organised by SNV Nepal in coordination with Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) and Trafelife concluded successfully in Kathmandu on February 26.

More than 60 tourism service providers, mostly trekking agencies, participated in the two-day training, TAAN said.

The training that covered issues like sustainable tourism, tourism impacts, supply chain management, sustainable destinations, customer communications, and communicating and marketing sustainable tourism.

The training was conducted by two resource persons from Travelife -- a Dutch firm.

Nepal to be promoted in African continent in March

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) together with different travel trade associations is going to organise Nepal’s first ever tourism promotion programme in the African continent in March.

The programme is being organised in celebration of the incredible journey of the ‘7 Summits Women Team’ from the summit of the Mt. Everest to Mt Kilimanjaro – the tallest peak on African continent, said Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) in its report. Led by Shailee Basnet, the team includes Asha Kumari Singh, Chunu Shrestha, Nimdoma Sherpa, Pema Diki Sherpa, Pujan Acharya and Maya Gurung. The promotional programme will be held at Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg.

The event is aimed at bringing more tourists from Africa to Nepal, said TAAN President Mahendra Singh Thapa. “We have found African tourists, especially from South Africa, interested to visit Nepal. But they are forced to book trips through European countries because they don’t have links with Nepali tourism service providers,” Thapa said adding, “We hope this programme will help establish links between African tour operators and Nepali tourism service providers.”

Team leader Shailee Basnet said the ‘Seven Summit’ campaign is an initiative to promote Nepal internationally. TAAN has provided monetary assistance of US$ 5,000 to the programme, said the association.

Tiger census starts in Chitwan

The counting of the rare Royal Bengal Tiger has started in Chitwan National Park to formulate a long-term plan for its protection and boost its population, state-owned news agency RSS reported.

The entire park area has been divided into different sectors for this purpose, Chief Conservation Officer Phanindra Kharel told RSS. He said the census has been started from the Triveni area in the western part of the park.

One hundred and sixty ultra-modern cameras have been installed and more than 24 technicians mobilized for the census.

A dozen elephants have also been employed for the census being done by adopting the camera-trapping and paw mark method, according to the park office.

The counting would be done by keeping the cameras in a single block for 15 days. It is said that it will take nearly three months for completing the field work.

The Chitwan National Park is home to the largest number of tigers in the country. Works on protection of the tiger are under way here in line with the policy of doubling the tiger population around the world by 2022.

UNESCO undecided on listing Kathmandu as endangered heritage site

With a controversial road that cuts through the Pashupati Monument Zone of Nepali capital Kathmandu still in place, the fate of the city being listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site has remained unpredictable.

In 2011, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the global custodian of world heritages, had suggested the government of Nepal to come up with an alternative to the dirt road that cuts through the Pashupati Area - one of the seven UNESCO-listed monument zones of Kathmandu - citing possible danger the road possess to Pashupati's archaeological and historical value.

According to UNESCO, if one of the seven monument zones of Kathmandu World Cultural Heritage Site - two Hindu sites (Pashupati and Changunarayan), two Buddhist sites (Swayambhunath and Bouddhanath) and three historic sites of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan Durbar Squares - is altered in such a way that the change mars the cultural and natural beauty of the site, the entire Valley will be listed as endangered.

"The government of Nepal has already submitted a detailed report to the UNESCO regarding the case, and various solutions to this problem are being discussed with Nepal's Department of Archaeology, Pashupati Area Development Trust and other stakeholders," said Axel Plathe, the UNESCO Representative to Nepal.

"The report addresses the issue well, which also reflects the seriousness the government of Nepal has taken in the matter."

According to Plathe, the report has been already forwarded to Paris where the World Heritage Center will assess it and submit their conclusion in the upcoming annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee to be held in Cambodia later this year.

Meanwhile, he refuted the rumor that Kathmandu will be de-listed from the World Heritage Site list if it is listed as endangered heritage site yet again. However, he added that like other world heritages across the globe, Kathmandu also has challenges and risks which should be tackled duly.

Earlier in 2003, UNESCO had already listed Kathmandu as an endangered heritage site once, owing to the newly built private houses around the Bouddhanath Monument Zone. The government had to reconstructed the houses complying with the historical designs.

"Just because Kathmandu has certain risks and challenges, it does not mean that the city will be listed as endangered world heritage site,"
Plathe said.

The controversial dirt road was constructed by the United Bagmati Cultural Development Committee, a local committee in the area, in 2007, which the Nepali Road Department and the Pashupati Area Development Trust claimed they had no clue during the inception.

"The constructors (of the road) did not come to us for our consent before dragging a bulldozer through the Pashupati Monument Zone," said Division Chief Gopal Bahadur Khadka of Department of Road Planning.

Similarly, member secretary of Pashupati Area Development Trust Sushil Nahta also lamented that the road was opened without the approval from his organization.

"It was on Saturday the track road was opened right through the middle of Shesmantak Forest of Pashupati Monument Zone," Nahta said. "When the office resumed on Sunday we were shocked after seeing the road in the middle of the forest."

Given the government's address on the matter, it is less likely that Kathmandu Cultural Heritage Site will be listed as endangered site, Plathe said. He also clarified that even if Kathmandu is listed as endangered site, the listing will be aimed at raising awareness for corrective actions from the government and other organisations concerned.

Kathmandu Valley, inscribed as a cultural world heritage site in 1979, is one of the four world heritage sites of Nepal, the other three being the cultural site of Lumbini, and the two natural heritage sites of Chitwan National Park and Sagarmatha National Park.

Pushkar Shah to cycle Great Himalayan Trail

Nepal's famous cyclist Pushkar Shah on Thursday emerged with an adventurous and inspiring mission -- cycling The Great Himalayan Trial for rural development.

Cyclist Shah, 43, who hails from a modest farmer family of Nepal's Dolakha district, had on November 29, 1998 set out from Nepal to travel the world on his bicycle to spread the message of peace. Eleven years later, on May 17, 2010 -- the final day of his successful accomplishment of world tour -- Shah was on the top of the Mount Everest with colorful flags of 192 countries.

After two-and-half years of physical and mental rest from his world cycling expedition for peace, which covered an extraordinary 150 countries and 390,000 kilometers, in a press conference in Kathmandu, Shah,revealed his next mission with an aim to promote The Great Himalayan Trial -- a 1,700 kilometer-long network of existing treks and trails of Nepal stretching from east to west and winding beneath the world's highest peaks.

According to Nepali trekkers, it takes 120 days for a person to walk through the trial, which includes a couple of high passes with altitude above 5000 meters.

Shah and his six-member team, including a mechanic and a photographer, will cycle for 45 days starting on April 5 this year from Western district of Darchula to Eastern Taplejung district.