Destination: Nepal

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK INFORMATION

Getting Started

In many ways, Nepal is a dream destination. Travel can be as cheap as you want, but all the comforts are there for when you want to spend a little more and there’s not much advanced required. Pick up a visa on arrival and just rock up to Thamel to join a rafting trip leaving the next day. Still, spending some time leafing through this book and browsing the web will guarantee you don’t miss any of the fantastic things on offer and ensure you are on top of the frequently changing security situation.

Is it Safe?

The seven-year Maoist ‘people’s war’ has cost nearly 12,000 Nepali lives so far. That said, the Maoists are more of a threat to the tourist industry as a whole, rather than to individual tourists, who have never been specifically targeted.

In March 2002 the chief ideologue of the Maoists, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, published an ‘open letter to foreign tourists’. In it he stated that the Maoists welcomed tourism and tourists, but he also warned that ‘the unassuming traveller can be caught between the crossfire of the contending armies’.

Maoist violence is generally concentrated in rural areas not frequented by tourists and is normally focussed against police stations, communications towers and other government infrastructure. Public buses carrying army personnel, even off-duty army personnel, have been targets, adding to the already significant danger of travelling by bus in Nepal.

In general the heavy army presence in the Kathmandu Valley means that it has been little affected. That said, minor bombs were detonated in 2004 in areas of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Patan frequented by tourists, including two top-end hotels. In June 2005 Maoists blew up a bus travelling between Madi and Narayangarh in Chitwan district, killing 40 people. The only tourists so far injured by the Maoists, as far as we know, were two Russian mountaineers, whose vehicle was attacked by grenades while travelling along the road to the Tibetan border in April 2005 in defiance of a Maoist blockade.

Blockades, curfews, and strikes have affected all areas of Nepal, especially Kathmandu, which came briefly under a dawn to dusk curfew in January 2006. Another indirect risk comes from the general lawlessness created by the struggle.

Trekkers in the far west and east of the country and the Jiri to Lukla trek have had ‘donations’ extorted from them by Maoists, though they have received a receipt and some have even enjoyed the interaction, keeping their Maoists receipts as a souvenir. Others have had cameras stolen by hoodlums (kaobadhi in Nepali) pretending to be Maoists (maobadhi). Even Michael Palin came up against some Maoists during the filming of his Himalaya BBC documentary. As demands for money get higher so the potential for violence increases (some Israeli groups have already started fighting back!). If threatened, you’d be wise to pay up and then get a receipt.

Various governments offer advice on which areas they deem unsafe; most of these are remote and in midwestern Nepal. The Maoists are strongest in rural areas in the southwest, Dolpo, the mid-east (east of the Kathmandu Valley and Arniko Hwy to Tibet) and far east. At the time of research, the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, Chitwan, Langtang, Mustang and the Everest area north of Lukla were largely unaffected. The Annapurna region is considered fairly safe, though there have been some incidents involving Maoists along the southern half of the circuit, specifically around Beni, Gorepani and Ghandruk. The Mahendra Hwy in the Terai is normally unaffected, except for the occasional tedious checkpoint, though you should avoid night-time travel along this road. The Dolpo, Jumla, Jiri and Kanchenjunga trekking regions have largely been off limits for the last couple of years. The US pulled all of its Peace Corps volunteers out of the country in September 2004.

Nepal is not the war zone portrayed by the foreign press and Maoist activity does not directly target tourists or tourist vehicles, but there’s always the danger of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your best way of keeping out of trouble is to keep yourself aware of the situation.

Follow the news on the ground through Nepalese news website such as
www.kantipuronline.com, www.thehimalayantimes.com, www.nepalnews.com, www.gorkhapatra.org.np, www.nepalitimes.com and www.nepalnews.net.

Check out the ‘Is Nepal Safe?’ posts on the Thorn Tree forum, at www.trekinfo.com and at http://isnepalsafe.blogspot.com.

The UN in Nepal has an excellent up-to-date security page, which includes a useful map of recent security incidents.

Most travel warnings focus on administrative districts, which aren’t shown on many maps – for an administrative map of Nepal go to here.

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…

Checking the security situation.
A face mask against Kathmandu’s air pollution, especially if you have a respiratory problem or plan to ride a bike.
Sunglasses, a hat and high-factor sunscreen.
Hiking shoes – fine for light trekking and one of the few things you can’t rent or buy in Kathmandu.
A fleece if visiting Pokhara, Kathmandu and the Terai between October and March.
A down sleeping bag, fleece hat and down vest or coat if visiting the mountains, even in summer.
Earplugs, a padlock, a torch (flashlight) for trekking and power cuts, insect repellent for Royal Chitwan National Park or other places in the Terai, tampons.
An umbrella, raincoat and antileech oil for monsoon travel.
Swimming costume for rafting, kayaking, canyoning, elephant-washing (yes, elephant washing), and, well, swimming.

Travelling to Nepal?
Lonely Planet recommends World Nomads Travel insurance