Friday, July 31, 2009

Cultural Tourism with Nepal Environmental Trekking

Nepal Environmental Trekking believes that tourism should be based on the mosaic of places, traditions, art forms, celebrations and experiences that portray this nation and its people, reflecting the diversity and character of the Nepal. Whether through a visit to a museum, an art festival, a heritage area, a performance or a historic building, authentic cultural attractions educate, elevate and entertain travelers nationwide. Our guides and porters respect local culture and traditions, use home-stays, locally owned hotels and lodges or campsites as much as possible to support the local livelihood.
Nepal is a small country with different varieties. This country is famous for its unity in diversity, in language and lifestyle, caste and religious. Although there are different religions like Hindu, Buddism, Christian, Muslims etc live in Nepal, there is no discrimination among them. Every religion is prevailing with equal respect. Different religious sites can be found here like The Pashupati Nath temple the greatest deity of Hindu, Swayambhu stupa and Boddha Nath stupa of Buddism, different Mosques of Islamism and churches of Christianity etc. Nepalese are religious people. So, they have strong faith on divine Power.
In Nepal, the typical Nepali costume of women is Gunnau Cholo, Dhoti and Patuka and the Nepali costume of men is Daura Suruwal and Dhaka topi. But except it there also can be other costumes like Bakhu, Lehnga, haku patasi, kactihad etc. It also represents the culture of the specific society. The rituals and language of one society may or may not be similar to other according to the human race.
There are many typical dance in every society like kauda dance related with Magar, Ghatu dance is related with Gurung, Dhimal dance is related with Dhamal etc. like wise festival also differ from one caste and religion to other like Dashain, Tihar, teej, etc is celebrated by Chhetri, Bhraman and Hindu and Fagu, Maghi etc celebrated by Maithali, Bhojpuri and Losahar clebrated by Tamang and Sherpa. Some festivals like Dashain and Tihar are celebrated by many religions like Hindu and Buddhist but they celebrate it according to their rules and norms. While celebrating their festivals every people meet their relatives near and dear ones.
There are several social and cultural beliefs and customs in Nepal like respecting elders, regarding the guest, loving younger, helping poor etc. This belief has made Nepali people helpful, peaceful and popular. Many cultural heritage of Nepal included in the world heritage list like Pasupati Nath, Swayambhu, Patan Darbar,Changunarayan, Lumbini, Bhaktpur Darbar,Bouddha Nath,Hanumandhoka Darbar, which has become property of the whole human race. So in a year thousand foreigners come to our company to visit culture heritage. Similarly some of the tourists come to Nepal to observe the lifestyle and peaceful environment created by Nepal and its culture. It has helped Nepal to gain financial status. The profit our company earns by selling tour and trekking packages to the guests is shared and invested for the preservation of culture and heritages and awareness of the local community.

Monday, July 27, 2009

mountains in Nepal

Nepal contains part of the Himalaya, the highest mountain range in the world. Eight of the fourteen eight-thousanders are located in the country, either in whole or shared across a border with Tibet or India.
Contrary to popular belief, the height of a mountain is measured from the base to the apex. Mt. Everest stretches 8848 meters above sea level, but it has a head start due to the general uplift from the Himalayas. The Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea is 10,314 meters from base to apex, so even though it only reaches to 4205 meters above sea level, it is a bigger mountain than Everest. (These results only apply to an incorrect manner in which one would measure a mountain. This measurement is based upon how high above sea level the mountains peak is located. The correct way to measure a mountain would be to obtain actual height from base to apex.)

Rafting in Nepal

White water rafting is negotiating river rapids and obstacles in an inflatable rubber boat with a team of up to eight people and a river guide. Rivers are graded from easy to near-impossible according to their size, the intensity of their rapids and the difficulties that may affect rescue attempts.

Problems of tourism

Tourism began in Nepal as people discovered the land around the tallest peak in the world, Mt. Everest. Development around Mt. Everest was slow to start, however the scenery waiting to be viewed would soon attract many tourists. So tourism began: people had ambitions to climb the slopes of the great mountain, and, as always, local people began to expand their living to fit that of the tourists and began to, in some areas, become richer and more developed. However, visitors would share their culture, good or bad, and this had some major disadvantages, principally litter. Locals also began to, as they used more developed equipment, drop litter on the slopes that no-one wanted to take down. This includes oxygen bottles, bottles of water, snack bars and tissues etc – all of what we enjoy at home, but without any bins. Landfill sites were set up.
Other problems include the volume of tourists wearing the mountain away, which causes mudslides through erosion which can be deadly for lower communities. Trees are cut down at an alarming rate, adding to this problem – a tourist uses three times more wood than a Sherpa. In the towns, toilet facilities involve no sewage system, and therefore local water, which the people are used to it being clean, is neglected and polluted with human waste. Locals, who can’t afford the bottled water that tourists are buying have no real choice about using the polluted water and suffer the increased health costs and deadly diseases. Now tourists are buying and pushing up the price of products that the locals are selling, agriculture in growing potatoes for the local population has decreased and problems have occurred because of the price rise: locals can no longer buy their community’s food and often must either eat less or find another way to make a living. Large non-localised organisations often refuse responsibility concerning waste, forcing local people to clean up to keep the area attractive to tourists.
Due to the ongoing chronic power shortages and political instability, Nepal may face serious consequences in the days to come.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Hiking for different tourism places

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking have been confirmed in studies.The word hiking is understood in all English-speaking countries, but there are differences in usage.
In the
United Kingdom, hiking is a slightly old-fashioned word, with a flavor more of heartiness and exercise than of enjoying the outdoors; the activity described here would be called hillwalking or simply walking. In the United States, hiking refers to cross-country walking of a longer duration than a simple walk and usually over terrain where hiking boots are required. A day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day, often applied to mountain hikes to a lake or summit, but not requiring an overnight camp, in which case the term backpacking is used. Bushwhacking specifically refers to difficult walking through dense foreJustify Fullst, undergrowth, or bushes, where forward progress requires pushing vegetation aside. In extreme cases of bushwhacking where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, a machete is used to clear a pathway. Australians use the term bushwalking for both on- and off-trail hiking. New Zealanders use tramping (particularly for overnight and longer trips), walking or bushwalking. Multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Nepal, North America, South America, and in the highlands of East Africa is also called trekking. Hiking a long-distance trail from end to end is also referred to as trekking and as thru-hiking in some places, for example on the Appalachian Trail.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Annapurna

Annapurna (Sanskrit, Nepali, Nepal Bhasa: अन्नपूर्णा) is a series of peaks in the Himalayas, a 55 km (34 mi)-long massif of which the highest point, Annapurna I, stands at 8091m, making it the 10th-highest summit in the world and one of the 14 "eight-thousanders". It is located east of a great gorge cut through the Himalayas by the Kali Gandaki River, which separates it from the Dhaulagiri massif. (Dhaulagiri I lies 34 km west of Annapurna I.)
अन्नपूर्णा Annapūrṇā is a Sanskrit name which literally means "full of food" (feminine form), but is normally translated as Goddess of the Harvests. In Hinduism, Annapurna is a goddess of fertility and agriculture and an avatar of Durga.
The entire massif and surrounding area are protected within the 7,629 sq. km Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), the first and largest conservation area in Nepal, established in 1986 by the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation. The Annapurna Conservation Area is home to several world-class treks, including the Annapurna Circuit.

Defination of Religious

Religious scholars generally agree that writing a single definition that applies to all religions is difficult or even impossible, because all people examine religion with some kind of critical eye, and the term is therefore fraught with ideological consequences for anyone who might want to construct a universal definition. Talal Asad writes that "there cannot be a universal definition of religion ... because that definition is itself the historical product of discursive processes Thomas A. Tweed, while defending the idea of religion in general, writes that "it would be foolish to set up an abstract definition of religion's essence, and then proceed to defend that definition from all comers."
The earliest definition of religion is from
Johnson's Dictionary, which simply calls it "a system of faith and worship". Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl, commonly translated as "a feeling of absolute dependence". His contemporary Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit." Clifford Geertz's definition of religion as a "cultural system" was dominant for most of the 20th century and continues to be widely accepted today.
Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in "
God" or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, "a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.”According to this definition, religion refers to one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's thoughts and actions. Thus religion is considered by some sources to extend to causes, principles, or activities believed in with zeal or conscientious devotion concerning points or matters of ethics or conscience, and not necessarily including belief in the supernatural

Definitions of religion

Religious scholars generally agree that writing a single definition that applies to all religions is difficult or even impossible, because all people examine religion with some kind of critical eye, and the term is therefore fraught with ideological consequences for anyone who might want to construct a universal definition. Talal Asad writes that "there cannot be a universal definition of religion ... because that definition is itself the historical product of discursive processes"Thomas A. Tweed, while defending the idea of religion in general, writes that "it would be foolish to set up an abstract definition of religion's essence, and then proceed to defend that definition from all comers."
The earliest definition of religion is from Johnson's Dictionary, which simply calls it "a system of faith and worship". Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl, commonly translated as "a feeling of absolute dependence".His contemporary Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit."Clifford Geertz's definition of religion as a "cultural system" was dominant for most of the 20th century and continues to be widely accepted today.
Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in "God" or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, "a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.”According to this definition, religion refers to one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's thoughts and actions. Thus religion is considered by some sources to extend to causes, principles, or activities believed in with zeal or conscientious devotion concerning points or matters of ethics or conscience, and not necessarily including belief in the supernatural

Geology of Mt. Everest

Geologists have subdivided the rocks comprising Mount Everest into three units called "formations".Each of these formations are separated from each other by low-angle faults, called “detachments”, along which they have been thrust over each other. From the summit of Mount Everest to its base these rock units are the Qomolangma Formation, the North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation.
From its summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8,600 m (28,000 ft) above sea level, the top of Mount Everest consists of the Qomolangma Formation, which has also been designated as either the Everest Formation or Jolmo Lungama Formation. It consists of grayish to dark gray or white, parallel laminated and bedded
limestone interlayered with subordinate beds of recrystallized dolomite with argillaceous laminae and siltstone. Gansser first reported finding microscopic fragments of crinoids in these limestones.Later petrographic analysis of samples of this Ordovician limestone from near the summit revealed them to be composed of carbonate pellets and finely fragmented remains of trilobites, crinoids, and ostracods. Other samples were so badly sheared and recrystallized that their original constituents could not be determined. The Qomolangma Formation is broken up by several high-angle faults that terminate at the low angle thrust fault, the Qomolangma Detachment. This detachment separates it from the underlying Yellow Band. The lower five metres of the Qomolangma Formation overlying this detachment are very highly deformed.
The bulk of Mount Everest, between 7,000 and 8,600 m (23,000 and 28,200 ft), consists of the North Col Formation, of which the Yellow Band forms its upper part between 8,200 to 8,600 m (26,900 to 28,200 ft). The Yellow Band consists of intercalated beds of diopsite-epidote-bearing marble, which weathers a distinctive yellowish brown, and muscovite-biotite phyllite and semischist. Petrographic analysis of marble collected from about 8,300 m (27,200 ft) found it to consist as much as five percent of the ghosts of recrystallized crinoid ossicles. The upper five metres of the Yellow Band lying adjacent to the Qomolangma Detachment is badly deformed. A 5–40 cm (2–16 in) thick fault breccia separates it from the overlying Qomolangma Formation.
The remainder of the North Col Formation, exposed between 7,000 to 8,200 m (23,000 to 26,900 ft) on Mount Everest, consists of interlayered and deformed schist, phyllite, and minor marble. Between 7,600 and 8,200 m (24,900 and 26,900 ft), the North Col Formation consists chiefly of biotite-quartz phyllite and chlorite-biotite phyllite intercalated with minor amounts of biotite-sericite-quartz schist. Between 7,000 and 7,600 m (23,000 and 24,900 ft), the lower part of the North Col Formation consists of biotite-quartz schist intercalated with epidote-quartz schist, biotite-calcite-quartz schist, and thin layers of quartzose marble. These metamorphic rocks appear to the result of the metamorphism of deep sea flysch composed of interbedded, mudstone, shale, clayey sandstone, calcareous sandstone, graywacke, and sandy limestone. The base of the North Col Formation is a regional thrust fault called the "Lhotse detachment".

Early expeditions of Mt.Everest

In 1885, Clinton Thomas Dent, president of the Alpine Club, suggested that climbing Mount Everest was possible in his book Above the Snow Line.
The northern approach to the mountain was discovered by George Mallory on the first expedition in 1921. It was an exploratory expedition not equipped for a serious attempt to climb the mountain. With Mallory leading (and thus becoming the first European to set foot on Everest's flanks) they climbed the North Col 7,007 metres (22,989 ft). From there, Mallory espied a route to the top, but the party was woefully unprepared for the great task of climbing any further and descended.
The British returned for a 1922 expedition. George Finch ("The other George") climbed using oxygen for the first time. He ascended at a remarkable speed — 950 feet (290 m) per hour, and reached an altitude of 8,320 m (27,300 ft), the first time a human climbed higher then 8,000m. This feat was entirely lost on the British climbing establishment — except for its "unsporting" nature. Mallory and Col. Felix Norton made a second unsuccessful attempt. Mallory was faulted for leading a group down from the North Col which got caught in an avalanche. Mallory was pulled down too, but seven native porters were killed.
The next Expedition was in 1924. The initial attempt by Mallory and Bruce, was aborted when weather conditions precluded the establishment of Camp VI. The next attempt was that of Norton and Somervell who climbed without oxygen and in perfect weather, traversing the North Face into the Great Couloir. Norton managed to reach 8,558 metres (28,077 ft), though he ascended only 100 feet (30 m) or so in the last hour. Mallory rustled up oxygen equipment for a last-ditch effort. He chose the young Andrew Irvine as his partner.
On 8 June 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made an attempt on the summit via the North Col/North Ridge/Northeast Ridge route from which they never returned. On 1 May 1999 the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory's body on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of the traditional site of Camp VI. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community as to whether or not one or both of them reached the summit 29 years before the confirmed ascent (and of course, safe descent) of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
In 1933, Lady Houston, a British millionaire ex-showgirl, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of aircraft led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the summit in an effort to deploy the British Union Flag at the top.
Early expeditions — such as Bruce's in the 1920s and Hugh Ruttledge's two unsuccessful attempts in 1933 and 1936 — tried to make an ascent of the mountain from Tibet, via the north face. Access was closed from the north to western expeditions in 1950, after the Chinese asserted control over Tibet. In 1950, Bill Tilman and a small party which included Charles Houston, Oscar Houston and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.

Mount Everest

Mount Everest – also called Sagarmāthā (Nepali: सगरमाथा), Chomolungma or Qomolangma (Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ) or Zhumulangma (Chinese: 珠穆朗玛峰 Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng) – is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height above sea level of its summit, 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China.
In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time. Chomolungma had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries, but Waugh was unable to propose an established local name because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.
The highest mountain in the world attracts climbers of all levels, from well experienced mountaineers to novice climbers willing to pay substantial sums to professional mountain guides to complete a successful climb. The mountain, while not posing substantial technical climbing difficulty on the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2 or Nanga Parbat are much more difficult), still has many inherent dangers such as altitude sickness, weather and wind. By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals. Climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US$25,000 per person.Everest has claimed 210 lives, including eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone that most corpses have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from standard climbing routes.

About Nepal

Nepal is a country lying between China on the North and India on the South. It is a landlocked country on the collision zone between two plates, so large mountain ranges are formed in the creasing – including the Pahar Hill region and the Mountain region, both with large altitudes and populated valleys. Tourism is especially large in Mount Everest and a large amount of conflict has arisen there – as we will study later. Mountaineers with ambitions to travel, view and climb the spectacular slopes come in their ten thousands. 39% of the GDP comes from agriculture; 76% of people use it as their principle employment. Services (which would include tourism) equal 42% and industry 21%. The lack of natural resources means that agriculture is the main primary industry, while tourism probably the main tertiary. Main exports are clothing, leather, jute goods and grain.
There are lots of places to visit in Nepal. That is why people often term Nepal as "a place where there are more temples than houses". Similarly because of Gods and Goddesses we term it as a place where the number of gods and goddess is more than the population of people.
Inside the Kathmandu Valley, there is lots of sight seeing. For example, you can go to Kasthamandap which was build of one tree, Pashupati nath of the capital and several other temples, historical places and monuments.
However, one of the most amazing thing of the Kathmandu Valley is the excellent view of the valley from all the hilltops!
Similarly when one goes outside of the valley, he or she can see countless natural beauties never explored. Tourists stare with amazements of the gift of God to the Himalayan Kingdom. Nepal is a must visit place.

Aglow in Buddha's embrace

A land of ancient kingdoms, bejewelled temples and devout monks, Burma is besotted with Buddhism. It boasts Asia's most dedicated Buddhists with almost 90 per cent of its 45 million inhabitants observing the philosophy.
Everywhere, tangible expressions of Burmese piety and generosity can be found, most notably in the innumerable religious monuments that dot the landscape. And, as the country slowly opens up to the world and embraces a restricted form of tourism after decades of self-imposed isolation, these sacred treasures can now be experienced by visitors. A word of advice a relaxed itinerary is a must.
Holiest of Burma's Buddhist sites and a must-see for tourists is the stunning Shwedagon Pagoda, situated atop Singutarra Hill in the capital, Rangoon. Reputedly built about 500BC as a protective repository for eight locks of Buddha's hair, Shwedagon is steeped in myth and legend, dominating the city's skyline with its blazing 100-metre-tall bell-shaped stupa.
The country's most important Buddhist icon, it is plated with 60 tonnes of gold leaf and topped by a shimmering orb encrusted with more than 4000 diamonds. It is easy to understand why Rudyard Kipling dubbed Shwedagon "the winking wonder". Pilgrims are expected to pay homage here at least once in their life. With 400,000 monks and 75,000 nuns in Burma, Shwedagon can get crowded.
The temple complex is ringed by four ornate arched entrances, one of which boasts an escalator installed specifically for the former royal family. The east gate has the most colourful ambience, flanked by vendor stalls offering a multitude of monastic requisites; flowers, candles, ivory combs, ceremonial parasols and the traditional zee gwet owl-like figurines thought to bring good luck.
Strolling the wide marble terrace that rings the pagoda, I feel like I've entered a dreamy religious fairytale. Among the clusters of smaller temples, statues and pavilions, the spiritual energy is almost palpable.
I watch as maroon-robed monks gather at prayer stations to pay their respects. Following age-old rhythms, they rub meditation beads and chant Buddhism's noble truths: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering) and anatta (no self, no soul, no ego).
Respected as healers, teachers and community leaders, monks of the Buddhist priesthood are known collectively as the Sangha and occupy the highest echelon in Burma's social hierarchy. Not surprisingly, the country's monks initiated and led the barefoot march of 100,000 peaceful protesters through Rangoon during 2007's pro-democracy demonstrations. Several paid with their lives at the hands of Burma's military junta. Many were imprisoned.
In a nearby prayer hall lies an eight-metre Reclining Buddha. A senior monk, Tezinda, quietly explains the posture of the deity. "Buddha is resting because he is tired from fixing all the problems in the world," he says. He offers a few words of wisdom I will never forget. "Rangoon is a British town. Mandalay is a Burmese town. Go to Mandalay there you will find L.O.V.E," he says with a sweet smile. Strange advice from a monk but then Burma is a place that keeps tossing up surprises.
Six hundred kilometres further north along the fabled road to Mandalay is the country's second city and its main monastic centre, home to more than 20,000 monks who come to study Tripitaka (Three Baskets), the canon of Buddhist literature. Surrounding Mandalay lie the remains of Sagaing, Amarapura and Mingun, all former royal capitals and now religious centres

Tourism in Nepal

Nepal is a country lying between China on the North and India on the South. It is a landlocked country on the collision zone between two plates, so large mountain ranges are formed in the creasing - including the Pahar Hill region and the Mountain region, both with large altitudes and populated valleys. Tourism is especially large in Mount Everest and a large amount of conflict has arisen there - as we will study later. Mountaineers with ambitions to travel, view and climb the spectacular slopes come in their ten thousands. 39% of the GDP comes from agriculture; 76% of people use it as their principle employment. Services (which would include tourism) equal 42% and industry 21%. The lack of natural resources means that agriculture is the main primary industry, while tourism probably the main tertiary. Main exports are clothing, leather, jute goods and grain.
There are lots of places to visit in Nepal. That is why people often term Nepal as "a place where there are more temples than houses". Similarly because of Gods and Goddesses we term it as a place where the number of gods and goddess is more than the population of people.
Inside the Kathmandu Valley , there is lots of sight seeing. For example, you can go to Kasthamandap which was build of one tree, Pashupati nath of the capital and several other temples, historical places and monuments.
However, one of the most amazing thing of the Kathmandu Valley is the excellent view of the valley from all the hilltops!
Similarly when one goes outside of the valley, he or she can see countless natural beauties never explored. Tourists stare with amazements of the gift of God to the Himalayan Kingdom. Nepal is a must visit place.
2. Problems of tourism
Tourism began in Nepal as people discovered the land around the tallest peak in the world, Mt. Everest. Development around Mt. Everest was slow to start, however the scenery waiting to be viewed would soon attract many tourists. So tourism began: people had ambitions to climb the slopes of the great mountain, and, as always, local people began to expand their living to fit that of the tourists and began to, in some areas, become richer and more developed. However, visitors would share their culture, good or bad, and this had some major disadvantages, principally litter. Locals also began to, as they used more developed equipment, drop litter on the slopes that no-one wanted to take down. This includes oxygen bottles, bottles of water, snack bars and tissues etc - all of what we enjoy at home, but without any bins. Landfill sites were set up.
Other problems include the volume of tourists wearing the mountain away, which causes mudslides through erosion which can be deadly for lower communities. Trees are cut down at an alarming rate, adding to this problem - a tourist uses three times more wood than a Sherpa. In the towns, toilet facilities involve no sewage system, and therefore local water, which the people are used to it being clean, is neglected and polluted with human waste. Locals, who can’t afford the bottled water that tourists are buying have no real choice about using the polluted water and suffer the increased health costs and deadly diseases. Now tourists are buying and pushing up the price of products that the locals are selling, agriculture in growing potatoes for the local population has decreased and problems have occurred because of the price rise: locals can no longer buy their community’s food and often must either eat less or find another way to make a living. Large non-localised organisations often refuse responsibility concerning waste, forcing local people to clean up to keep the area attractive to tourists.
Due to the ongoing chronic power shortages and political instability, Nepal may face serious consequences in the days to come