Adventure travel companies that had discontinued trips to Nepal in recent years are planning to resume their operations soon, according to a New York Times report. Conflict between the Nepalese government and Maoist rebels had caused outfitters to stop running trips, but a peace deal signed in November changed their outlook.
Michelle Higgins writes:
Michael Steigerwald, director of the Himalayan region for Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco, who just returned from a February scouting trip to Nepal, said roadblocks that had doubled travel time along the road from Pokhara to Kathmandu — a key tourist route — were gone. And Maoists have stopped collecting money from tourists along trekking routes.
Outfitters returning to Nepal say they wouldn’t be planning trips if they didn’t think it’s safe. The U.S. government, however, continues to post travel warnings.
Related on World Hum:
* John Flinn on ‘the Coolest Six-Buck Souvenir I Ever Got’
* Trekking With the Maoist Rebels
* Boycott Nepal, The Trekking Capital Of The World?
* George Saunders on Nepal’s ‘Buddha Boy’
Photo of Nepal by Hugh Gage (Via Flickr, Creative Commons).
