Annapurna Disneyland?

[webmaster]

Found this at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/18/nepal.manang.development


Annapurna: Nepali trekker route at risk from push for richer tourists




Damien Pearse in Annapurna
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian),
Monday August 18 2008
Article history (http://trekinfo.com/forums/) One of the world's classic mountain trekking routes is at risk of obliteration from plans to bring golf and skiing package tourism to the Himalayas.
Tourism chiefs in Nepal are keen to replace the stereotypical "trekker on a shoestring" with credit-card tourists seeking adventure holidays, including activities such as heli-skiing and paragliding.
The development will mean that the Annapurna circuit, which opened to backpackers in 1977, will be overwhelmed by a new road running through the heart of the Himalayas. Buses, taxis, motorbikes and tractors will ply the route connecting the mountain resort of Manang - currently reachable by footpath or air - to Nepal's national transport network.
Wildlife and plants will be destroyed and scores of porters and guides could lose their livelihoods, officials concede.
Aditya Baral, Nepal's senior foreign affairs adviser, said: "After the construction of the road ... the number of trekkers will be reduced. We have a trade-off here between economic development and infrastructure and the effect on tourism and the environment. We need to create alternative attractions to just trekking."
Baral, a former public relations director at the Nepal tourism board, added that Nepal wanted to attract different types of tourism. "We are trying to create man-made tourism attractions, like theme parks, adrenaline sports like bungee jumping and rafting."
At present, trekkers to the Annapurna region, in central Nepal, typically spend five days walking to Manang at 3,500 metres before continuing on for another two weeks to the resort of Pokhara. But the road is already being built along part of the route to Manang and eventually will follow much of the mountain trek.
Supporters say the plans are essential for the survival of Himalayan villages and for tourism in the area. But conservationists and trekkers have reacted angrily. The Annapurna Conservation Area Project group fears that tour operators will go to any lengths to increase profit from tourism. In a report, it said benefits from activities such as heli-skiing and golf "will mainly go to a few specialised tour operators and some more expensive hotels.
"Although there will be some trickle down [of profits], for the majority of the local people these activities will have little effect on alleviating poverty," it said.
Emmanuel Deghary, 29, from Marseille, who has made the trek four times, said of the new road: "There will be buses and tractors and lorries churning out their choking fumes all day and all night. Is this the way we want to treat our planet?"

[kegarne]

Confirming my worst fears that within a couple of years the Manang side of the Circuit will too be ruined.:(

[Sharon]

Progress... I guess Nepal has right to enter the soft adventure holiday market. I am very glad that I had the experiences in Manalsu, Ganesh himal and Rowaling where the lifestyle was that of 100 or more years ago.

[julia]

"There will be buses and tractors and lorries churning out their choking fumes all day and all night. Is this the way we want to treat our planet?"


NO!! :( :(

[Petrus]

Well, all inhabited, and many uninhabited, mountain areas in Europe & North America are full of roads and there is no plans to remove them. Vehicle pollution is worst in Switzerland. Rich countries have roads everywhere, and in this light I can understand that the Nepalese people also want roads to their villages. It is just too bad that some foreigners like us would like to keep those areas as they were, for their private nature/culture enjoyment. Progress is progress. Only the future will show which way the tourism and profits from tourism will go in Annapurna area. That said I admit I was lucky to be there already in -84 and -86. -06 was already downhill in aesthetical sense, roads reached further, electric lines ruined the skylines in villages, ugly lodges mostly cover the whole entrance to Manang etc. All these complaints are from the trekker's viewpoint, not from the local's, and they are the ones who deside.

Khumbu has no roads, there will be new areas open (Manaslu, Nar-Phu) or fees reduced (Mustang).

[Huw]

What sad news. One of my favourite memories of the AC is of early morning in Manang, watching the goats taking themselves to pasture along the wide, misty high street. I can picture it now and remember the complete silence, apart from the clanging of their bells. How sad to think they will soon have to fight through lorries and jeeps. I suppose it'll bring the Hundred Rupee Lama a lot more business but isn't it a long way to go for the Bunjee jumping and rafting community - I guess it's aimed more at Chinese and Indian tourists? I understand that everything changes but I don't like it!
Huw
--
http://nepaljournals.googlepages.com/home

[Escher]

I sound a bit like a stuck record on this subject but I've been to the Annapurna region 4 times in the last 8 years and we trekked the AC again this last Spring. I thoroughly enjoyed the trek and just as much as previously. I didn't enjoy getting covered in dust the couple of times a jeep went past and it would have been nice to walk on more trails but still the trek is absolutely fascinating. For me the place is the place. Now it has a road through it but it is still the Annapurnas, it isn't anywhere else! We still had a great time in the lodges, playing with the kids, chatting with the locals, gawping at the mountains, eating dal bhat and spotting wildlife. It still is vastly different from being at home. It still has Marpha and Manang, and Chame and Ghorepani, there still was something new to see round every corner whether that was a butterfly or a bird or a newly built lodge or a different path.

To me saying that the Annapurna Circuit is now ruined is like saying Kathmandu is ruined because they have built the Radisson hotel (ok maybe not a good example).

Sure it would be nice for there to be no road and it to be all wonderful trails but it isn't, I went there knowing that and had a great time. Never for a minute did I think "this could be so much better if x, y and z weren't there." It is what it is and it was great. I can't get my head around why someone can think the experience is ruined whilst they are actually doing it because it isn't like the old days. The experience is stil head and shoulders above being at home and not doing it.

Progress and building work is always going to happen but it doesn't make the place less good than it was just different. The road didn't change the charm of the people, the taste of the dal bhat, the view of the mountains. For me trekking is so much more than the walking! Maybe I am a glass full kind of guy. :rolleyes:

Is the Khumbu area diminished because of Lukla airport? Is it just different to what it was? Sometimes it feels like there is a competition about who experienced Nepal at its most "authentic". Well to me I always experience the "authentic" Nepal because Nepal is Nepal wherever you are in Nepal and regardless of whether they have built a road, a dam, an internet cafe and so on!

Ps. this rant is directed at the comments often mooted that the AC is already ruined. I don't think it is at all.

But in reply to the OP - I am not convinced that the worst case scenario described is going to happen at all. How much money are they really likely to make out of these sorts of tourists? Will this really mean wall to wall, day and night traffic? I am not convinced that it actually will and if it does, not for quite a while. How many people actually go para gliding in Pokhara? How many people want to get driven up Manang now? After all you can fly in if you are loaded. Perhaps it is for Indian and Chinese tourists, I don't know. But what proportion now of tourists are trekkers? How many of those will carry on as they are now? I don't think it is as clear cut as all that.

[Huw]

I agree with everything you say, Escher, about trekking in Annapurna and that it is still a wonderful experience. I, for one, am certainly not saying that trekking there isn't an authentic experience, I'm just complaining (pointlessly) about change because in this case I don't happen to like it. Also I think what gets on my pip about this road is the fact it is being built at all (with Chinese funding) and apparently against the will of most of the 10,000 or so people who live in the Annapurna region. On my last trek there was a lot of talk about exactly who was benefiting from the road; to put it bluntly that a few individuals were getting very rich and that it's presence will undo most of the good work done in the area by ACAP. But it's happened and as you say, it doesn't make the place less good than it was, just different.
Huw

[kegarne]

Well good for you Escher, you keep going to the AC and enjoy the trek over and over again !

You can share your time there with paragliders and bungee jumpers, for myself, I will seek out untainted treks in the Rolwaling, Makalu and Kanch and even the Indian Himalaya where the villages are free of roads and the times are like when Tilman and Shipton hiked through there 70- 80 years ago.

[Escher]

You can share your time there with paragliders and bungee jumpers.

This is my point really. Manang is not yet full of paragliders and bungee jumpers and the road is not yet heavy with traffic day and night.

Sure the road building is quite extensive, but my experience of the traffic was that it wasn't bad at all. No traffic at all on the Marsyangdi side apart from a bus or two to Bhule Bhule and one tractor further up (but on the other side of the river to where you trek) and maybe ten motorbikes, and five or six jeeps on the Gandaki side. I didn't enjoy the section from Jomsom to Lete but that section has always been a dusty and windy grind, admittedly the jeeps on that section were a pain.

So I feel it is necessary to paint the other side of the story when the Annapurna Circuit is regularly described as ruined and that you shouldn't bother or just fly out of Jomsom. We are happy to criticise the Nepali authorities for developing the area and destroying the business of Annapurna guides, porters and tea houses; yet we are also happy to discourage new trekkers from going there to trek as the road is apparently so intrusive.

Kegarne - you are obviously a very experienced trekker and know Nepal very well so you know the score. I am just concerned how these threads appear to people who haven't been to Nepal. Some people prefer nice tea house treks, some prefer Tilman-esque exploration as you do.

My posts are directed at people who don't know the area in an attempt to show that a great trekking experience can still be had as I did in March. I am concerned at the impression, that lots of regular trekkers who have already been there and done that and who lament the changes and prefer more off the beaten track trekking, portray to the uninitiated Nepal trekker and the impact on the economy of the region. What might not be a worthwhile trek for you might well be a trip of the lifetime for them. Are experienced trekkers who have moved on from the regular treks the best people to advise on what the first time trekker will want to do?

I hope you can see where I am coming from.

After all I did have a really good time last March, we thoroughly enjoyed the trek - especially large parts of the Marsyangdi side, Ghyaru and Ngawal and up towards Tilicho. And I am sure others would too. And I think this even though I have done off the beaten path treks, and other sorts of expeditions and I thoroughly enjoy those too.

[kegarne]

Fair points, I would never want to try and put off anyone from trekking the Circuit....ever. When I first trekked there in '97 it was the best trek I have ever done for mountain views. The lodges were fantastic and the food good, there are fantastic side trips to be had the AC had it all.
I am just lamenting the fact that it has changed, and will change further and for the worse in my opinion.
The fact that they are building on the Marsyangdi is really sad. I could take the Jomsom side as I agree that the trek along the Kali Gandaki valley floor wasn't so much fun so a road well....wouldn't really have made that much of a diff....but carving up that magnificent valley to get to Manang....that is really hard to take. All the villages that may possibly be impacted let alone the beautiful environment - it makes me angry just thinking about it. I just hope logistically it is a nightmare and it doesn't happen or doesnt happen for a long time.

I can't even see how they would ever get a road thru there anyway...and re the economy...well if they get a road through I can't see how any of the existing villages would survive so there would be no economy for trekking lodges.

Can you imagine what it would be like to ride a BMX down the Paungda Danda, wow that would be something !

[yakshaver]

I disagree with the point that the locals want the roads... (Petrus made it I think).

I've been to the AC three times in the last 3 years, at different times of the year. I have indeed witnessed the works being done and some of the impact.

I have spoken to many locals, most of them lodge owners. Of course they have a bias... They are adamant the road will ruin the economy of the villages, which relies heavily on trekkers. Buses will not stop in the lower villages. Manang may thrive, maybe even Pisang. But not the others. Places like Tal or Chame would become refueling and quick stop places -with kids running to bus windows to sell some food to trousits. A bit like Mugling on the way to Pokhara, from Kathamandu. Other villages will fare much worse.
These villages have been on the ancient trade trail for hundreds of years. With China occupying Tibet and a change in trade patterns, the trekkers arriving in the 70ies provided them with a new lease of life.

In fact the whole road business is driven by a couple of rich Manangis living in Hong Kong, who would like to build some 5 star resorts in Manang, and want the road to happen. They are in a financial partnership with the government to build the Marsiangdy side.

The issue they have is the fact that half of what they build is swept off by the monsoon waters along the valley. At this stage they don't have the Swiss thechology, and even with that, it is a nightmare to build on some of the stretches. Hence the huge distruction of the dramatic landscape.

The Jomsom side already has patches of road with vehicles on them, although no highway by any stretch... of imagination. Still, as Escher says, the villages retains their charm. For now.