another maoist question

[michael]

i hate to bring this up again, but today i heard a bbc correspondent(daniel lack) state on a u.s. talk radio program that based on the recent maoist incident he would not recomend any travel to nepal at this time.is this more media hype in the west?i will be there mid sept. for amonth to do the AC.is this web sight the most reliable source for safety updates?

[Daniel]

I found this website as well as yetizone, the most reliable in terms of being in touch with trusworthy people who live in Nepal (both Nepalis and expats working or volunteering there).
I have been in Nepal in January this year and can say that the same kind of hysterical statements were made by the likes of the US State Dept web site, as well as the Australian Consular Advice, though the latter sounded just concerned, rather than hysterical.
And if you go back to June 2001, you wold find the same kind of advice, like a broken record. In all this time no tourist was killed or wounded, or even threadened in any of the major tourist areas. The situation on the ground, in the areas most frequented by tourists, such as Annapurna, Langtang, Everest, Kathmandu valley and Chitwan, ar as safe as ever. And that means much safer for foreign tourists than the likes of NY, LA, Rome or London will ever be.
Go and enjoy Nepal, it is a country worth seeing. When you are on trek, you will wander, like many other tourists, what the hell was all the fuss about....

[Rikard]

I do not agree completely with Daniel. There are reasons why threre is a "fuss" about the sequrity situation in Nepal. I have just returned from Nepal (3 weeks in SoloKhumbu and five days in KTM). Maoists are very present and active in both these areas. Reading e-mail dispatches from climbing parties from the Makalu area, it is evident that Maoist are threatening tourists in order to press money from them. We met maoists on our trek/climb too, and talked to other tourists who had similar encounters. We were not threatened, but is an unpleasant situation. If you go on a trek, be sure you have Nepali-speaking people with you, that can take any discussions with the Maoists. We were very happy with our Sherpa´s way of tackling all such problems during our climb/trek. We would certainly not have been able to do this on our own.

Be aware of the problems and prepare for them. That is the only advice I can give if you decide to go.

Best wishes
Rikard

[Andrees]

Unfortuonally it is a fact, that there has been extorsion of money from Trekking groups in various parts of Nepal. Till now, I have not heard a single incident with independant trekkers. This may been a reason of the different views expressed in this board. Today there is an excellent article in nepali Times http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue91/headline_2.htm
about this subject.
A lot of discussion is about the makkalu Teams who had to pay 10000 Nrp per person. I guess that the maoist just think. why should de gouvernement get all the fees ( Climbing Permit for Makkalu is surrely tousands of US $), we want also our share.
Since years Nepal viewed Tourist merely as milk cows, asking high fees for Visa, Trekking permits, for non worthely liason officers, not to mention al the fees you have to pay nowerdays for places like Bhaktapur, Patan and now even Hanuman Dhoka.
Please dont misunderstand me, I payed a lot of this fees with open hart, knowing that a lot of good things was done with them, I even spent twice an extra amount to ACAP.
The maoist are just behaving like the normal nepali gouvernement.
But still on thing is till now absolutely clear: There has not been any attac to tourist by the maoists. If this will be in future, is difficult to say, as they have started to destroy even waterpipes, bridges, telefonpoles ect. Things which are of great benefit for all the nepali peoples.
Lets hope, that peace will come back soon
andrées

[Daniel]

I read the article from the Nepali Times suggested by Andrees, and it is indeed very good in summarizing the present situatin. Hence, here is the link again, just for a double dose of advertising...
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue91/headline_2.htm

[Rikard]

Hi Daniel ! We met "our" Maoists on two locations on our acclimatization trek en route from Lukla to Khare (basecamp to Mera Peak). We also learned that we had a larger group of Maoists travelling in the same direction, but about 6 hours ahead of us. We therefore had to change plans and used a new trail from Surkhe and northward towards Khote. This is not an area frequently used by "normal" trekking groups, but not uncommon for climbing parties and their support. The people we met were not showing off with their armoury, but were dressed in makeshift combat dresses and made it quite clear who they were. We are pretty sure though, that weapons were either hidden/buried nereby or concealed in their packs. We learned that the larger group mentioned above was travelling with their arms ready for use. The other tourists we talked with had similar (i.e. unarmed) encounters, but was questioned about their plans, where they came from and if they had seen any police/military on ther trek. We do not beleive that the maoists are targetting tourists, but they use them as a source of information and in some occations obviously money and equipment. They need to know where their enemies are too, and they need resupply !!
These people travel fast, and can very quickly reach any point on the trek between Lukla and MEBC. They obviously dont need local support to thrive. They freighten people to obediance !! I do not think it is wise to underestimate these people, that is my point.

We left Nepal on the first day of the Bandh, and were checked by unarmed but quite unfriendly maoists (or their supporters) in Thamel(KTM) when walking (helped by a few Nepalese friends) to the busstation!! That was the only occation when we got really concerned ourselves.

I hope this clears thing up a bit.
Rikard

[Daniel]

Thanks Rikard. This is very useful. I agree fully, one does not have to take the situation lightly.