If you're planning a trek in Nepal, particularly in the less
popular areas, you should be keeping an eye on the current volatile
situation in the Himalayan kingdom.
As we reported recently, the breakdown of the ceasefire between
government and the Maoist insurgents has been followed by the
large-scale involvement of the Nepalese army for the first time and a
declaration of a state of emergency. Previously the police had been
responsible for controlling the situation, which they were palpably
having a hard time doing.
Armed clashes are continuing, particularly in the west of the
country, where at least 50 rebels and four soldiers are reported to
have been killed when Maosists attacked an army post in Rolpa.
It's no longer trekking season in Nepal, but it's hard to get a
clear idea of what the implications are for trekkers. The Nepali
government is only too well aware of the importance of the income
from tourism and the trekking companies themselves are understandably
reluctant to prejudice their own trade.
In this month's TGO however, Stephen Goodwin recounts how a group
he was with trekking in the Kangchenjunga area were stopped by armed
Maoists just miles from the access airstrip and invited to make a
'donation' to the cause of 10,000 rupees.
He goes on to reassure readers that there is no sense of
lawlessness despite the absence of police in the Maoist-controlled
area, but also recounts stories of other trekkers being stopped and
robbed at gunpoint by 'Maoists', though some of these incidents may
have been opportunist bandits.
The most popular treks in the Everest and Annapurna areas, as far
as we're aware have not been affected in any way, though there has
been at least one Maoist incident in Jiri, the town where the Everest
walk-in traditionally began before the airfield was built at
Lukla.
Goodwin concludes that the payment of such 'protection money' may
become a fact of life for trekkers in some areas of Nepal, though the
Maoists have repeatedly stated that they will not harm tourists.
Thjis makes them significantly less of a threat to travellers than,
say, Peru's Shining Path Maoists in the 90s, who believed that any
measures to destabilise the state were justified including the
targeting of tourists - at one poing they attempted to blow up the
tourist train to Macchu Piccu.
