Is Nepal Safe?

It's rapidly turning into Ed Douglas week on OM, first he popped up writing about Don Whillans, now it's Nepal.

Yep, the journalistic face of the outdoors has put together a handy article on safety in Nepal in the light of the continuing Maoist insurgency. As we're said numerous times, the maoists have promised repeatedly not to target visitors, something Douglas also stresses, however as he points out, Nepal's tourism industry is currently 'grossly underachieving'.

His main conclusions are that while strikes and so on may cause logistical problems for trekkers, generally there's no issue over personal safety. He also surmises that the locals are growing weary of the endless maoist strikes and embargoes and that tactics may change sooner rather than later.

Particularly interesting if you're heading out to Nepal, but worth a read anyway.

For news direct from Nepal, check out Nepal News.