View Full Version : Maoist blockade

28th December 2004, 10:15 AM
Given the last events, our government does recomment NOT to travel to Nepal. I was planning a trek to EBC in Spring 2005. Does anyone in Nepal have any advices, i.e. should I change my plan because the situation has worsen?

29th December 2004, 01:40 PM
Hi There,
I am independent trekking guide. i have just backed from ABC through pokhara. there was already started the maoist blockade to kathmandu and other major city of nepal. my guess was from England. we found tourist buses to kathmandu. we felt safe even there was no other public transport on the highway. in spite of maoist blockade, we are getting all things like before.
about you trip to EBC on coming spring, i advice you to do on the same date if you are going to started trekking from Lukla. i don't prefer to do from jiri where you need to go through local bus. to the EBC, you can fly to Lukal from kathmandu which is fully safe and there is no any maoist activities on the trekking to EBC and fly back to kathmandu from Lukla again. during the day in kathmandu, Thamel and other touristic area and hotels are out of maoist target till now. as a tour/trekking guide, i only can say that Nepal is safe destination for tourist till now.

if you need further information about your trip to nepal in future please feel free to write me

Best Wishes and Happy New Year 2005

Sujan Devkota

29th December 2004, 05:27 PM
Tourist buses from Kathmandu to Dumre and Pokhara have been operating for the past two days.

There are still long queues for petrol and vegetables are expensive, but otherwise life in Kathmandu is not severely affected. But it's COLD!

30th December 2004, 02:53 AM
It is good that you are mindful of the situation and cautious, but I would say you should still go to Nepal for your trek. If you start at Lukla you will fly over any blockade & Maoists. The troubles rarely affect tourists other than the occasional inconvenience.

The Yakherd
5th January 2005, 09:53 PM
I am in kathmandu right now, and the only sign of the conflict that i have seen, is many military guards round the tourist spots, like Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square and Swayanbunath.
No bombs have been heard, and when I talk to the nepalese people who have walked in e.g the Annapurna, they say there's no real problem for tourists.
I have learned that a real threat to Nepal is that the governments around the world advise people NOT to travel to nepal, though the Maoists have promised not harm any foreign visitors.This harms one of the countrys larges income:tourism.
If you come here, you will contribute, not only to the rising of tourism again(wich is essential for many people here) but also to the opinion of the country as a good counrty to visit.
Because it really is.
Just take the normal precautions, and you will be more than fine.

7th January 2005, 01:55 PM
Thank you so much for your replies to my first question. I am only cautious because I have kids that I want to return to. I know that tourists are not the target, however; two things have concerned me:

1) I am an American, and we are not really well like around the world. I do appreciate the opinions of the world, however; the majority of us are loving and truly have a humanitarian spirit.

2) The Maoists cannot possibly have a "uniform" communication effort. From my understanding, many of the Maoist are young and are fighting because they have no hope of other alternatives. My point...though some clearly state not to hurt tourist, there must be some in the Maoist community that either have not heard that message, or don't really care to understand why it would hurt their cause (youth in America do not usual understand political and social consequences).

7th January 2005, 07:05 PM
hello sir
you can come without any trouble and just make sure your self first you prepare in mind set it up and make project just dream of success then definately you will reach without any touble
good luck to journey in nepal.

9th January 2005, 06:11 PM
Its a calculated risk, going to a country where someone is setting bombs off.
A bomb doesn't discriminate between, soldiers, children or tourists.
Giving a lot of young uneducated desperate people big guns, is a risk in itself, no matter where in the world.

From following the news from Nepal, I still think of going in a few months and maybe go to everest.
I kathmandu, there is the risk of a bomb going off, but it seems like there is no risk in the everest region, but then all tourists go to that area now.

I the past 6 months, more civilians have been killed by landslides, Diarrhoea, buscrashes, airplane crashes, than bombs and shooting.

You do minimize the risk to your life tremendously, just by not driving your car in your own country, for the time you are in Nepal.

10th January 2005, 12:55 PM
Pbeckerth is right, Nepal is more dangerous due to it's bus accidents than anything else. And despite the sad tale of suffering by the Nepali people due to the Maoist and Government colective craziness and incompetence, the tourists are generally safer there than in Australia... Yes, there are more suspicious dissapearances and deaths of foreign tourists in Australia than in Nepal per year. You may not believe this but it's true.