Hi. I am booked on the Annapurna Circuit trip Nov. 23-Dec. 15. Of course, I am excited about the trip, but have been getting a lot of feedback from friends about the political unrest in Nepal. Can you give me some insight to the relative safety of this trip in light of some of the recent news?
Here's some of the latest on Nepal:
>From the Canadian embassy - the travel advisory says that all regions are affected by the insurgency. Annapurna is situated in a region considered "fairly affected", though it is still safe to travel in the Annapurna circuit during daylight hours. There may be curfews whereever you travel, including in Kathmandu. November could see more rebel action. Here's the link to the embassy site: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/destinations/menu_e.htm. The embassy is recommending Canadian citizens to register with it due to the problems there.
FOR AMERICAN CITiZENS: here's the latest advisory from the US Embassy in Nepal: http://www.south-asia.com/USA/acs-pa.html
Here's the Lonely Planet perspective: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/indian_subcontinent/nepal/#togo
Here's Nepal's very own web site - looks very useful http://www.nepalhomepage.com/travel/firstpage/
Thanks.
Leslee
grrrlbushpilot@shaw.ca
North Vancouver, BC, Canada
[This message has been edited by grrrlbushpilot (edited October 29, 2002).]
Re: Polical Unrest in Nepal
Hi Leslee
Thanks for your post.
I appreciate your concern, and understand that you might be a little apprehensive about visiting Nepal at the present time. However, we have been running trips as normal in Nepal since the beginning of the Maoist troubles, and have not experienced any problems associated with the uprising.
The Imaginative Traveller continues to monitor the situation in Nepal very closely. We make our operational decisions based on advice from government travel advisories (particularly the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and the indepth knowledge and experience of our local ground operators. Current British FCO advisories stress the need for extra vigilance with regards to safety, but do not in general advise against travel to Nepal. The safety and security of our travellers, tour leaders and staff is of course utmost, and should the situation change we would take immediate steps to modify our programs accordingly.
To date our trips in Nepal continue as planned and have generally been unaffected by events in Nepal.
I hope that this helps to put your mind at rest.
Regards
Jim
The Imaginative Traveller Online
[This message has been edited by Jim O (edited October 28, 2002).]
Re: Polical Unrest in Nepal
Jim O,
Thanks for your reply. Actually, I'm not really too concerned about going and just finalized my booking today. Just wanted to have an official word from you to tell my concerned (!) friends.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm looking forward to the trip! (Maybe the side benefit of all this will be a less busy tourist trek...)
Cheers,
Leslee
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Leslee Probasco
grrrlbushpilot@shaw.ca
North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Re: Polical Unrest in Nepal
Hi,I have just come back from the Classic Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal. There was a little bit of trouble over there but we were told that they don't upset the tourists.It is true that the maorists can shut down the city as they did in Kathmandu on the day we left, however we were able to use the hotels car to take us to the airport. We put tourist signs all over the car so they knew who we were.It is a little discomforting when you know that bombs are being let off around the place but they did not put any in any tourist place whilst we were there.
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Norm C
Re: Polical Unrest in Nepal