After the Earthquakes

By John Keeble

Nepal is open for tourism and eagerly hoping for visitors to arrive in substantial numbers despite the country facing a massive image problem. The earthquakes of April and May 2015 got worldwide coverage and shattered the tourism industry, a vital sector of employment in one of the world’s poorest nations.

 Early fears of last year's visitor total being slashed by 80% have proved too alarmist but the country's tourism industry is reeling from a massive drop - and going all out to win what business comes in. The Hotel Association of Nepal says September-December bookings for Kathmandu and the resort town of Pokhara are running at 55 to 60% of last year. Wildlife areas like Chitwan National Park are considerably down but drawing better-than-expected bookings, and remote trekking areas like Annapurna and Sagarmartha are falling far short of last year.

Nepal is experiencing the same problem as other countries hit by natural disasters: the nation is tainted by media-generated fear about a whole country when only part of it has been hit. There is no doubt that most of the country’s tourism amenities are safe and waiting. I went to some attractions ten weeks after the first earthquake and it was ‘business as normal’ except in damaged World Heritage sites.

 ‘Most of the tourist places in Nepal were not affected and tourists should come and enjoy their time here,’ said Ujjwal Upadhyay, a tourism specialist who addressed a TEDx talk that I attended in Kathmandu.

 As I started writing this article in Nepal, I was asking myself: How do you walk among the shattered homes and lives after an earthquake and two massive aftershocks in three weeks and tell people on the other side of the world: ‘This is a great country for your next big holiday’? Is it a dilemma for potential visitors? It certainly is not for me. Maybe the answer for most people is as simple as this: forget the media-generated fear and experience the jaw-dropping beauty and excitement of safe Nepal.

A community meal
A woman sits by a pot of steaming water, gently preparing a meal. A bamboo structure is nearby and a holy tree, looking a century old, is behind her. But this is no tourist photo op – she is a primary school teacher, high in the hills northeast of Kathmandu, and she is showing her welcome to six tough volunteers working nearby.

Every home in the community is wrecked. The structures, strong enough in normal times, were rocked by the earthquake on 25 April 2015. The natural rocks, bound by mud and finished with cement, were loosened. The second and third earthquakes and other aftershocks finished the process and left the homes uninhabitable.

On the peak above the village, the primary school – with 55 students from a local population of 300 – was left badly damaged and dangerous for anyone near it. The volunteers were a skilled demolition team there to make it safe and prepare it for clearance and, eventually, rebuilding.

Teacher Jamuna served the delicious spicy noodles and vegetables to the five men and one woman pulling down Shree Siddhi Ganesh primary school in the steep and remote hills above Melamchi in Sindhupalchok district. It was a three-day job to demolish the school safely with sledgehammers, crowbars and a range of smaller tools.

 ‘We are very happy to get help from the volunteers,’ said Jamuna. ‘No one else has come to help us.’

All Hands Volunteers, a US-based non-profit organisation also working in the Philippines after the typhoon disaster there, sent the team in after assessing the situation. It was one of many AHV projects in that region and in the Kathmandu Valley. 

The team members came from America, Ireland and England and were tough and skilled. And very surprising… one hammer wielder was an architect, another was a deep-injury remedial masseur, a third was a teacher… others came from working in the Philippines typhoon disaster area… they slogged their way through three days of demolition with confident determination.

The sound of their hammers mingled with the voices of the children singing in the makeshift bamboo classroom nearby. The frequent tremors by then were harmless but to traumatised children, who had seen their lives wrecked, they were terrifying – getting them to sing was a favourite distraction by teachers when the earth trembled under their feet.

Later, as we walked through the rubble of the village, past the crammed ‘homes’ thrown up ahead of the impending monsoon, we looked down 500ft or more to a long river valley stretching into the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful places on earth. And, after the earthquake, one of the most devastated.

Nepal for tourism: ‘Heaven awesome’

A Nepalese friend, Gambhir Singh Bist, a civil engineer working on earthquake relief, put together a list of places travellers can visit now. 

 ‘Many, many places in Nepal were not affected by the earthquake,’ Gambhir told me as we worked together on a demolition site above Melamchi town in Sindhupalchok province. ‘People will be able to come to my country and enjoy it, although some of the World Heritage sites have been damaged.’

Trekking will be available outside the earthquake area ‘as normal’

Kathmandu’s Thamel area, where adventurous travellers have been enjoying themselves for nearly half a century, is untouched.　 Narrow streets of locally produced goods, like clothes and bags, at very low prices; almost endless choices of restaurants and coffee shops from the sedate to the Funky Buddha and the Electric Pagoda.

World Heritage sites (Palaces & Temples) were all damaged except Pashupatinath Hindu temple. Some were lightly damaged, others suffered extensively, but they were being opened to visitors soon after the earthquake. Swayambhunath temple, aka Monkey Temple, was extensively damaged but clearance and restoration started immediately and it reopened within weeks.

Pokhara, the ‘must’ resort town that everyone likes. You can chill out there faster than a deep freeze. Beautiful lake, choice of accommodation and restaurants, attractions like a temple in the middle of a lake, famous caves, Davis Falls (named after a Swiss woman killed there in 1961). This is also the place to buy your dream microlight flight – said to be the best in the world as you take a look at the Himalayas – or organise a white-water trip or cycle trek .

Everest Base Camp You will be able to see the base camp … and may even be able to climb Everest itself. If you feel fit…

Lumbini,　the palace where Buddha was born
Wildlife and national parks - take your pick. Trekking, tigers, rhinos

 ‘From Kathmandu itself, you can get an air ticket to see Mt Everest　with your own eyes, which is heaven awesome,’ said Gambhir.

Pokhara

You think at first that the pictures of the golden tipped Himalayas of Nepal are just artistic licence, something between human dreams and a promise from the gods. Then you realise they have captured the truth, the golden crowns of sunrise and sunset in this breathtaking land where the mere spectacular gets lost in the crowd.

My brief out-of-season glimpse of that golden promise was from the back of a motorcycle on a small hill – 1,600 metres high – outside the resort town of Pokhara, about six hours west of Kathmandu. We spent five hours chasing elusive monsoon views and our rewards included a dramatic few seconds of Annapurna (8,091m).

Back in Pokhara, I sat in a Hindu holy cave with a Brahmin priest, squatted in the street watching the cows amble past as my flipflop repairer did his stuff, marvelled at a mysterious waterfall with a group of Muslim missionaries from Malaysia and two Nepalese boys… in short, I did the tourist things that my cameras like.

Surprising? Not really. Except that the world believes that Nepal has been shattered by earthquakes and aftershocks. I was having three days off in Pokhara, ten weeks after the earthquakes. It was an illustration that most of Nepal was not open for travellers and trekkers.

Pokhara, a ‘must’ resort location, welcomed me with enthusiasm and, after more than a month working in the earthquake areas without a day off, I was ready for it. The journey alone was enough reason to go. But the town and surrounding countryside were perfect for relaxing and for interest.

Almost everyone who gets past Kathmandu goes to Pokhara for rest and relaxation. Its natural attractions include a huge lake (with a temple where the priest blessed me and allowed me to take photos), the imposing Gupteshwor Mahadev cave where the water rushes in and disappears below the rocks, the Davis waterfall that feeds the cave, and tremendous scenery everywhere. In addition, it has temples and museums, microlighting and paragliding, river rafting and the world’s highest and longest zip wire ride. Oh, yes, it also has hundreds of hotels and restaurants to choose from and somehow it all seems to blend into an easy-going atmosphere. 

Ram Karki, who owns the Himalayan Inn at Pokhara Lakeside, was optimistic about the tourists returning this season. 

‘It will be quite safe for visitors here and in most other parts of Nepal,’ he told me. ‘The earthquake caused serious damage in Kathmandu, Gorkha, Sindhupalchok and some other districts but everything will be normal for visitors in other places.’

If the tourists do not arrive, the situation will be very bad for the local people. When the first earthquake stopped the flow of visitors dead, around 75% of the tourism industry’s workers in Pokhara were laid off. Most of those would normally go back to their villages for the low season anyway but this year many had no villages to go back to… they had been destroyed by the earthquake.

‘There is no reason for the tourists not to come,’ said Ram. ‘But if they do not, it will be a very serious problem for the people here. There is nothing else and the people need to earn money.’

One piece of good news that broke while I was there was that a delegation of Chinese travel operators had been touring Nepal and was expected to start sending clients again even before the new season started. 

But the anxious eyes were remaining on the main tourist season towards the end of the year. Will reason and evidence overcome fear and media images?•

Fact file

Visas on arrival: Very good computerised system at the airport: tap in your details on arrival (or let one of the helpful immigration people do it for you), pay your money, get your visa. Ditto extensions at the Kathmandu immigration office. Check the visa period and prices: after the first tourist month, prices go up sharply. Extensions are easy and can be a lot cheaper than a long visa.

Language: Nepal is very easy travelling – English is widely spoken, even in remote villages. 

Food: Enormous choice in Kathmandu and Pokhara. A main meal for between £2 and £3 – though alcohol can double it. Very good for vegetarians and vegans.

Transport: Taxis are cheap, usually between £1.50 and £3.50 anywhere in Kathmandu. Tourist buses are cheap and comfortable. Six hours from Kathmandu to Pokhara was just over £6. City minibuses and buses… are you really looking for that much adventure?

Accommodation: A lot of choice but reckon on paying £12 or more a night for a double room in low season and considerably more in peak season. However, it is likely that a lot of hotels will be offering bargain prices this coming season if tourism numbers are down. 

Earthquakes: On 25 April 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, known as the Nepal or Gorkha earthquake, killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000. On May 12, a magnitude 7.3 quake struck with its epicentre on the border of Dolakha and Sindhupalchok districts. Minutes later a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Ramechhap, east of Kathmandu. The second and third quakes are being called aftershocks of the first earthquake. Frequent aftershocks terrorised the people during this period.

First published in VISA 123 (October 2015)