They are capitalizing on the hype created by the media articles, websites, Facebook pages, blogs, maps, and guidebooks that are raising the profile of the Great Himalaya Trail all over the world.[break]
The Nepal Tourism Board, donor agencies, NGOs, and the government see its marketing and development potential, and are supporting Nepal’s most exciting new mountain tourism product.
On January 28, 2011, the 20-year-old Nepali, Sunil Tamang, started from Kanchanjunga with Rs 28,000 in his pocket and trekked all the way to Lake Rara.
In March, two Americans, Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry, began a lightweight trail-running attempt along the high route, which they completed after a staggering 57 days.
Netherlands mountaineers, Katja and Henk Staartjes, began their west-to-east trek in April from the far west border with India and China, finishing in Jomsom and returning next year. The www.greathimalayatrail.com newsletter reports that eight more attempts on the entire Nepal trail are planned before the end of the year.
And it’s not only independent adventurers who have been out there this year, making it work for them.
World Expeditions, a leading adventure outfitter based in Australia, have completed the first commercial traverse of the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal.
Two trekkers, Toni Wilson and Greg Babbage, completed their 157-day journey at Hilsa in Humla on July 16, having walked the length of Nepal.
In addition to these two, 38 other trekkers joined for one or more of the ten sections across Nepal into which the Trail is divided.
Hauser Exkursionen from Germany have announced that they are developing a comprehensive Great Himalaya Trail trekking program starting 2012, including a number of shorter trek sections of 18-30 days for those short of time.
What is the Great Himalaya Trail?
The longest and highest multi-day walking track in the world, the Great Himalaya Trail is 4,500kms long, passing through some of the most breathtaking mountain landscapes on earth.
Potentially linking the six Asian countries of Pakistan, China (Tibet Autonomous Region), India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar, its westernmost point is the world’s ninth highest peak, Nanga Parbat, in Pakistan.
Winding past the sacred headwaters of the Ganga in India, the route traverses Nepal beneath Annapurna, Sagarmatha, and Kanchanjunga, through Darjeeling and Sikkim, then Bhutan, and eventually to India’s Arunachal Pradesh, and Myanmar, ending at Namche Barwa in Tibet. Spectacular views include all of the world’s fourteen 8,000m peaks.
In Nepal, the 1,700km network of existing trails and trade routes spans the entire country, and connects neglected valleys in between and beyond the established trekking circuits of Annapurna, Langtang, and Sagarmatha.
Linking the currently established trekking areas like a string of beads, increased use of the Trail will bring tourism benefits to new areas of Nepal, protect the environment, and improve livelihoods for remote mountain communities.
A network of trails
The precise route of the Great Himalaya Trail is a moveable feast, and depends on your skills, ingenuity, motivations, experience, local conditions, and the time of year.
Rather like the famous Silk Route that forms a cobweb of trails across Asia traveled by traders in ancient times, the Great Himalaya Trail route may vary as to what you make of it and what works for you.
Generally speaking, you need to be journeying through the mountains, east to west or west to east, traversing the country.
Robin Boustead – mapmaker, webmaster and adventurer – who pioneered the iconic high trail, advises Kathmandu trek agents and international adventure operators to package sections of the Great Himalaya Trail to meet the needs of their clients.
“Each company has to decide how they use the strong awareness of the Great Himalaya Trail brand to benefit them, and to offer a range of itineraries that fit into their business model. The possibilities are endless,” he suggests.
Robin has just completed part of the Indian Great Himalaya Trail walking from Darchula to Manali through Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Earlier this year, he walked and mapped the Bhutan section.
The high-altitude route offers challenging trekking and mountaineering, combining high-pass crossings, trans-Himalayan scenery and alpine valleys.
The lower, green Great Himalaya Trail has the widest appeal for less extreme trekkers, featuring an unrivalled diversity of scenery, peoples and cultures.
This more benign route is the major focus for mountain bikers, runners and those short of time, and also for development activities where the most needy mountain villages are located.
Divided into ten sections, each stretch has its own characteristics of verdant valleys, agricultural settlements, mountain scenery, white peaks, wildlife, protected areas, or ancient Buddhist and Hindu cultures.
These Great Himalaya Trail sections are designed to attract the greatest numbers of trekkers and tourists, both Nepali and foreign, who have only a few weeks for a holiday. The hope is to encourage repeat visits and interesting new circuits.
More upcoming trips
The lower route through the middle hills is favored by the planned NTY2011 Great Himalaya Trail Apa Sherpa Trek in which a range of sponsors and supporters are using the power of celebrity to promote climate change awareness, resource conservation and other environmental issues critical to Nepal.
Himalayan Rides is proposing to recce a mountain biking route later this year, taking about 40 days to bike the length of the country, starting from Darchula in the Far West.
“I figured the only way to know the Great Himalaya Trail is to get out there with my team and explore the route for myself,” says Mandil Pradhan.
Mandil is following in the footsteps of the early pioneers. Mountaineer Peter Hillary led the first highaltitude traverse in 1980, Americans Arlene Blum and Hugh Swift first walked the full length from East Bhutan through Nepal and India in 1982, and the British Crane brothers first ran the Nepal Himalaya in 1983.
The development story
All the interest from the private sector and media helps and supports the activities of the Great Himalaya Trail Development Program that is funded by UKAid and managed by SNV Nepal, www.thegreathimalayatrail.org, along with a range of partners that includes the Nepal Tourism Board and TAAN (Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal).
Giving a significant boost to Nepal’s tourism industry, the idea of the Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme is to channel more tourists and pro-poor tourism investment to under-developed districts, stimulating a range of private-sector business, employment and production opportunities for poor mountain communities, and providing them with international market linkages.
Adventure activities, in addition to trekking and lodge developments, respond to market demand and can include biking, horse riding, river rafting and upmarket fly-trek options using mountain airstrips.
New and improved locally managed small and micro enterprises are likely to include lodges, campsites, visitor centers, local produce, handicrafts, porter organizations, and guide services to take visitors to monasteries, temples and village homes.
Innovative approaches to alternative energy, resource management, trade and agriculture can be facilitated.
Working inclusively with community organizations and established NGOs, the Great Himalaya Trail activities go beyond tourism to help farmers adapt to climate change, resource managers to conserve the environment, and local producers to brand their exports.
So, with all this interest and activity, can you make the Great Himalaya Trail work for you?
Lisa Choegyal is a tourism specialist who works as a consultant on development programs throughout the Asia Pacific region, specializing in pro-poor sustainable tourism planning and marketing.
Lisa was Team Leader of the ADB Ecotourism Project 2000-2001, DFID tourism specialist on TRPAP 2001-2005, tourism consultant for the ADB SASEC Programme 2004-2008, and has assisted SNV Nepal prepare the Great Himalaya Trail development.
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