PHUNGLING, Oct 20: Foreign and domestic tourists visiting the Kanchenjunga area in Taplejung have been stranded due to the continuous rain for the past three days.
The rain that started on Sunday stopped for a while on Monday afternoon but it has been raining continuously since then. Due to the incessant rain, some tourists visiting the Kanchenjunga area have stopped at the base area while others have stopped at the ‘roadblock area’. Similarly, tourists visiting Mt Makalu via Taplejung have stopped at Olangchung Gola.
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According to Tashi Tenzing Sherpa, tourism assistant at the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council Office, 28 tourists, including foreigners, have been stranded in Faktanglung Rural Municipality-6 due to rain. According to him, the team reached Ghunsa on Monday and they were heading toward the base camp of Mt Kanchenjunga. Among the foreign tourists, 11 are from the United States and France, while the domestic tourists are from Jhapa, Kathmandu and other districts.
Similarly, 16 tourists including foreigners who had gone to Kanchenjunga base camp were stopped there. It is said that a team of tourists visited the base camp area a week ago. Likewise, a team including two American climbers who had gone to climb Faktanglung (Kumbhakarna-7710 m) have also stopped in the area due to rain.
Utuk Sherpa, a local hotelier in Ghunsa, said that it was snowing in Khambachen, Lonak base camp area of Kanchenjunga due to continuous rain for the past three days. Sherpa said that the snowfall is continuing in the Himalayan region along with the rains and the possibility of snowfall has increased up to the Ghunsa settlement at an altitude of 3,450 meters.
Chairman of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council, Khagendra Fembu Limbu, said that the Great Himalayan Trail (East-West Footpath) has recently become the choice of tourists visiting various tourist areas.
