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NAC announces fare to New Delhi

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NAC announces fare to New Delhi

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), which is resuming its flight to New Delhi from February 25, has fixed one-way fare at Rs 7,084 and round trip at Rs 15,177 (including taxes).nnepal

The airline is using its newly acquired Airbus A320-200 aircraft for the flight. Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the national flag carrier said it will operate four flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays to the Indian capital city.

A320_Nepal_Airlines

The aircraft will fly to New Delhi at 8 am and return at 10:40 am. NAC is preparing launch scheduled flights toHong Kong and Bangkok soon. Meanwhile, NAC has also reduced its fare to Kuala Lumpur. It has fixed one-way airfare at Rs 14,000 (exclusive of taxes).

TAAN Lhosar Festival to be organized in Thamel

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TAAN Lhosar Festival to be organized in Thamel

Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) has decided to celebrate TAAN Lhosar Festival in Thamel on February 17.

news_TAAN_Press_Meet

Speaking at a press meet organized at TAAN Secretariat in Maligaun, TAAN officials said preparations for the festival were at the final stage.

In the past years, TAAN used to celebrate Lhosar festival by organizing ‘Lhosar Dinner Ball’ in different hotels. This year it is organizing the festival in Thamel – the tourist hotspot in Kathmandu Valley — to promote Lhosar festival as a cultural tourism product.

TAAN President Ramesh Prasad Dhamala said the festival will see cultural performances of different ethnic groups like Gurungs, Tamangs and Sherpas.

The program will begin with a cultural procession from Sanchayakosh Building. The procession will pass through different thoroughfares in Thamel before culminating into a formal program at Tridevi Marg.

Traditional dances like Syabru (Sherpa), Maruni (Gurung) and Tamang (Selo) will be performed on the occasion. Ganesh Himal Tourism Development Committee will organize a special ‘Mhendo La’ Dance in Thamel. There will also be food stalls showcasing traditional cuisines of Sherpa, Gurung and Tamang communities, among others.

The program will also see various entertainment and fun-filled programs like live concert, modern dances and DJ session, among others. Renowned artistes like Performance by renowned artistes like Roj Moktan, DJ Tenzing, Mingma Sherpa, Resma Sunuwar, Himal Ghale, Abhinash Ghising, Nirmala Ghising, Sunil Lama, Jyoti Magar, Mausam Gurung, Sanjaya Gurung, Bhimu Gurung, AP Sherpa, Jayabir Tamang, Arambha Tamang, Bharat Sitaula, Dorji Lama, Suman Thapa Magar and DJ Biki are scheduled to perform at the program.

“By organizing the festival in Thamel, we want to press the authorities not to limit night activities in Thamel to say 10 pm. As a tourist hotspot, Thamel should operate round the clock,” TAAN General Secretary Sagar Pandey said.

Similarly, festival coordinator Kul Bahadur Gurung, who is also the second vice president of TAAN, said TAAN will give continuity to the festival based on response from the participants.

TAAN plans to organize the festival every year on February 17 to promote it as a cultural tourism product.

Source: TAAN

Tilicho lake highest lakes in the world.

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Tilicho lake is one of the highest lakes in the world. It is 4,919m high in the Annapurna range of the Himalayas and Manang district of Nepal. Another source lists lake Tillicho as being 4,949 meters high (16,237 Feet).

High-mountainous lake Tilicho

Mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 meters.

Tilicho Lake is the destination of one of the most popular side hikes of the Annapurna Circuit Trek. The hike takes additional 3-4 days. No camping is required, as new lodges have been built between Manang and the lake. Final approach to the lake is done in a day hike form the lodge at Tilicho   Base Camp.

Source: Sunaulovideo

CNP recognized as best conservation area for tigers

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CNP recognized as best conservation area for tigers

Nepal has accomplished yet another milestone in its efforts to conserve wild animals by meeting a set of international standards considered ideal for the conservation of tigers.

Rich in biodiversity of both flora and fauna, Nepal´s Chitwan National Park (CNP) has received the international recognition for being the best conservation zone for tiger protection. The CNP´s management has excelled under all of the 17 major standards prescribed internationally for creating best grounds for tiger protection.

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“This is a great achievement for Nepal. Now, recognized for having the best conservation area for big cats, the success truly reflects the combined efforts of the Nepal government, local communities, the Nepal Army and various organizations working hand in hand to create a better shelter for tigers. I hope other countries will take lesson from what Nepal has achieved in the past few years,” said Mike Baltzer of the WWF Alive Initiative.

The recognition to CNP is given by CATS (Conservation Assured Tiger Standards), an international committee devoted to develop and assure best habitation ground for the wild life protection across the globe.

According to Khalid Pasha, manager at CATS, a survey was conducted under major standards like tiger population, the involvement of local communities, overall management of the park and work force, flow of tourist, and management of tiger habitation. CNP has secured impressive points in all these important categories.

“This is a great success for Nepal, a gold standard that marks the well management of CNP when it comes to tiger conservation. This achievement should certainly work as an inspiration for other tiger range countries to meet similar standards and create better homes for these valuable forest animals,” said Pasha.

Nestled at the foothills of Himalaya, CNP is a home for 120 tigers along with 68 species of mammals, 54 species of birds and 126 species of fishes. The park is best known for the protection of One Horned Rhinoceros, Royal Bengal Tiger and Ghariyal Crocodile. Located in the Southern Central Tarai region of Nepal, the park extends to an area of 93,200 hectors of land, spreading in four districts Nawalparasi, Parsa, Chitwan and Makawanpur.

Pasha further shared that the achieved accreditation not only signifies the best wild life management of CNP but it will also help win trusts of bigger donors with intention to donate for wild life conservation.

“Having achieved this certification, Nepal has now earned the respect of other countries and donors abroad,” said Pasha.

Meanwhile, Tika Ram Adhikari, director general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, attributed the success to the teamwork.

“In the coming days, we are planning to introduce this wildlife quality management certification for conservation of various other animals in both Banke National Park and Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve. We hope to create safest shelters in Nepal for all types wild animals,” said Adhikari.

Source: myrepublica

NAC finally gets new aircraft for int’l air service

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NAC finally gets new aircraft for int’l air service

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the national flag carrier, finally received a new aircraft for international air service, on Sunday. This has happened after 27 years and many hurdles along the way to add new planes to the NAC fleet.


Airbus A320-Nepal-Airlines

The plane — Airbus A320 — touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)at 4:34 pm, on Sunday, with Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Deepak Chandra Amatya led team of government officials and representatives of Airbus. The aircraft which is manufactured by the Airbus Company was welcomed amid a special function. With the arrival of the new aircraft that is named ‘Sagarmatha’, NAC now has a total of three aircraft including two Boeings — Gandaki and Karnali — for international air service. “After several ups and downs we finally have got the new aircraft,” said Madan Kharel while addressing a welcome ceremony of NAC’s first A320 on Sunday evening. He said that they have had to face trying times, always bearing a fear on whether NAC would be able to revive their glory days due to lack of aircraft.

The aircraft is part of an agreement reached in June 2013 to purchase two Airbus A320-200 aircraft. Kharel said that the other aircraft is expected to be delivered within April and NAC will start operations to Dubai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai and will also add a new destination, Guangzhau in China. As narrow-body aircraft alone are not sufficient to compete in the international market, NAC is also working on plans to purchase a wide-body plane in the near future.

Kharel said that they have a target of buying a wide-body aircraft by 2021. Prior to this, NAC also had a target to obtain two more narrow-body planes. The addition of the new aircraft to the NAC fleet is also expected to give a boost to the tourism industry at a time when air traffic is expected to almost double within a decade.

NAC officials said that they are planning to start services with the Airbus A320 from February 25. Both the aircraft are powered by engines made by US-based International Aero Engines and will have 158 seats, including eight seats for business class and the rest for economy class.

Minister Amatya said that the rapid expansion of global tourism market has made it necessary to enhance the quality of the country’s aviation service by making them more punctual and credible. “We have emphasised the importance of ‘air safety’ and prioritised it in our policy,” he added.

The Airbus aircraft purchased by NAC is a widely used aircraft in the world. “The A320 is a new partnership in aviation sector of Nepal,” said David Dufrenois, vice-president, Customer Affairs, Airbus. Sheel Shukla, marketing manager of Airbus said that the aircraft was the ‘most fuel efficient’ single aircraft presently available in the market.

The last time that NAC had bought aircraft was a Boeing 757 in 1988. After the arrival of another aircraft in April, NAC is planning to fly to various destinations in Asia including Hong Kong and Bangkok. As it had only two aircraft for international flights, the national carrier had been finding it difficult to provide effective and competitive service as most of the times one of the two aircraft remained grounded for ‘technical reasons’.

Source: The Himalayan Times

Chitwan Elephant fest slated to start Dec 26

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Chitwan Elephant fest slated to start Dec 26

The 11th edition of the Chitwan Elephant Festival is scheduled to be held in Sauraha from December 26-30 on the occasion of Christmas and New Year 2015.

Chitwan-elephant-festival

The festival is aimed at promoting tourism and spreading awareness about wildlife preservation, said Suman Ghimire, coordinator of the event. It started in 2004 as an international elephant race and since then it has been celebrated as a festival.

The organizer said that a picnic would also be organized for the elephants this year. “Wildlife is our asset and it should be preserved well,” said Ghimire. Another objective of the festival is to encourage tourists to remain in Nepal through the Christmas and the New Year holidays as most of them return to their own countries for the celebrations. The holiday season is also a lean period for Nepal tourism as arrivals start dropping from mid-December. “The festival is targeted at increasing tourist numbers,” said Gyanendra Kumar Bista, president of Regional Hotel Association Nepal in Chitwan. “Such events will also help create awareness to preserve wildlife.”

Hotels and restaurants offer discounts and serve distinct varieties of foods for visitors. Local hotels and restaurants are normally packed with domestic and international tourists during this time. Around 20 elephants compete in a 150-metre race. Likewise, elephant calves play football while an elephant beauty competition is also held which has become one of the major attractions at the tourist hotspot. The event has been successful in promoting tourism in past years. “This is why we have been continuing the festival,” said Deepak Bhattarai, second vice-president of the association. Apart from foreign visitors, the festival has been attracting huge numbers of domestic visitors. Sauraha has more than 100 hotels and all of them are packed during the festival. The jungle safari destination of Sauraha has not only seen an aggressive development of hotels and resorts over the past few years, entrepreneurs have also been making large investments in elephants to carry tourists on sightseeing tours in the jungle.

Chitwan -safari-nepal_966x543

Around Rs 330 million has been spent on rearing elephants. The jumbos have become an integral part of tour packages of the hotels and resorts here.

Situated in the lush tropical plains of southern Nepal, Sauraha attracts safari goers with its rich wildlife and thick jungles. There are 51 elephants owned by hoteliers and cooperatives in Sauraha .

Source: Ekantipur