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Village
tourism, a recent innovation, is successfully demonstrated at Sirubari
in Syangja a half day s distance from Pokhara. It is a three hour walk
from the road-head just 30 kilometers from Pokhara. A management
committee takes responsibility for visitors, their welcome,
accommodation, sightseeing and guiding. The village consists of 60
households of which many are offering guest accommodation. It is a very
neat and clean village, the accommodation is simple, but comfortable,
with good bedding, as well as clean toilet facilities. Meals of daily
fresh food are eaten with the family, and each evening there is
entertainment provided by the community, which is usually Gurung
dancing and singing.
There is a Buddhist
monastery/Gompa in the core of the village; it has a vibrant Gurung
culture, and they are a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu or Shaman. The
region abounds with flora and fauna, with two hills nearby providing
stunning views of Nepal s western Himalayas. Trails and steps are
formed and paved, and many shrines and pilgrimage sites dot the
landscape. The season is September to June, and while staying there
visitors can visit cottage industries such as traditional handicrafts
and paper making; and a plant nursery covering 380 hectares of flora,
including one million trees and plants. There are two small lakes
nearby and bird watching and wildlife observation are possible.
Sirubari won the PATA Gold Award 2001 in the Heritage & Culture
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Heritage Category.
In the Gorkha
District of
Nepal a community tourist program is in its third year of operation.
The area is full of natural beauty, panoramic views, green mid-hill
trekking, unspoilt jungle areas, lakes, caves, waterfalls and flora
(medicinal, scented and edible plants).
Accessible from
Kathmandu
and Pokhara, there is a one day walk to the model tourism village .
Village treks can be undertaken while experiencing village and rural
life, as well as visiting the majestic hill-top palace of Gorkha Bazar.
Accommodation is in individual guestrooms with host families, or in
between villages, in tents. During trekking meals are provided by
professional teams, and in the villages visitors can try a delicious,
hygienically prepared Nepali Daalbhaat consisting of locally produced
rice, lentils and garden fresh organically grown vegetables. The
guestrooms are simple, but clean and cosy, with latrines available and
a water tap close by. (Electricity, hot showers and separate bathrooms
are not available so far).
In the mid-west of
Nepal
in the Shyangja District, another model tourism village project is
underway. This is an agricultural and animal husbandry based community
with no other income source; the intention is to carry out
infrastructure development, heritage conservation and renovation, plus
training and development of the villagers in the region. Located to the
north east is Dahare Deurali, a famous religious site, and a beautiful
location for viewing Himalayan peaks like Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and
Machhapuchhare. It is at an altitude of 3,900 feet with a population of
more than 6,500 people in the village and surrounding
area.
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