2008-05-27

Nepal Cycling Association (NCA), in collaboration with International Cycling Union and Asian Cycling Confederation, is organising 14th Asian Mountain Bike Championship in Nepal from November 6 to 10, 2008.

Around 200 contestants from 40 different countries will take part in the event that is being organised for the first time in Nepal, the organisers said at a press conference organised in Kathmandu on May 22, 2008.

'Adventure events like cycling will help bring in more visitors to the country. The event will also help promote Nepal among the adventure enthusiasts,' Shrestha added. Similarly, secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports said that mountain tourism plays a pivotal role in Nepal's tourism industry. 'The government is committed to promote this sector,' he added. Similarly, president of Nepal Olympic Committee Mr. Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan said that Nepal is an ideal venue to host competitions like mountain biking.

The championship will have two events—downhill and cross country—under elite men and women categories. There will be three laps of 11 km each for elite men category and two laps of 11 km each for women.

2008-03-23

The fresh census of rhino population in Chitwan National Park has shown that the number of the endangered species has increased in recent times.

The 16-day-long census, which ended on Sunday, found that there are 408 rhinos in the Park.

This number is up by 36 compared to the previous census result three years ago when only 372 rhinos were counted.

“There were 100 male rhinos and 130 female rhinos. We couldn’t determine the gender of remaining 178 during the census exercise,” said Shyam Bajimaya, director general of Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Because of increased poaching and other threats to the life of the endangered species, the census, which earlier used to be carried out every five years, had been carried out in three year’s time.

Bajimaya informed that of the total 408 rhinos counted, 277 are adults, 51 are adolescents and 80 are young ones.

 2008-03-23

With the objective of promoting religious and cultural richness of Lhosar, the New Year Festival of several ethnic communities living in the Himalayan and Hilly regions of the country, Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) organized Lhosar Cultural Tourism Festival on February 8, 2008, at Thamel.

The festival saw encouraging number of people that participated in the festival wearing their traditional attire and dancing to the tunes of their traditional songs.

The festival began with the special worship (Serkim) of the Lhosar deity by the Lamas. The special worship was followed by cultural procession of different ethnic communities clad in their traditional attire. The processions went through the streets of Thamel and finally returned at the festival venue at Tridevi Marg.

The festival saw the presence of almost all the ethnic communities that observe Lhosar. Apart from Gurung, Tamang and Sherpas, ethnic communities from Kavre, Rasuwa, Solu Khumbu, and as from as far as Humla participated in the procession. Unique traditional dances like Jhankri (Shaman) Dance, Lama Dance, Sword Dance, Ghatu Dance, Mask Dance and others were performed during the festival.

Since the festival was organized in Thamel, the festival attracted hundreds of foreign visitors who were seen busy taking pictures of rare cultural activities. Some were even seen singing and dancing with the people in the cultural procession.

By organizing Lhosar Cultural Tourism Festival, TAAN hopes to promote Lhosar as a unique cultural tourism activity in Nepal. In the past, TAAN used to organize Lhosar Ball within the periphery of star hotels during the Lhosar Festival. It decided to observe the street festival to promote the religious and cultural aspects of the New Year Festival and promote it as a colorful tourism product for foreign visitors.