Maoist insurgency and tourism Travelling inside Maoland: Reports

Humla: Maoists demand entry fee from tourists (November 2003) >> Maoist senior leader: Maoists don't harm foreign nationals (Oct 2003) >> Dolpa - Makalu-Barun: Maoists demand fees (October 2003) >> Chitwan: Suspected Maoists set a tourist hotel on fire (October 2003) >> Maoists targeted ACAP's office in Ghandruk (September 2003) >> Makalu area: Tourists robbed by suspected Maoists (November 2002) >> British montaineers trapped by Maoist rebels (October 2002) >> Trekking to Jomsom and Mustang (October 2002) >> Arun Valley: Maoists demand "donations" (April 2002) >> Maoist leader: Tourists are most welcome (April 2002) >> Report from a Kanchenjunga Trek (March 2002) >> Situation in Lamjung (March 2002) >> Reports 2000 >> Maoists demand "donations"

Travel agents say there has been a significant rise in the number of trekkers in recent months, BBC Online reported. Tourists enjoy their brief stints with the Maoist rebels. "I have had pleasant talks with them and they were quite polite with me," a professional guide told BBC. The Maoist rebels have deployed its activists along most of the popular trekking trails to collect money from visitors. The rebels stop by teahouses to talk to tourists and ask for donations. Trekkers usually hand over an average of $14. The government insists that Nepal is a safe place to visit. "It has nothing to do with tourists who come to Nepal to spend their holidays. That is why no tourists have been kidnapped or injured," a government official said. RAOnline is supporting this point of view. Miles apart of the conflict's hot spots both sides, the security forces and Maoist activists, are polite with foreing tourists. The CPN Maoists has stated officially that it does not intend to harm tourists and for the seven years of the insurgency have so far kept its word. Please remember: More than 8,000 people have been killed since the Maoist rebels began their insurgency in 1996.

The Maoist rebels have started charging the fee compulsory from each of the tourists to enter in the upper regions of Humla district. Each tourist has to pay US $ 100 for passing the Maoist checkpost. Even a tourist guide is compelled to pay 5,000 rupees to the Maoists. The government tourist tas is US $ 90 dollars per tourist for a period of one week, with 15 dollars for each additional day.

According to a statement issued by Maoist-run news service CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda said that rebel policy did not allow foreign nationals to be targeted. He stressed that the policy also applied to American tourists and officials, but said that security personnel helping the Nepalese army would not be spared.

According to reports Maoist rebels are collecting forced donation or "revolutionary tax" from foreign trekkers, expedition teams and even from porters and guides entering the Mount Makalu Base Camp.
According to reports Maoist rebels have started collecting donations from tourists visiting the northern part of Dolpa district. Officials said that the Maoist rebel fighters were collecting Rs 1,000 from every tourist visiting Upper Dolpo at Dho. The Maoists threatened to prevent the group from visiting the Upper Dolpo area.

In 2001, when the emergency was declared, NGOs were targeted but all of ACAP's offices were operational until September this year. After the peace talks broke down in August 2003, the Maoists came to Ghandruk and destroyed the ACAP office, telling staff not to return. ACAP had to close all our offices in the southern belt.

Suspected Maoist rebels set a hotel on fire in a tourist resort. None of the tourists was harmed in the incident. Maoist leaders have always insisted they never target tourists. Last year Maoist rebels detroyed a tourist resort near Charikot.
Tourists have not been harmed by the incident. The owner of the resort, a retreated army officer, has been killed during this attack.

Tourists who were trekking up to Makalu Valley (Arun Valley) from Tumlingtar towards the Mt. Makalu base camp reported that they had been robbed by members of the Maoist party. The Maoists understood most English and one of them spoke French as well. Out of the four one had a pistol, one was in army combat pants and the rest were mostly in casual dress. The Maoist asked for a "donation". The memebers of the foreing trekking group paid Rs. 4,000 each as per their "rate" for trekkers. Climbers were to pay more, may be Rs. 5000 or Rs. 6000. The Maoists also offered a helicopter ride for Rs. 7000 from Sheduwa to Makalu base camp).

One of Britain's best mountaineers has been trapped by armed Maoist rebels while on a climbing expedition in Nepal's north-eastern Taplejung district. It is the second time in 2002 that British media have published reports on Maoist activities against tourist groups in Taplejung's Kanchenjunga area. A number of the group were stopped on the way up to the mountain by suspected Maoist rebels demanding a high amount of money in cash. The Britons were locked up and threatened they would be killed if they attempted to summon police or army personell. Earlier this year Nepali media have reported on Maoist attempts to collect money from tourist along the route to Manang.

According to experts, the long trekking route to Jomsom is unsafe and dangerous due to Maoist activities in this area. Maoists have threatened some tourists who were on a trek to Mustang. The airway to Mustang may be quick but is quite dangerous. Domestic airlines prefer to fly tourists due to the difference in airfare for domestic and foreigners. Foreigners have to pay around Rs 2700. The airfare for foreigners is more than two times to that of Nepali passengers. Currently the private sector airlines along with the national flag carrier jointly flies a maximum of seven flights to Jomsom, which often get cancelled due to strong wind in Jomsom.

Makalu area - April 2002

Similar to the report from the Kanchenjunga area, mountaineers are said to "have been robbed" by well armed Maoist soldiers. The Maoists demanded a "donation" or a "fee" of NRs 10,000 per person plus equipment such as cameras and binoculars. The Maoists were not violent. After the "robbery" they gave their receipt. In the surrounding forests, many hundreds of Maoist soldiers could be seen. The Maoist forces are very active in the Arun Valley area (not only in the Num, Sedua and Tashi Gaon region).

Makalu area - April 2002

Similar to the report from the Kanchenjunga area, mountaineers are said to "have been robbed" by well armed Maoist soldiers. The Maoists demanded a "donation" or a "fee" of NRs 10,000 per person plus equipment such as cameras and binoculars. The Maoists were not violent. After the "robbery" they gave their receipt. In the surrounding forests, many hundreds of Maoist soldiers could be seen. The Maoist forces are very active in the Arun Valley area (not only in the Num, Sedua and Tashi Gaon region).

Maoists are showing increasing prowess at both propaganda and battle. In fax message sent to news agencies, Maoist senior leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai stated that Maoists don't harm foreign tourists. Maoist rebels fighting in Nepal have urged foreign tourists not to be put off visiting the country. He has invited tourists to come and visit rebel strongholds which are controlled by Maoist forces. However, the Maoist leader warned the visitors to stay clear of areas where there was fighting as "unassuming travellers can be caught in the crossfire of the contending armies". Mr Bhattarai also advised tourists that there would be considerable disruptions during so called general strikes. "We deeply regret the inconveniences likely to be caused to you all," he said.

Before returning to the trek, let's deal with a question that must trouble anyone planning a visit to Nepal these days. Is it safe? The Himalayan kingdom is beset by civil strife. Maoist guerrillas have taken control of many rural districts and fought pitched battles with police and the army. The death toll is awful - almost 3,000 over the past six years. Worried foreign visitors have stayed away in droves, particularly Indians (resented neighbours) and Americans (post-11 September). Yet Nepalis are as welcoming as ever, and though the Foreign Office advises travellers to check on possible trouble spots and steer clear of large gatherings, it is not saying "Don't go". The Maoists have kept to their word not to harm tourists ? knowing the well-being of many ordinary Nepalis depends on them ? but there have been isolated robberies. Indeed, our own group was "taxed" at gunpoint by a band of guerrillas. Put like that, it sounds dramatic, yet we Westerners were not personally menaced, and Mahesh, who as sirdar was at the sharp end, treated it as just another of life's petty trials. A bizarre chitty was issued by the Maoists thanking STC for its "donation" of 5,000 Nepali rupees (approximately £50), "gladly given". Mahesh wastold to produce the receipt if stopped by any other guerrillas along the trail, but we encountered nothing but smiles and gentle hospitality for the next four weeks. STC bore the ransom without complaint and did not try to pass on the cost to us clients. The restriction on alcohol, demanded by the revolutionary women, was irksome but applied patchily. In one village, beer was smuggled in after dark under a coat, while in the higher villages entrepreneurial Tibetans took no notice of the prohibitionists.

Even at noon, Besisahar, Lamjung's dusty district headquarters, wears a deserted look. By evening, there are a few people hurrying home before the seven o'clock curfew. After the Maoists booby-trapped an army convoy two months ago, all vehicles are stopped at the district border after 5.30 PM. There is an undercurrent of fear bordering on panic here. The locals hesitate to talk to strangers, and if they do, there are no smiles, no welcomes. Besisahar's traditional hospitality and friendliness is gone. There is fear here of the Maoists and the security forces. Too many have had friends and relatives taken in by both sides.

Not surprisingly, business is badly hurt. As the gateway to Manang, the town used to get 100 trekkers a day moving up the Marsyangdi valley. These days there are barely ten. The town's only colour lab used to process 30 rolls of films every day, these days it gets a third of that. A lodge ownwer lost his business because his lodge is situated at the northern end of Besisahar, away from the protective range of the army barracks. A tea-shop owner's clients don't come anymore for just the opposite reason- her tea stall is too close to the army post. Th president of the Besisahar Town Development Committee, says the present calm is deceptive. So far, the Maoists have not attacked hotels, but lodge owners are victims of Maoist extortion. Theycall it protection money. A lot of Lamjungis pack up their bags and leave. There is hardly anyone left in Nalma village except children and women.
Lamjung's young left in the thousands when the Maoists started forced recruitment after the declaration of the district people's government last year. Many of those who stayed joined the militia during the three-month ceasefire. Those who resisted, or quit the insurgency disillusioned, are vulnerable to the Maoists and the security forces. Most of the Maoists put in the district jail are teenagers, or in their early 20s. Maoist dissidents are secretly migrating to Kathmandu and other towns. They are afraid of being taken in by both sides.

The local people are of little help. They are so afraid of Maoist retribution, they do not disclose the identity or whereabouts of Maoists who have extorted money from them. Even the elected representatives are reluctant to inform the police about the whereabouts and identities of the Maoists. Development work in this district has come to a halt,� says Jamindra Man Ghale, DDC chairman. Nearly three-quarters of Lamjung's population is literate, much better than the national average. But education has been badly affected by the Maoist threats against schools. Some 10,000 students in 30 private schools, including the Himalchuli Boarding School, which has a record for best SLC results, have nowhere to go. Work on the German-funded 39 km Karaputar-Samle Bhanjyang-Singdi road is suspended.

Both the army and the local administration claim the Maoists are on the run.

There were several incidents in the past few months. Foreign tourists in Nepal were reportedly attacked by Maoist insurgents. Such incidents took place along the Everest Trek (in Cherthum of Ramechhap when tourists were returning from Solukhumbu) and in Gorkha. According to a news item published in the vernacular weekly Janadesh, Maoists in Gorkha have alleged that the incidents took place with the collusion of the local administration. One Maoist leader is reported to have said to the newspaper that there was no plan to rob "foreign guests". On the one hand, foreign tourists were not involved in Maoist attacks in Dolpa and Bhorletar in Lamjung. On the other hand, Dolpa is a destination which was open to group tourists for a few years and was becoming a popular trekking area after the success of the film Caravan. Bhorletar is not far from Besishahar which is along the Annapurna Circuit, the most popular trekking area in Nepal.

Several tourism professionals commented on the impact of Maoist insurgency on tourism in Nepal . President of TAAN said that he had received "oral assurance" from Maoists that the tourist sector would not be affected. According to him, talks were being held among human rights activists to ascertain the Maoists' views in this matter. The President of NATA felt that some negative impacts were experienced in the sector , although it had not been affected very much. He said tourism entrepreneurs had contacted the Maoists, and had been given "oral assurance". The President of HAN said "assurance was received indirectly from the Maoists". What seems to be happening is that many businesses in the country, including those in the tourist sector, especially outside Kathmandu valley, are already paying "protection money" although few admit it publicly.

The Internet and e-mail have revolutionized communication all over the world in the past couple of years. It is now possible to read Nepali newspapers such as The Kathmandu Post and The Rising Nepal on the same day anywhere in the world on the Internet. Several governments of tourist generating countries and their embassies in Kathmandu have their own websites which can advise their nationals about the situation in Nepal. It is no longer possible to "hide" any news about insurgency. Many travellers to Nepal do their "homework" thoroughly and are well informed about the happenings.