<figure><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/skewgee/6547347439" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131140/637237709c7e80680e0c732djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1530"/><figcaption>Photo: Matthew Hurst/flickr.com</figcaption>Air travel can be exciting and nerve-wracking. It’s the quickest way to see family, friends, and foreign lands, but the expenses and time associated with flying can be a lot for some people.For people like me who are from Nepal but live abroad, flying thousands of miles to see the family is a part of life. Whenever I have an upcoming trip home, I spend months making lists of gifts for loved ones and hours shopping online so I can bring them something special.This year, I started shopping in January because I was excited to be home for five weeks. Working remotely gave me the luxury of spending more than a typical three-week vacation.After leaving the central United States at 10am on 24 June, I landed in Nepal at 6am two days later. But one of my suitcases did not. After staring at the conveyor belt for about an hour, I knew.I was frustrated but stayed calm while filling out the missing luggage form at Tribhuvan International Airport. They asked me to list everything in the suitcase with a description. They assured me it would arrive on the next flight and be delivered to my doorstep.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/having-a-nepali-passport-is-no-fun/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Having a Nepali passport is no fun</a>, Anjana RajbhandaryI left the airport with the form and one suitcase. I was disappointed yet hopeful. Soon, I realised I was among the hundreds of people who have lost their luggage around the world this northern summer.The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that almost 220,000 bags were lost, damaged, delayed, or stolen in April 2022 due to airlines struggling with a shortage of workers. Most of the workers were let go during Covid, when rarely anyone traveled.With the world picking itself back up and more people taking the opportunity to travel again, airlines struggle to find employees but continue to schedule flights, often overbooking them.I was almost unable to check-in for my flight as it was overbooked with the airlines offering $775 to anyone willing to give up their seats, but they still took one of my suitcases despite me asking them to wait.After being tossed around between counters for about an hour, one of the employees said she found me a seat and took my second suitcase, and I asked her politely- “Will both of them make it to Nepal?”“Of course,” she responded, but that didn’t happen.When I contacted the airlines, I was asked to send a detailed description of the suitcase as well as pictures and descriptions of every item in it so they could locate it. I was able to do that because online shopping does have its advantages in that respect.To make it easier for the airport and the airlines, I even created an excel spreadsheet with the name, description, and price of everything and attached receipts, for around 50 items in the suitcase. Both reassured me that a piece of luggage could not be lost, but it’s misplaced, and I was guaranteed to find it.The second time I called the Lost and Found department at the airport, a gentleman told me that people lose their luggage all the time and they really don’t have the time to look for each one of them and hung up.Perhaps, he was having a bad day, and my request to look for my materialistic things didn’t quite measure up in the grand scheme.In the weeks of “not lost, yet not sure where the suitcase is,” I learned a lot about the guidelines and regulations of “misplaced or delayed” luggage.As per <a href="https://www.iata.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">International Air Transport</a> (IATA) guidelines, if an airline cannot locate a bag for 21 days, it can declare it lost. Once they declare it lost, they must start the compensation process.However, in my case, I was constantly told that it was not lost and that they were looking. There is also a regulation for daily compensation for every delayed day from the date of arrival, which I was made aware of by a friend who works for a different airline.Another friend of mine told me that she lost her luggage a few years ago and got it back a year after it went missing, so there was always some hope. I continued to email the carrier and send messages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter once or twice a week to follow up and often, I was not met with a response.It was recently brought to my attention that if no one claims a lost suitcase for a year, they can put it up for sale.After sending numerous emails and often not getting a response, I didn’t expect my luggage to show up any time soon. I thought I’d be one of those lucky people who got it back a year later.However, on 15 August, I got an email from the airline asking for my address, and I gave them my address in the US. They delivered my luggage to my address in Nepal five days later with everything in it with minimal damage.But the incessant fight for compensation continues, especially as that part of my email usually goes ignored.After this experience, I invested in an AirTag to track my luggage for future travels in case it happens again, and I highly recommend it. Even if the airline loses your luggage, you can track it on your phone.I would also suggest carrying all your essentials in your carry on and having a detailed description of all items and pictures in an unfortunate case, it does go missing.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/flying-home-in-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flying home in a pandemic</a>, Anjana Rajbhandary

Anjana Rajbhandary

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Airmageddon 2022

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18339c7e80680e0ac7b0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2399" height="1525"/>Nepal’s rate of inflation, the price of everything from salt to gold have been at all time highs. The country is witnessing a decline in manufacturing at home, and a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-less-and-less-able-to-feed-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">growing dependency on imports</a>.Nepal’s import bill for the last fiscal year reached a record Rs150 billion, of which more than 60% was for petroleum products. In contrast, the country’s total export earnings last year was only Rs21 billion.There might be more socio-economic factors driving inflation, which is expected to hit 6% this year, and in time, I am sure economists will find out what is driving it.That being said, while everything has become more expensive,<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/buddha-air-spurt-in-domestic-flights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> domestic airfares in Nepal</a> have become cheaper – not just in real terms but in actual rupee amount.Back in 1999, one US dollar had an official exchange rate of Rs68. The USD-NPR rate today is Rs120 per dollar. There is now such a shortage of hard currency in the exchequer that the government has reduced the $1,500 Nepalis were allowed to exchange for travel abroad.Similarly, the price of gold has skyrocketed from Rs7,587 per 11.7 grams (1 tola) to Rs90,000.Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) used to be Rs30 per litre thirty years ago. It is now at Rs86 per litre. Even inflation has increased by 340% in that period.The main cost factor in Nepal's civil aviation is the price of ATF. Most international airlines make sure they arrive in Kathmandu with enough fuel to fly back to their home airports because the cost of refueling in Kathmandu is the highest in the world. For domestic airlines, aviation fuel makes up 40% of the operating cost.The fortunes of domestic airlines are also affected by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/high-cost-lays-aviation-low-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">turbulence in the price of aviation fuel</a>. But since nearly everything used by domestic airlines -- from the airframe itself to spare parts and equipment and fuel – have to be imported, their costs have also shot up because of the appreciation of the US dollar.Twenty-three years ago, the salary of a branch officer at an airline was at most Rs4,500. A mere Rs100,000 could buy a ropani (500sq m) of land in Kathmandu. But in that time, the cost of an air ticket to Biratnagar, Nepalganj, Pokhara and Bhairawa is only Rs1,200 more than it used to be in the late 1990s.One might question why. The main reason is that we are now using larger turboprop aircraft which are more fuel efficient and cost less per passenger mile to operate.At present, Nepal’s domestic airlines fly more than two dozen aircraft with 40 seats or more – with Buddha Air operating more than half the fleet.Buddha Air pioneered the shift to larger turboprops in 2008 with the introduction of ATR42s, and later added the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/buddha-air-atr-72-to-tumlingtar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">larger ATR72s</a>.  Such a large fleet requires state of the art maintenance, and we have established our own hangar with tools and spare parts, all of which are also very important in reducing operating costs.Today, Buddha Air serves 2.5 million passengers annually and we are planning to add more planes in the short takeoff and landing (STOL) category, after which our annual passenger capacity is estimated to reach 3.5 million.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rains, floods and landslides</a> have damaged Nepal’s fragile road infrastructure, and the trend will continue as the Himalaya experiences more extreme weather events due to climate change. Similarly, traffic jams clog up the highways and it is taking longer for intercity travel within Nepal.Nepalis now have a safer, but affordable and accessible alternative mode of transport. The good news is that more<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokhara-will-be-a-game-changer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Nepalis all over the country can now commute by air</a> not just from Kathmandu but also between cities like Nepalganj-Pokhara, Simara-Pokhara. Buddha Air alone serves more than 8,000 domestic passengers a day in 140 flights.As the country recovers from the pandemic, air travel has now become the first choice of Nepalis from all levels and sections of society, and this is primarily because while everything else has become much more expensive in the past 30 years, the cost of air travel has not.  We would not have achieved this success if we had restricted our service to a limited number of aircraft and fewer seats.The global <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/survive-revive-thrive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tourism industry</a> is now also picking up after two years and passengers are increasingly confident about the health protocols on board. Nepal’s domestic airlines are poised for another takeoff, boosting the prospect of Nepal’s economic revival.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokhara-will-be-a-game-changer/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokhara-will-be-a-game-changer/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633946826045000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZvvmSD8-dWrdQyVi5UJzGPFEv-A">Birendra B Basnet</a> is Managing Director of Buddha Air.

Now, everyone can fly

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109151116/636bb6679c7e80680e07bc5djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1221" height="742"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAN) announced on Sunday that it will allow international carriers to resume an unlimited number of flights from 1 October.Since some flights were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-allows-limited-international-flights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">allowed to resume on 1 September</a>, there was a cap of only 1,600 passengers allowed to land in Kathmandu every day because of the need to avoid over-crowding, and for physical separation at the arrival and departure terminals.The decision to lift restrictions appears to follow a rise in demand from Nepali families coming home for the Dasain-Tihar-Chhat festivals, as well bookings from tourists who want to take advantage of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reopening of trekking and mountaineering after 17 October</a>.“We have been able to cope with the present volume of passengers, and although it will be challenging, we are confident that we can handle the greater numbers at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-airport-gets-facelift-during-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu airport</a>,” said Devendra KC of Tribhuvan International Airport.Normally 30 airlines used to fly 53 international flights daily from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/landing-in-kathmandu-is-only-half-the-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu airport</a> to 32 destinations in the region and beyond. Since 1 September 14 airlines had been allowed to operate only 14 flights a day.“We want to send the message that Nepal is returning to normal,” CAAN’s Rajan Pokhrel said.However, the move comes even as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/covid-19-lessons-for-kathmandu-from-the-tarai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu Valley has been seeing a surge</a> with 802 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, and three deaths. The number of cases in Nepal has crossed 73,000 with 477 deaths due to the novel coronavirus.In addition, there is still confusion about the conditions in which foreign nationals will be allowed from 17 October. Travel trade executives say the two-week quarantine requirement on arrival is impractical if the visitors arrive with RT PCR negative reports, and they also want visa on arrival to resume.“We have been asking the government to reduce the hotel quarantine time for visitors to three days,” said Achyut Guragain of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA). “After all, returning Nepalis are allowed to go home immediately if they have PCR negative reports.”There is still no word on whether flights to and from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-and-nepal-in-covid-19-crisis-together/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India</a> will also be allowed from 1 October.  Tens of thousands of Nepali students, families and patients who had gone to India for treatment have been stuck there for six months. Thai International has also not announced a resumption of its daily flights to Bangkok.Turkish Airlines has already opened online reservations for three flights a week Istanbul-Kathmandu from 3 October, while Korean Air, Dragon Air, Etihad Airways, Fly Dubai, Oman Air and Malaysia Airlines are going back to their normal frequency from 1 October. Qatar Airways has already started twice daily flights Doha-Kathmandu.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109151116/636bb66a9c7e80680e07bc5ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s domestic airlines have also reported high suppressed demand from travellers since they <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-domestic-flights-resume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">resumed flights last week</a>.Meanwhile, CAAN has been embroiled in a controversy after it allowed Himalaya Airlines ‘self-ground handling’ facilities at Kathmandu airport. At present Nepal Airlines does most ground-handling including check-in, baggage and ramp transport. Air India and Thai International are the only two carriers allowed to have their own ground services.Himalaya Airlines is a joint venture between Yeti Airlines and China’s Tibet Airlines, and CAAN’s announcement was denounced by a Nepal Airlines union as being “anti-national”.After political pressure, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai on Sunday summoned CAAN’s Pokhrel and instructed him not to implement the decision. In addition, he also ordered the cancellation of the special privilege given to Air India and Thai.

Unlimited flights to Nepal from 1 October

<figure><img width="2048" height="1152" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5a69c7e80680e0736d7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Foreigners and locals in Pokhara work together to clean up Phewa Lake during the lockdown. Photo: DHARMEN SINGH</figcaption></figure>During the first two months of lockdown when foreign embassies in Kathmandu were rounding up their last remaining nationals to fly home from Nepal, there were some <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/many-foreigners-stay-put-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">who refused to be repatriated</a>. They are still here, and they want to stay put.Immigration Department records show there are still 2,000 tourists who have been in Nepal since March. But over 250 of them from 50 countries have appealed through a Facebook group for the Nepal government to extend their visa permits till December.Some chose not to risk infection by travelling long-distances to go back home where conditions were sometimes much worse. Expensive repatriation flights did not help matters.  “Until now Nepal has been among the safest countries from COVID-19 crisis and it is safer to stay where people are right now,” says Australian Brett Adamek, admin of the Pokhara Noticeboard Facebook group. “Long-distance travel is daunting and dangerous especially when many tourists are elderly. If allowed to stay on, everyone is happy to pay for the extension.”Many of the foreigners staying in Nepal are not just enjoying an extended holiday, they are trying to help increase awareness about preventive measures against COVID-19, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/travellers-stuck-in-nepal-help-locals-in-need/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">raise money for feeding programs</a>, assist in charities, or help farmers with new ideas to raise productivity.In June, the Department of Immigration announced that the stranded tourists would have to pay extra visa fee for overstaying due to the pandemic. After outrage on social media, the Home Ministry <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/no-visa-fees-for-tourists-stuck-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">revised the decision</a> and said extension and overstay fees as well as fines would only be levied 15 days after the resumption of international flights.“As of now we are still going by the decision to allow 15 days after resumption of international flights for foreigners to leave the country. But we are expecting a new directive from the government in a few days,” says Madhusudan Bhattarai of the Department of Immigration. The Department itself has been sealed because a staff tested positive for COVID-19.But many of the foreigners who are located across the country from Ilam, Manang, Pokhara, Jomsom, Khumbu and Kathmandu say they want to remain in Nepal till December, and have promised to be in their best behaviour.Like Adamek, many of the foreigners who found themselves in Nepal when the flights were grounded in March, are nomads travelling around the world for years, and do not really have a ‘home country’ to get back to. Adamek himself is Australian but has been travelling across Asia for years, spending 15 years in Nepal and India. <figure><img width="720" height="499" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5aa9c7e80680e0736d8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Briton Lesley D Junlakan has been in Nepal since 24 January, documenting her experience of the lockdown through photography. While she does spend five months a year in Nepal volunteering at monasteries in Kagbeni and Pokhara, this year she has not been able to go back to Thailand where she has been living since 2000.“If the government does not to allow foreigners to stay on, I will have to go to a third country because Thailand has not resumed commercial flights and I don’t want to go back to Britain where I have no home or family,” says Junlakan, who has also been supporting families of trekking guides who have no income because of the collapse of tourism.  There is also uncertainty regarding the resumption of international flights. The Cabinet on Monday concurred with the COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee recommendation that regular domestsic and international flights that were set to resume on 17 August be pushed back till 31 August. Airlines say even that date may be pushed back, and when regular flights do resume, their frequency and destinations will be reduced. Nepal Tourism Board CEO Dhananjay Regmi has advised the government to allow foreigners to stay on till December 2020, and charge them accordingly for their visa extension. At a time when even the autumn tourism season looks like it is going to be a flop, it would be logical to keep tourists who want to stay.“Many of them came for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit Nepal 2020</a> and they haven’t even got to experience it. The government’s positive response will also gain Nepal goodwill in the international community,” Regmi told Nepali Times, adding that he expects a positive response from the government.Andrea Anastasiou from Cyprus came to Nepal for the sixth time in late January to experience Visit Nepal 2020. Trekking to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) was on her to-do list, but the fear of COVID-19 followed by the lockdown pretty much confined her to a room in Patan."I would love the opportunity to stay on and explore more of the country given if restrictions are eased and it's safer to travel around again. I might not get to trek ABC, but a day-long hike inside the Valley would also be great," says Anastasiou.Cesar Morales (pictured right) was invited to train Nepali tennis players preparing for regional championships and for the Olympics that would have been taking place in Tokyo this week if it had not been for the pandemic. He was supposed to travel to Spain and Italy before flying home to Chicago, but has been stuck in Nepal since 13 March.Morales refused to be repatriated earlier because he did not want to risk infection while travelling long distance, and get back home to two elderly parents at a time when the pandemic was at its peak in Spain. The same reasons are still valid for US nationals stuck in Nepal.“<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s economy is struggling</a>, so allowing tourists already here to stay on would help local businesses,” adds Morales who has used his extra time in Nepal to continue training Nepali athletes six days a week in Kapan. “We can contribute not only in terms of economy but with our skills too. Allowing us to stay on will also let us help people here, which is a win-win situation.” <img width="600" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5ac9c7e80680e0736d9jpeg.jpg" alt="">Says Junlaken: “Most of us feel safe in Nepal and we have been doing with social distance and safety measures. Nepal government and Nepali people have been very kind to us so far and we are only asking for it to be extended for a little longer.”

Sonia Awale

Stranded visitors want to stay on in Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a673c9c7e80680e0599c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photo: HIMALAYAN HERMITAGE</figcaption></figure>Things improve imperceptibly in Nepal, with small changes for the better. And that is the first thing frequent visitors to Kathmandu notice at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/kathmandu-airport-is-nepal-in-a-microcosm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the airport</a>: the shining new floor of the arrival concourse and various gold-plated, hand-crafted figures at the base of the escalators.It shows that with just a small effort, we can improve the state of the state. Tourism provides the incentive for positive actions in the past, and will help us do much more as we enter Visit Nepal 2020 when the country is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bringing-in-two-miilion-tourists,3551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hoping to double the number of visitors</a>.Tourism can also be attributed to creating jobs, lifting people out of poverty, helping save endangered species and their habitats, letting income percolate down to remote areas, and helping heritage conservation in a big way.With politics more stable, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-they-kept-nepal-in-the-dark-ages/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">power outages behind us</a>, Kathmandu Valley’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-by-night/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Heritage Sites are lit for nighttime visitors</a>. Horticulture farms producing organic food, art and crafts studios and workshops, chefs and hospitality staff, are all doing better. More and more hotels with better amenities give the sector the much needed competition that will focus on better quality of services. Tourism is good for Nepal, contributing up to 10% of the GDP according to one estimate.As disposable income increases, more Nepali families are opting to travel and spend. These ‘domestic tourists’ on average spend more than the ‘budget tourists’ who came to Nepal because it is often sold as a cheap destination. Hotels that would deny rooms and services to Nepalis now prefer them.Campaigns that call on people to travel within Nepal first, and then <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/where-are-you-going-this-dasain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">venture out into the world</a>. (‘Pahila Desh, Ani Bidesh) are helping. The governor of Nepal Rastra Bank recently lamented that Nepali ‘tourists’ took Rs90 billion worth of foreign currency out of Nepal as compared to Rs74 billion brought in by foreigners.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a673f9c7e80680e0599cajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Some say Nepalis, who used to save money, buy gold or land, are now spending more because of the near death experience during the 2015 earthquake. Religious sites like Manakamana were always popular, but now with increased mobility and spare change, Nepali pilgrims throng far flung temples. A foreign visitor asks where two million tourists will stay when millions of Nepalis are travelling. Good point.Thirty years ago the trend was globalisation, and now there is a definite move towards localisation. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tourism-aviation-and-carbon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate awareness has actually resulted in a drop in air travel</a> in some European countries. Local restaurants with local drinks are doing better than those offering imported ones. Thakali restaurants used to be confined to the Mugling-Pokhara corridor, now they are everywhere. Textiles, handicrafts, building materials, design elements, food, fruits, sweets,yogurt, spices, tea, coffee, are all doing well because people want to try local.Conversations these days are often dominated by, “Have you been to this amazing restaurant at Lakeside in Pokhara?” The social media is helping because friends and influencers post photos of Nepal’s most exotic places. Schools, colleges and businesses are going further afield within Nepal for field trips.Nepal has <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/half-full/re-imagining-tourism-in%20nepal,1103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two neighbors that have the highest number of outbound travelers in the world</a>, and it is growing. These markets have special needs and may not match traditional North America or European clientele. Food, shopping, pilgrimage, corporate retreats, meetings, medical checkups, banking, ease of travel could be some of the reasons they may visit Nepal. With these giant markets next door, all we need to do is tailor-make our promotional campaigns in their language, and to suit their tastes.To be sure, we will have to monitor alcohol, gambling and prostitution. We need <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/guiding-nepals-tourism-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">staff trained</a> with better language skills and safety standards and paid and treated with respect. Flight and vehicle safety need to be regularly upgraded.The travel trade is changing, and the tourism entrepreneur has to be proactive. As the Visit Nepal slogan declares, visitors are looking for a lifetime experience and not a mediocre trip. We have the challenge to offer an experience that is distinctly different than China, India and Bhutan – but that does not mean visitors want to rough it out. We have to move towards carbon neutral tourism that contributes to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conservation of nature and heritage</a>. And: we have to stop selling poverty and volunteer tourism.Let us not make it sound like the tourist is doing us a favor by coming here. Let them come because they want to, because Nepal is special. It has to be a lifetime experience.Anil Chitrakar is President of Siddharthinc.

Anil Chitrakar

Make sure you visit Nepal in 2020

Nepal’s September protests and regime change created two major unexpected costs that Prime Minister Sushila Karki’s interim government is scrambling to deal with: reconstruction of destroyed government buildings, and holding elections on 5 March.
The buck stops at the desk of economist and former bureaucrat Minister of Finance Rameshore Khanal about where and how to spend limited resources.
“Rameshore-ji is a fresh face and the right person for the role. He is capable and interested, and he knows the system,” says Kalpana Khanal of the Policy Research Institute (PRI).
But Minister Khanal has to grapple not just with the immediate budgeting needs for elections and reconstruction, but also initiate longer term measures to restore investor confidence badly dented by arson and vandalism of 9 September, and mend the economy.
Immediately after taking office, he had set up a three-member task force to cut programs and free up budget to meet immediate expenses.
“We have to hold elections and we have to reconstruct. Both need money, and they are equal priorities for us,” said Ministry of Finance spokesperson Tanka Prasad Pandey. “It is important to find these funds internally, and not look to aid from abroad.”
But Minister Khanal flew into heavy flak last week for his decision to restore investor confidence by giving a strategic capital gains tax break to Nepal’s only foreign private equity fund.
The Mauritius-based Dolma Impact Fund has invested venture capital into Nepal’s hydropower, construction and biotech sectors as well as solar farms and hospitals. It said in a statement that its capital gains are only taxable in Mauritius as per its double-taxation avoidance agreement with Nepal, which predates and overrides the Income Tax Act of 2002 subsequent to the Treaty Act 1990.
“When you have investors from all over the world, you have to choose a domicile and Mauritius is probably the most popular for development finance institutions due to strong governance, AML, and treaties with developing countries like Nepal,” Tim Dolma Investment told Nepali Times on the phone from London.
He added: “Last June we applied for the government to uphold its treaty with Mauritius which under all country laws including Nepal treaty act supersedes any disagreement with domestic laws. But there were delays. It was when the new government decided to uphold the treaty that the whole hoo-hah started.”
Leaks to the media possibly by bureaucrats fearful of being hauled over the coals by the CIAA has set financial circles abuzz for the past week. The Internal Revenue Office refused to grant the exemption, citing the 2002 Act.
Prime Minister Sushila Karki asked Chief Secretary Eaknarayan Aryal for clarification, and learnt that the Cabinet’s decision was not official since it was not recorded in the minutes.
“We were raising a fund that could have brought $1 billion in for energy and we had to stop it due to the reputational damage to Nepal by not upholding an international treaty,” said Gocher.
Gocher added: “Under Nepal’s Treaty Act, if there is ever disagreement between an international treaty and domestic law, then international treaty takes precedence so it is crystal clear and the way international treaties are dealt with all over the world.”
Some experts worry that gifting the fund such perks can set a dangerous precedent and a loss in tax revenue. Professor and economist Pushkar Bajracharya says: “The most important thing is to have a consistent policy about tax cuts and not do it piece-by-piece. Besides, the evidence just isn’t strong that tax cuts lead to higher investment, or more jobs.”
Others hark back to the capital gains dispute of the sale of Ncell ownership, which went to the Supreme Court and all the way to the international tribunal in The Hague.
Khanal has said privately that he is responding to the damage to Nepal’s investment climate from the dramatic visuals beamed worldwide of an international hotel chain and government buildings set ablaze in September. Western embassies are also said to be lobbying to allow Dolma tax exemption and smooth profit repatriation.
There are tradeoffs. Private equity funds like Dolma could funnel foreign funds more efficiently towards successful Nepali companies than the government, which is slowed down by many layers of bureaucracy. The downstream multiplier effect of such investments would outweigh taxes to the government since much of it is misused and wasted.
For example, the government is not taxing income in FY 25/26 generated by the US-funded $697 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects to build transmission lines and upgrade highways.
Strategic tax exemptions do provide incentives to investors, to make sure these projects are carried out effectively, which in turn helps Nepal’s development which has been affected by corruption and mismanagement.
The main demand of the GenZ protests that led to the downfall of the government coalition two months ago was to control corruption and make government more efficient so there is investment and job creation. The interim government seems to be responding to that sentiment.
The Dolma issue has distracted from the larger and longer-term need to reform the country’s financial systems and streamline public expenditure. How to reduce corruption and spur development is going to be the main agenda for elections, and the criteria by which voters will select candidates and parties.
TASKED FORCE
Shortly after Rameshore Khanal was appointed he set up a three member task force made up of the heads of Budget and Program, Foreign Aid, and Revenue Management Divisions. The team sent through the budget culling items DOGE-style — projects deemed ‘inadequately prepared,’ ‘fragmented,’ or ‘included through political pressure.’
Khanal hoped to save up to Rs100 billion by cutting all projects less than Rs30 million. However, such a slash and burn method would hurt rural and remote area projects for health and education more, and much bigger corruption-ridden infrastructure projects would be unscathed.&nbsp;
Says Bajracharya, “There are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of low-return programs in the budget that are there because of political or personal influence. But the criteria for cutting them needs to be properly defined. Doing it arbitrarily is unacceptable.”&nbsp;
Kalpana Khanal of the Policy Research Institute was involved in the taskforce, and explains: “The decision to mobilise internal funds is a pragmatic move to fund elections and reconstruction.”
However, she also singles out the massively-funded Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport as being particularly problematic: “Time and cost overruns are historically the norm, and many are ‘vote bank’ projects that are politically motivated rather than done for return on investment.”
For example, politicians use their influence to build roads to their home districts to secure popularity even if the funds would have been better spent elsewhere.
“Another problem is the amount of funds that are transferred randomly for things that outside the budget,” continues Khanal.
Bajracharya adds, “While reconstruction and elections are big financial commitments, Nepal could easily find the funds. Cancelling low impact programs is a good move by the ministry of finance, and another option could have been to raise customs or taxes by a few percent. The main problem is that a huge amount of funds are lost to corruption.”
Kalpana Khanal and Dilli Raj Khanal co-authored a technical report last year titled Improving Public Expenditure System in Nepal: Critical Areas of Reform which did a forensic examination of such wasteful projects.
The conclusion: recommendation to have stricter accountability measures in place to check the actual use of funds and merit-based appointments in the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, and the CIAA.
The technocrats in Prime Minister Karki’s cabinet resonate with the latter point. Nepal is so entrenched in the ‘afno manche’ culture of nepotism and connections that it has become the norm.
The report also refers to the well-known off-budget ‘re-allocations’ of big outlays during the seventh and first months of the fiscal year that undermine in-built check and balance. Almost a quarter of the budget is spent in the last month, which results in low quality and low impact work.
The authors call for reward and punishment systems to prevent these practices. The CIAA could also be supercharged to build transparency into the digital Line Ministry Budget Information System, instead of being an agency for political vendetta.

Nepal needs to use its money better

At the opening plenary of COP30, which stands for the convolutedly named 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Belém on Tuesday, Nepal brought up the threats to the Himalayan watershed. Nepal’s delegate Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also spoke on behalf of Bhutan and Bangladesh after the three countries formally called for tripling grant-based adaptation financing from 2015 levels to at least $120 billion per year by 2030, and to ensure a more simplified, scaled-up access to finance their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts. “Bhutan has already graduated from Least Developed Country (LDC) status, while Bangladesh and Nepal are in the process of graduation,” said Mishra. “Graduation reflects development progress, but does not reduce our climate vulnerability nor the scale of support required to safeguard development gains.” The Loss &amp; Damage Fund is also finally coming into effect, so countries can now apply for $5-20 million to make up for damage from climate impact. But claiming damage and linking disasters to climate breakdown has not been an easy process. “When a 200MW hydropower plant is destroyed by a glacial flood, it is a big loss for Nepal’s GDP. Every megawatt costs us $20 million to build,” says energy entrepreneur Kushal Gurung. “Our lobbying should be top-notch, and hydropower can make a good case for us.” Belém marks the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement that brought the world together to pledge to keep global average temperature to ‘well below’ 2°C above pre-industrial levels and limit it to 1.5°C.&nbsp; COP has also returned to Brazil after 30 years of the Rio Conference in 1995. Since then there have been numerous summits, which have been criticised for being just hot air and being hosted by fossil-fuel exporting countries like UAE and Uzbekistan. Belém was selected because it is a gateway to the Amazon, but Brazil has now also become a major oil producer after new offshore finds. A recent report shows that compared to 2019, the world is set to reduce its emissions by 12% in 2035 if countries are to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions even though the figure needs to go up to 40% to meet temperature targets. There has been progress. Before the Paris Agreement the world was on a path for 4°C increase during this century, and this has now come down to 2.5°C because of the clean energy transition. But a lot more needs to be done to meet the Paris 1.5°C target. “This progress is proof that multilateralism is working, it is delivering,” Manjeet Dhakal of the Climate Analytics South Asia told us from Belém. “Having said that, it is simply not enough. Emissions need to go down much further, and a lot of it is tied to developed countries providing climate finance to do so.” Many developing countries have adopted ‘conditional NDCs’ which means their emission reduction targets cannot be met without international climate finance. In its third NDC, Nepal set a target of a 17.1% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions and 26.8% by 2035. But achieving that has a price tag of &nbsp;$73.74 billion, with much of it from international climate finance. UNDERFINANCED However, the climate for climate finance is getting worse. The United States has exited from the Paris Agreement for the second time under President Trump, and there are cutbacks in foreign aid by European funders. Even so, the EU has committed to reducing its emissions by 90% in the next 15 years, 85% of which will be domestic emission cuts. The silver lining in all this is that the leadership in climate action is increasingly being taken by Nepal’s neighbours China and India with both investing heavily in renewable energy. China is the world leader in solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and Nepal has already taken strategic advantage of this.&nbsp; With expensive hydropower plants increasingly at risk from glacial lake outburst floods, experts say Nepal must diversify its energy mix and invest in solar power which has 10 times more potential than hydropower at 432 gigawatts with over 300 days of sunshine a year. Solar farms can also power pump storage, which are cheaper and quicker to build.&nbsp; China has drastically reduced the cost of photovoltaic cells, making such schemes more feasible. Nepal just needs to ease up its restrictive domestic energy policies, boost investment and resist geopolitical pressure on electricity generation. “First, we need to increase the cap on solar energy from 10% to 30%, and next, the bidding process should be made easier, or just have the first past the post system like that for hydropower,” says Kushal Gurung. The disadvantage of solar power is that it generates only daytime energy, but this can be solved with grid-scale battery storage or pump storage. But first, the government needs to fix the rate for solar purchase so that entrepreneurs are incentivised. “This is not happening because our government officials and engineers are comfortable dealing with hydropower, and are not just updated about the latest advances,” says Gurung. “As a result, we have no clear policies when it comes to solar.” Hydropower has become one of the biggest industries in Nepal with an installed capacity of over 3,400MW and the government’s target is to produce 28,500MW in the next ten years. But the recent climate disasters have made it clear that relying only on hydropower alone is too risky. The Nepal-Tibet glacial flood in July destroyed and damaged four hydropower plants and substations along the Bhote Kosi, and last September’s floods slashed the country’s total generation by half. Nepal now needs to build on the widespread adoption of battery-powered vehicles by extending it to electric public transport and for household appliances like stoves, rice cookers and refrigerators. Not only would this reduce Nepal’s per capita carbon footprint, but it would also reduce the country’s annual Rs300 billion petroleum import bill. At global platforms like UNFCCC, it is easy even for individual developed countries to get lost without an alliance. Now that Nepal is graduating from LDC status, it needs to have strong partners with a common goal to move forward in international negotiations. Says Kushal Gurung: “We won’t have privilege that came with LDC status anymore, which means climate finance will be even more limited. But there are a few things we can urgently do on our own like regulating the carbon credit market.”&nbsp; This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251118101116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251118101116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali Times SDG"> </figure>

Global warning bell in Belém

Youth protestors who sustained injuries at the hands of state security forces during the September protest staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala on Friday, protesting what they have called the interim government’s inadequate efforts to address the demands of the GenZ movements. The demonstrators also sought to bar the UML from gathering at Maitighar, where party chair K P Oli was expected to announce its Youth Volunteer Force on Friday. The organisers consequently relocated the event. Friday’s demonstration at Maitighar comes as UML and GenZ representatives agreed to sit down for talks in Simara, where a curfew was imposed this week after youth protestors and party cadres clashed near the airport as demonstrators sought to stop UML leaders from flying in for a political event to Simara from Kathmandu.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251121131148_c0b3bfb861f73bee456efbd12f523af55ce3c258742c39e1dea7dbf768774ea5.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251121131148_c0b3bfb861f73bee456efbd12f523af55ce3c258742c39e1dea7dbf768774ea5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2160" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="GenZ Maitighar"> <figcaption>Youth protestors who sustained injuries at the hands of state security forces during the September protest staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala on Friday. Photos: SUBASH SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251121131152_85f3606728d137b334d782ac1b5d1ed6383544493f96ebcc0398fcd9f0c5add7.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251121131152_85f3606728d137b334d782ac1b5d1ed6383544493f96ebcc0398fcd9f0c5add7" data-rendition-name="original" width="2160" height="1439" loading="lazy" alt="GenZ Maitighar"> </figure>  &nbsp;Nepal’s interim government is increasingly cautious about the nation’s sensitive security situation in the lead-up to the 5 March election, as evidenced by pro-monarchy businessman Durga Prasai’s midnight arrest earlier this week over his inflammatory remarks as he called for protests this month. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the government to present Prasai before the court within 24 hours.&nbsp; As it stands, the UML’s inauguration of a youth collective amidst its disregard for the demands of Nepalis for party reforms and a change in leadership highlights party chair and former PM K P Oli’s continued lack of remorse for the excesses of 8 September.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251121131144_aaa296e2e812ef5f6473064bc4b679bf605e14e06ac0ec9be1d6d047b56f96f9.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251121131144_aaa296e2e812ef5f6473064bc4b679bf605e14e06ac0ec9be1d6d047b56f96f9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2560" height="1707" loading="lazy" alt="UML Youth Volunteer Force NT"> <figcaption>The UML launched its Youth Volunteer Force on Friday. Photos: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251121131148_bfa8df3fc382195b4cdb9c4804cd67e169d2d9c0b8d218e61bbef0c4c9dbdaad.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251121131148_bfa8df3fc382195b4cdb9c4804cd67e169d2d9c0b8d218e61bbef0c4c9dbdaad" data-rendition-name="original" width="2560" height="1706" loading="lazy" alt="UML Youth Volunteer Force"> </figure>  Families of those killed and injured on 8 September have demanded that the ousted PM and home minister be held accountable for state brutality.&nbsp; This week, Human Rights Watch published a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/11/19/nepal-unlawful-use-of-force-during-gen-z-protest" target="_blank">comprehensive report</a> concluding that security forces fired indiscriminately on youth-led protestors on 8 September.&nbsp; The human rights watchdog urged the Sushila Karki-led interim government to investigate the excessive use of force as well as arson, vandalism and mob attacks on individuals on 9 September. The government has created a judicial commission to inquire into the deaths of 76 people over two days of protests.&nbsp; “The recent violence in Nepal included serious human rights violations, and those responsible should be held accountable, whether they are security forces or political actors,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.&nbsp; She added: “The government should ensure that the investigations are independent, time-bound, and transparent, and that no one found responsible for breaking the law is unfairly protected from proper prosecution.” HRW’s investigation was based on testimony from 52 witnesses, victims, journalists, healthcare workers, politicians, and sources close to security forces. Researchers also verified photos and video footage shared on social media and with researchers; and visited the scenes of protests, properties subjected to arson and vandalism, and hospitals.&nbsp; A police officer said that officers opened fire with lethal force five minutes after the District Administration Office declared an emergency curfew around Parliament. Witness accounts and analysed footage did not show grave and imminent danger to life that would justify the intentional use of lethal force, stated the human rights watchdog in the report.&nbsp; The protestors and witnesses identified security forces who fired live ammunition at the protestors by their uniforms as members of the Armed Police Force (APF) and Nepal Police’s Special Task Force (STF). &nbsp; “They literally aimed at us and started shooting,” said one witness who sheltered behind a barricade as police continued shooting.&nbsp; A retired senior police official said police had failed to follow procedures for dispersing protests and using lethal force.&nbsp; Pathologists at a Kathmandu morgue told HRW that they determined 35 cases of death caused by “high velocity gunshot wounds” to the head, neck, chest, or abdomen.&nbsp; The witness recounted being taken into custody along with 33 other protestors by STF officers in riot gear, and said that police police personnel beat him with batons. Detainees were threatened and their IDs destroyed. Several witnesses said that the mob attacks on businesses, politicians, media companies, and educational institutions were very targeted, noting the absence of security personnel on 9 September as arson and violence raged across the capital.&nbsp; Some suggested that the violence may have been instigated by infiltrators associated with various political movements.&nbsp; On Discord, the platform where a significant number of demonstrators organised, participants noted that while there were calls for peaceful movement in the days leading up to the protest, some on the platform advocated for violence.&nbsp; Human Rights Watch has said that any credible allegations of criminal acts contributing to the violence must be investigated.&nbsp; Said Ganguly: “The authorities should recognise that widespread impunity for human rights violations in the past helped enable the violence that occurred this time in Nepal. It is crucial to reverse the decades-long tendency by successive governments in Nepal to bury investigations and stall prosecutions, and to bring about accountability and security sector reform.”

Security forces targeted protestors disproportionately: HRW

As people move out of Nepal’s trans-Himalayan districts, their faiths migrate with them to the cities and all over the world. The ancient animist faith of Bon Po predates the advent of Buddhism in Tibet, and its last remaining priests and devotees are found in villages like Lubra in Mustang and Samling in Dolpo. But as those villages empty out, Bon centres can now be found as far afield as Kathmandu, New York and Tokyo. The first Triten Norbutse Monastery was founded in Tibet in the 14th century by the Bon Master Shen Nyima Gyaltsen. Its monastery in Nepal is below the forested hills of Ichangu on the western outskirts of Kathmandu.&nbsp; Many are surprised to hear that there is a Bon centre in Kathmandu, and that it is located so close to Swayambhu. This Triten monastery was established by Yongzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche only 40 years ago to cater to adherents of the faith who lived in the capital. True to its reverence for nature, the shrine is verdant, with plants and flowers amidst a contrasting backdrop of Kathmandu’s ugly urban sprawl below. The monastery practices Bon culture and passes on teachings to students as well, who after completing 15 years of study graduate to become ‘Gese’.&nbsp; It is believed that Bon Po was brought to Nepal from Tibet by Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. Over the centuries, Bon and Buddhism have become syncretic in Dolpo and Mustang, despite the differences in their belief systems. Followers worship nature and consider the human body, speech and mind as jewels. The human body is said to be composed of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and the cosmos.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251113111148_ce5d50db6757c4f5a7259c10d2879ee5f5b7b990e987bf3734378ba464afc9d5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251113111148_ce5d50db6757c4f5a7259c10d2879ee5f5b7b990e987bf3734378ba464afc9d5" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="4284" loading="lazy" alt="The Bon Po way of life NT"> </figure>  The Bon faith was much more widespread during the reigns of Nyathi Chenpo, the first king of Tibet to Namri Srongchen, the 32nd king. But it was after King Srongchen Gompo that Buddhism started making inroads on the plateau, and spread also in the Himalayan rimlands. There are also Bon followers in Humla, Jumla, Baglung, Mugu, Kaski and Chitwan, as well as in the United States and 50 other countries, indicating the movement of people within Nepal and outside.&nbsp; The Bon religion believes in reincarnation and that everything, including positive and negative thoughts are a result of past life karma. Buddhism focuses more on attaining Nirvana, a state of no suffering, where the subject is released from all his/her karmas. Bon has also inducted some Tantric practices and rituals, some of which are in parts similar, yet still different from Buddhism.&nbsp; “In Buddhist culture, circumambulation of shrines is clockwise, but in Bon culture, circumambulation is in an anticlockwise direction,” explains Chhiring Lama of Triten Norbutse Monastery. “The main Bon mantra is Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du, while followers of Buddhism chant Om Mani Padme Hum. Buddhism emphasises enlightenment by meditation and moral behaviour, while Bon beliefs centre on nature and ancestor worship, and placating the spirits. In religious texts, it is mentioned that there were 1,008 Buddhas throughout time. Tonpa Shenrab is believed to be the 8th Buddha, and Bon practitioners are guided by his teachings contained in 140 sacred writings known as Kangyur and 300 more scriptures known as Katen.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251113111152_9813ce72805941af4b3bfb3c80c7e45ffc8aca4f2612eb967e84204f3a28bc07.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251113111152_9813ce72805941af4b3bfb3c80c7e45ffc8aca4f2612eb967e84204f3a28bc07" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="The Bon Po way of life NT"> </figure>  “We worship nature and its elements and the prayer flags contain religious texts and when the wind blows through it we consider it a prayer,” says Chhiring Lama. “We also worship ponds for the water and consider fire as a sacred element as well. We also consider snakes sacred, therefore worship ponds, considering them as the place of residence.” The interdependence between human beings and nature is clearly depicted through such traditions and practices which carry relevance today as the planet faces the crisis of climate breakdown.&nbsp; Important gods worshiped include Satrig Ersang, Shenlha Okar, Sangpo Bumtri, and Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. But what is similar to Buddhism is an offering known as ‘torma’, a cone shaped ritual offering made from flour dough. Many Bon faithful are vegetarian, or abstain from meat during festivals.&nbsp; Over time, the rise of Buddhism in Tibet and beyond overshadowed Bon, pushing many of its practices to the margins. Yet, the tradition continues to live on, carried by those who see in it a deep connection to nature, the spirit world, and the roots of Tibetan culture.&nbsp; In many ways, the endurance of Bon is a reminder that even the quietest faiths hold timeless truths, waiting to be remembered and valued. Followers of Bon today are far fewer, and the knowledge about its traditions is not as widespread.&nbsp; “As time goes on, people adopt rituals and cultures that are more convenient to their daily lives,” says Chhiring Lama. “But that means forgetting or leaving behind one’s indigenous and ancestral roots.”

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